Antique & Classic Cars Blog

Here’s an interesting classic Brit–the only one of its kind, boarded right here in Minneapolis. Don Piccard has used this ‘67 Morris Minor as his balloon chase car for 40 years. In fact, he got it for giving Morris’s public relations director a balloon ride around Oxford, England, Morris’s home.

This one-of-a-kind Minor has several unique features. Most significant in the 1275cc MG Midget motor under the bonnet (that’s “hood” in American English, whereas they use hood for “top”). It was known to be virtually a drop-in swap, so Piccard prevailed upon them to drop one in. They had to change the back air cleaner, pointing it down, but not much else.

He also got remakes of the older-style seat with better padding and a more rounded and supportive backrest, and real wood at the back of the car, rather than steel and stickers. They even contoured the panel to flare into the “running board.”

The Morris symbol is not a cow over stylized wavy lines, as the neophyte onlooker might guess, but an Ox crossing water–that is, an Ox fording, as in Oxford.

With simple lines and tremendous efficiency in its use of space, the Minor is a practical little car and a unique classic.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 21st, 2007 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Car parts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.