Those Australians old enough will remember the ABC TV series 'Mother and Son' which featured Gary MacDonald and the equally renowned Ruth Cracknell. Well, featured in this show was a car, a Morris Minor convertible (1953 model). This bit of TV history goes to auction soon in Sydney - expected to sell for $7-12 000. Alec Issigonis, the designer of the Mini, also designed this Morris Minor range car back in 1948. We owned the very first Morris Minor Traveller (British racing green) in South Africa, bought in Cape Town around 1958. We even brought it back to England on the ship we came home on in 19
60. It was testimony as to why the British motor industry failed - it leaked like a sieve. Every time it rained, it poured into the interior from around the side windows (if memory serves me right). Anyway, repeated visits to the BMC garage in Cape Town failed to have it rectified, so in true tradition, my mother wrote to Lord Nuffield - the owner of BMC - back in England. Within a few weeks (this was 1958, communication was slower then) Lord Nuffield had written to Mum, sent it air mail, the garage had been roasted over the phone by He Himself, and the problem fixed. Now we won't mention the electrics, Lucas et al were equally renowned for stuffing this up too, but it was BRITISH, so we owned it until we traded it in around the middle of 1963 (in Dundee, Scotland) for the new Ford C
ortina (the same colour as the picture) - it was very, very smart and was probably THE car that turned me on to following the motor industry.
60. It was testimony as to why the British motor industry failed - it leaked like a sieve. Every time it rained, it poured into the interior from around the side windows (if memory serves me right). Anyway, repeated visits to the BMC garage in Cape Town failed to have it rectified, so in true tradition, my mother wrote to Lord Nuffield - the owner of BMC - back in England. Within a few weeks (this was 1958, communication was slower then) Lord Nuffield had written to Mum, sent it air mail, the garage had been roasted over the phone by He Himself, and the problem fixed. Now we won't mention the electrics, Lucas et al were equally renowned for stuffing this up too, but it was BRITISH, so we owned it until we traded it in around the middle of 1963 (in Dundee, Scotland) for the new Ford C
ortina (the same colour as the picture) - it was very, very smart and was probably THE car that turned me on to following the motor industry.Imagine th
e humiliation when we went from this to a 1952 Holden in 1965 (it was all we could afford being newly arrived in Australia) - I was embarrassed to be dropped off at school in it. We soon upgraded to a 1962 Ford Falcon. This I polished and polished until it truly sparkled so that on a rainy day I could be dropped off in front of school in it (hey! I w
as 14 and impressionable).
e humiliation when we went from this to a 1952 Holden in 1965 (it was all we could afford being newly arrived in Australia) - I was embarrassed to be dropped off at school in it. We soon upgraded to a 1962 Ford Falcon. This I polished and polished until it truly sparkled so that on a rainy day I could be dropped off in front of school in it (hey! I w
as 14 and impressionable).43 Years later I own a very ordinary, but incredibly reliable, city car called a Mazda2. With 8 air bags, ASB, ESP, auto, air - it may be basic, but it does the commute to Brisbane from the coast just as reliably as a much larger car. There is a new car in my future plans, but not until the house is finished. This one may well have a large rear loading area for Rene's paintings and 'gear' - we'll have to see.
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