Iban Guy

Observations from my daily life in Labuan. Use Mozilla Firefox Browser for best viewing experience. (http://www.mozilla.com). NOTE: Press F5 to refresh your browser if you do not see any update on this blog.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Morris Minor in Labuan




I saw this car parked behind the office and decided to take its photo. The Car looks good. The interior is white and the dashboard is pretty.

(Excerp from Wikipedia)

The Morris Motor Company was a former British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations the Morris name remained as a marque (vehicle brand).

HistoryMorris was started in 1913 when bicycle manufacturer William Morris (1877-1963) turned his attention to car manufacturing. A factory was opened in Oxford and the company's first car the "Bullnose" Oxford was introduced.

During the 1920s Morris established a reputation for producing high quality cars. In 1924 Morris overtook Ford to become Britain's biggest car manufacturer, holding a 51% share of the home market. Also in 1924 the head of the Morris sales agency in Oxford, Cecil Kimber, started building sporting versions of Morris cars called MG after the agency Morris Garages.

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s the company produced mainly simple but reliable family cars. The most famous Morris car was the Morris Minor introduced in 1948 reusing a name from 1928. The Morris Oxford of 1948 was the basis for the design of India's famous state-produced Ambassador automobile.

In the early 1950s Morris merged with its old rival Austin to form the British Motor Corporation. In 1968, the Morris brand became part of British Leyland.

The Morris brand name was used until the early 1980s on cars such as the Morris Marina. The facelifted Marina, the Morris Ital was the last Morris-badged passenger car until its demise in 1984. (The last Morris was a van based on the Austin Metro.) The Morris assembly plant in Cowley was turned over in the early 1980s for the production of Austin and Rover badged vehicles.

The rights to the Morris badge is currently owned by MG Rover, who have inherited the remains of and BMC and BL. The Cowley assembly plant is now owned by BMW, who use it to assemble the New MINI. With MG Rover currently in receivership, it is not clear who will buy the Morris badge.

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