Kaeren Jones

I’m not saying that I’m hooked (although I suppose I am) but I now have my own Morris. He’s a 1966 Convertible called ‘Orris. Now he definitely makes me happy! He was bought as a “fun” car and he most definitely lives up to that. This time there was nothing to do so the only thing that we have done is fitted more comfortable seats. It’s great fun driving around with the roof down whatever the weather – other than rain! Although, we have got caught in the rain a few times and even that makes us laugh. Sometimes it’s actually more fun on a cold clear day than in the heat of the sun, particularly if you’re stuck in traffic!

I think that the main reason for loving a Minor is that they make people smile. There’s nothing nicer than seeing the change in people’s faces as you go by. It’s even funnier when there’s a line of you and you can see the penny drop when they realise that. Most people can associate with them because, as everyone delights in telling us, they learned to drive in one, their auntie had one, their dad had one, their butcher’s dog rode in one and so on. It’s almost impossible to do anything with the car on the drive, or parked up on the side of the road, because most people want to stop and chat about it and tell their stories.

Life seems so much calmer in a Minor. There’s no rush to get anywhere, mainly because you can’t rush in a 65 year old car! Then again, why would you want to rush anywhere? We try to avoid motorways when we can, and we have found some lovely villages and scenery as a result of keeping to the back roads. There’s always a nice country pub or an unusual diner to be visited along the route. Very often we just set the satnav to “avoid motorways” and go where it takes us. We’ve had some great experiences and seen places we wouldn’t normally see, including a lot of narrow lanes.

I suppose I could also say that the smell makes the cars special. There’s nothing quite like opening the garage door or getting back to a deck load of classics on the ferry and experiencing THAT smell! The oil, the leather, the polish – all mixed together in a cocktail of one unique aroma.

The other thing that stands out is the ease of keeping them on the road. With our modern cars, because of the technology involved, if you get an issue or a warning light it usually involves an expensive trip to the garage to run it through the computer. You never have that trouble with a Morris! It is usually something that can be fixed quite simply. In all fairness there’s not THAT much that can go wrong and if you don’t know how to sort it yourself there is normally someone on hand that has the knowledge to do it for you. All you have to do is pop your bonnet and there will be at least one or two heads inside it within seconds! It’s like a magnet. And if you do that at an event, there’s no hope in getting your bonnet back down for a good few hours, even if you were just looking to make sure that there wasn’t a cat sleeping in there!

What is evident about the joys of having a Morris – or any classic car really – is that you get to meet some lovely people. We have made so many new friends just through the cars, whether it be through local car clubs or the MMOC. We have gone in convoy to car events, drives out or as part of a trip. We have had some great days out as well as some fantastic holidays. None of these would have happened without the old cars. The people you meet are friendly and because of your common interest you always have something to talk about. There is always someone that is willing to lend a hand or offer advice. Some friends we only see once a year on the annual overseas trip, others we see during the year at other events, some we even CHOOSE to see outside of classic car events! (Only joking – we love seeing all of our friends.)

As daft as it seems I am aware that these little “family members” of ours have their own personalities and foibles. Most have them have names and people actually know the cars better than the owners much of the time. I dread to think how many conversations have contained the words “Ah, so you’re *insert name here*’s owner!”. And is it so wrong that we look down the car names not the owner names when we are checking to see who’s going on MOT? I’m sure we can’t be the only ones that do that.

I’m not sure that I’ve got anywhere near answering the question. There is no one single thing that makes these little cars so special. It is a combination of many reasons and traits. As I stated at the beginning:

I don’t know WHY I love my Minor – I just know that I do!