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Re: British Forum Rules

I can only repeat what I said almost three years ago. MG. Riley, Jaguar, Morgan, Austin and
even Morris owners
your cars cannot be so bad that you have nothing to say about them. Why not tell us about what you have done, are doing or are about to do with your car/s. Even Rolls Royce owners there is space for you here too. And Daimler too.

oldcar/Bj.

Even Morris owners, eh?

OK,Bernie, I'll rise to your bait
:D

Let's have a Morris thread - not just my Morris, any Morris will do - pre-Great War Oxford or post- 2nd War Traveller!

Mine is a 1930 Morris Cowley, generally referred to as a Flatnose, to distinguish it from the earlier Bullnose. I must admit I am really an Austin man, and Austin men don't speak to Morris men, and vice versa! But I thought it was time to experience life on the other side of the fence, so I bought my saloon about twelve months ago; unlike Bernie I don't really enjoy working on my cars, any work has simply been the necessary evil to permit me to enjoy driving them, so I cheated and bought the car in the condition you see here:

Flatnose1_zps3782b096.jpg

It had been restored a few years ago, but had done virtually no miles since, and I soon found out why! The vacuum feed to the windscreen wiper had never been connected, so the carburettor had been reset to compensate for the excess air the engine was receiving. It ticked-over nicely, but wouldn't run at all well - surprise, surprise! A bit of tinkering eventually identified and sorted the problem, and now at least it does go, if perhaps not as well as I would like...

IMG_7044small_zpsaa1d4920.jpg

I have only done a few hundred miles in it so far, and I must admit I am a little disappointed in it, but I think there is scope for further improvement before I pass my (Austin-biased!) judgement. It doesn't go as well as my 1927 Austin Twelve did (1496cc against 1861cc, so don't be too critical) but it isn't happy above 40mph, whereas I was expecting to able
cruise
at 40. Perhaps it's only done the few hundred miles that I have done since the restoration, so maybe it's still running in! But the brakes and general roadholding don't match the Austin either, so I think perhaps the mechanical restoration didn't match the cosmetic work.

IMG_7467400_zps51efa335.jpg

Anyway, as spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere, I'll get it out of its winter nest and see how we get on...

Edited by mikeC (see edit history)
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Hiya Mike

Good to see a nice vintage Morris making its way, albeit slowly, on to this section of the Forum, which is, after all, devoted to British Cars. Cowley sedans are rare in our part of the world so yours is of special interest. You are indeed lucky to find one so straight and original. Do you think that you could manage some interior and under bonnet photographs?

oldcar

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No sooner said than done!

The interior has had a vast amount of money spent on it, and was a major selling feature; my wife loves it!

IMG_7050small_zps1aadf2be.jpg

The underbonnet is tidy, rather than immaculate, which leads me to think that perhaps the mechanics have not seen the same attentions as the body:

IMG_7051small_zps39ff96f2.jpg

The engine is basically the pre-Great War Red Seal Type U engine from the American Continental Motor Manufacturing Co. After the war William Morris acquired the design rights and tooling as Continental didn't see a future for it in the States. Re-engineered with metric threads, it was put into production with the UK arm of Hotchkiss, which was then taken over and renamed Morris Engines in 1923. By 1930 it was rather dated - definitely a plodder rather than a revver!

Here is the car with my Saxon (another Continental-engined car!), taken last summer:

IMG_7655800_zps93871156.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

I mentioned in my opening post that I was not very impressed with the Cowley's performance. Well, a bit more tinkering this last week has produced a significant improvement.

The ignition timing is set by the book with the manual lever set at full retard; I found that the lever was restricting the movement of the distributor, and was not giving the full advance setting. I have now reset things to give full advance, and the performance has improved dramatically! At last the car is now able to run happily at 40mph, with more available if needed - hurray! Not surprisingly, the fuel consumption has improved too!

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Great to see a familiar name - MORRIS - I'll post pics later of our 1935 Morris 8 4 door saloon along with our MGs, related of course to Morris. Your Cowley sure looks great. We developed our love for the Morris (and other British cars) while living in Scotland many years ago. More later -

Terry

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