Jaguar Land Rover pulls Morris Minor club deal
Proposals for Jaguar Land Rover ( JLR) to sell or lease 22 Morris Minors acquired as part of a collection have fallen through.
Talks had been held between the manufacturer and Morris Minor Owners’ Club (MMOC) directors concerning dispersal of the cars, but JLR has decided not to proceed.
JLR bought the Minors as part of the 543-strong collection of Dr James Hull in 2014, which included hundreds of Jaguars.
The MMOC’s Rosie Hamilton, says: ‘‘We had an approach from Jaguar Land Rover concerning the Minors and a couple of our directors met their representatives at the Ryton facility where the cars are kept. One possibility was that the cars could be leased to club members. We have since been told by JLR that it is not able to release the cars at present.’ JLR spokesman, Mike Goodbun, says: ‘We have had discussions about the future of the Morris Minors but have decided not to proceed with dispersing the cars. We may well display the cars in the future. We also wanted to keep the James Hull collection together. The Minors are also safely stored undercover.’
Dr Hull’s fleet was said to be the largest privately-owned collection of British cars in the world when Jaguar acquired it.