# Morris Minor - how much did it cost ?



## KeithChesterfield (Mar 12, 2010)

There's a Morris Minor I've seen for sale locally priced at £2600 - how much would it have cost new ?


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

A lot more than you might think. Have a look at this site. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...tion-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html

The first Minors in 1948 started at £359 which is about £13400 now and around £1960 a similar basic car was about £650-700 (about £14500 in todays money. You can buy a new car for well less than £10K now.


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

Moggy Minors and Labrador dogs both have something in common, they both have dickey back ends. 

ray.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

My Mggie 1000 Traveller cost me £200 and was 9 years old - it lasted me another 6 and then went to a Beach Rescue organisation for use on hard sand - I repainted it using Household External Gloss paint from Woolies - and it gave a superb fisnish.

It had a new engine (twice) the first replacement failed when I arrived ack in Exeter from London - the crankshaft snapped creating lots of collateral damage.... THat had een done by a company in SE London (badly). I had two signs on the back;

Running In - please pass (remember those days?)

and

Running Out - please push.....

I fitted a towbar and used i to tow dive boats around the SW - great car (but lousy heater)........

I could climb under the bonnet and take the engine apart easily - only needed a socket set and a couple of other tools - none of this electronic gizmology that is essential now to even open the bonnet.....

Oh yes - the original price for CMV 737A was £539 from new.....


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## emjaiuk (Jun 3, 2005)

I seem to recall a feature in a paper or magazine that calculated that a Morris Minor built from new spares would cost £1000! It caused outrage at the time I think.

Malcolm


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## EJB (Aug 25, 2007)

FWIW....In 1961 I bought a new Renault Dauphine for £365...inc a Sunroof....that price was UK tax free.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

In 1969 I bought a new Mini Van for £369 as the car was £499.

Ray.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

How the hell can you remember what you paid for a car over half a century ago? I bought one three weeks ago and I cant remember what I paid for it.  I think I can remember what I paid for my first vehicle though which was a ford escort Van when I was 17 in 1983 which was not quite three years old. Either £700 or £800 I think. Its still the newest vehicle I have ever owned.


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## charlieivan (Apr 25, 2006)

My first car in 1965 was a 1955 Rover 75, Dad bought it off a work mate of his for £10. I had to put a new front wing on it to get it through it's first MoT, the ten year test as it was known then. Next best buy was a 1965 Mini. Bought for £10 in 1970. Our first car after we were married, I sold a 1963 Sunbeam Alpine so we had enough money for the wedding!!!!!


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I sold a Mazda 323 (Sporty one) in the pub about 15 years ago for two pints and a packet of crisps. It was Mrs D's run around at the time and she rear ended a brand new Audi TT in Barnard castle high street in it.  It only had a few small dents and a ripple in the bonnet (The Audi came off worse).


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## dghr272 (Jun 14, 2012)

charlieivan said:


> My first car in 1965 was a 1955 Rover 75, Dad bought it off a work mate of his for £10. I had to put a new front wing on it to get it through it's first MoT, the ten year test as it was known then. Next best buy was a 1965 Mini. Bought for £10 in 1970. Our first car after we were married, I sold a 1963 Sunbeam Alpine so we had enough money for the wedding!!!!!


My brother did 6 months away and 2 months home as a large oil tanker engineer and was always loaded, he bought a Sunbeam Alpine whilst on one of his leaves, he gave it to me as a 21st birthday present. It wasn't a Tiger but God I loved that car, it was a great babe magnet although not great for courting. :grin2:

Terry


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

barryd said:


> How the hell can you remember what you paid for a car over half a century ago? I bought one three weeks ago and I cant remember what I paid for it.  I think I can remember what I paid for my first vehicle though which was a ford escort Van when I was 17 in 1983 which was not quite three years old. Either £700 or £800 I think. Its still the newest vehicle I have ever owned.


But I can't remember what we did last week. 
You will get there one day Barry.

Another odd car I remember was just after we spent every penny on our house, I picked up an old Zephyr Zodiac for 22 guineas at auction. Then someone nicked it.

Ray.


