A HUGE RACE AGAINST TIME

The club hatched a plan during the final stages of the car’s resto to mark 50 years since FMT 265J rolled off the production lines by returning it to Cowley’s T-block, which is where Tom Morris’ involvement begins. He says: ‘I was brought in around September 2020. I’d been made redundant during lockdown and found myself working as a mobile classic car mechanic. Knowing this, and that I had plenty of experience of putting old cars back together, club chairman Andrew Stone and secretary Ray Newell asked if I could get the last saloon ready for its return to Cowley.

‘The car had its wheels and axles on, the engine and gearbox in and all the fuel and brake lines plumbed in when I first went to see it but there was still an awful lot to do. I put the rear wings on, did the bonnet, all the windows, all the interior, wiring loom, and the chromework.

‘I originally asked that I be given two weeks’ grace to get any final jobs done once it was pretty much finished and ensure that there was enough time to MOT it, make a snagging list and check those jobs off. But those two weeks became just a single day.’

On Saturday, 31 October, Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued national restrictions requiring everyone to stay at home from Wednesday, 4 November, which drastically advanced Tom’s deadline. Plans for the car to appear at Cowley 50 years to the day after it had rolled of the production line were spiked and instead the celebrations would take place the day before the strict lockdown came into effect.

Tom says: ‘I remember that it arrived with me the day after the announcement of the second lockdown. I roped in a few friends and local club members and what followed was a mad dash to make the car run and drive and for it to be presentable enough that it could go on display within the factory’s museum.

‘We had to prioritise what was important; for example the front suspension had settled with the engine in and was sitting too low so it needed lifting.’

The Minor arrived at Cowley thanks to Tom and the volunteers who answered his call for help and

’The two weeks I had planned to get any final jobs done became a single day’

although Covid restrictions muted the celebrations, the club was still able to have the car in front of the factory for a socially-distanced photo shoot with the rule of six applied.

Following this celebration, FMT finally went on display in the factory museum among a collection of other important classics associated with the Cowley factory. Hopes that club members and the general public would have several opportunities to view the last Minor saloon postrestoration after lockdown had been lifted were sadly never realised.

1971 MORRIS MINOR 1000 SALOON

ENGINE 1098cc/4-cyl/ohv

POWER 48bhp@5100rpm

TORQUE 60lb ft@2500rpm

0-60MPH 24.8sec

MAXIMUM SPEED 74mph

TRANSMISSION RWD, four-speed manual

This Morris Minor drives like any other but its unique history and transformation from barn-find wreck to show star make it special.

Tom Morris represents the anchor leg of an epic relay that began more than five years ago when the MMOC set about saving the last Minor saloon from scrap and restoring it to better than new condition.

Where they could the club made repairs that retained as much of the car’s original metalwork as possible.

22 years of production are brought to a close with minimal fanfare – just a photograph of Cowley workers surrounding FMT 265J.

Credit goes to Alan Scott for re-building the A-series engine.

New seat covers from Newton Commercial are the finishing touch to this pristine cabin.