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## teljoy (Jul 4, 2005)

In 1961 just after passing my test I paid my Dad £10 for a 1938 Standard 8. I had it for a year and it's the only car I remember with affection. I changed the rear axle, the brake shoes, brake cylinders, dynamo,coil and various other bits all in the road outside our house. It had rotting wooden floorboards and the driver's seat was held up with a block of wood (no heavy braking!). One of the spark plugs was not quite tight in the cylinder head and one of the gears kept jumping out and I had to start it in the mornings with the handle. It did about a maximum of 40mph. I had numerous cars since but I will never forget that one. I don't think health and safety had been invented.

Terry


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## charlieivan (Apr 25, 2006)

barryd said:


> How the hell can you remember what you paid for a car over half a century ago? I bought one three weeks ago and I cant remember what I paid for it.  I think I can remember what I paid for my first vehicle though which was a ford escort Van when I was 17 in 1983 which was not quite three years old. Either £700 or £800 I think. Its still the newest vehicle I have ever owned.


Not only can I remember what I paid for them, I can still remember the registration numbers for them. Unfortunately with the modern system of letters, numbers and then more letters I struggle with them.


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## KeithChesterfield (Mar 12, 2010)

_Barryd - How the hell can you remember what you paid for a car over half a century ago?_

It's funny you should say that but I do remember the first vehicle I bought in 1962.

It was two weeks after I'd finished my Apprenticeship and at 21 years old I was finally on proper money - £25 a week.

I paid £200 for a one year old white Minivan YRA 225 - it didn't have a fitted passenger seat and it took about six weeks to get one and fit it.

Rear seats soon followed and we went thousands of miles in it over the next couple of years and didn't need any work doing on it before I sold it - not even CV joints !

Then I splashed out on a brand new dark blue Austin 1300 - speed never was my top priority - and it was family transporting cars from then to now ….....

:grin2: :grin2: :grin2: :grin2:


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## deckboy (Sep 14, 2011)

Bought a split screen one from my older brother for £25 in 1971. It was a real banger, but its number plate's letters were *JET*.
Ended up dumping it on a piece of waste ground.
Wonder what it would be worth now with that number plate?


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

KeithChesterfield said:


> _Barryd - How the hell can you remember what you paid for a car over half a century ago?_
> 
> It's funny you should say that but I do remember the first vehicle I bought in 1962.
> 
> ...


HA HA! My mum had a hippy Mini Van (Ex Police) in the 70s. I nicked the keys when I was about 9 when they were out and drove it down our drive and round the back of our house and squashed my sisters new bike between the van and the garage wall.  I blame my father as he taught me to drive at Croft Aerodrome around that time when we used to go and watch the motor racing so I figured I knew what I was doing and could go solo.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

You started wrecking at an early age then Barry.

Ray.


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## icer (Dec 11, 2006)

I paid £100 for my 1956 splitscreen in 1982, however the guy had sprayed it with Dulux using the blow from the old vacuum cleaners to spray it, done in smallish patches. Good from a distance when you got closer a bit chequered. Bonnet and wings welded together and hinged from the front scuttle, etc etc

Drove it from Wales to Kent to bring it home, its registration is Kentish

And I still have it

Ian


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## H1-GBV (Feb 28, 2006)

As dementia sets in, you remember things from the past much better than recent events >.

My first car was a Morris Traveller (can't recall the reg, so that must be a good sign :smile2. I repaired some rotten woodwork with cement, topped off with plastic wood filler and a lick of varnish.

It cost £170 but I insured it for £200. When a taxi-driver from Darlington left the A66 to avoid traffic near Stockton following heavy overnight snow, he slid across a tight bend and smashed into me. I accepted his verbal statement that he would sort everything out if I didn't involve the police but he then blamed the accident on me. Fortunately I was able to trace his passenger, the driver "disappeared" and the insurance company valued the car at £350. However, "as I'd under-insured it", all I got was £200 :crying:.

Gordon


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## Sparky John (Jan 24, 2018)

My first car I bought was in 1972 and was a 1961 Morris 1000 and cost fifty quid to buy and seventy quid to insure. I'd saved up for months to buy it. I loved that car. If I remember correctly you could still buy 3 gallons of 2 star petrol for less than a quid. Those were the days.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Thats a point. I do remember getting 8 gallons for £2 plus change.

Ray.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

deckboy said:


> Bought a split screen one from my older brother for £25 in 1971. It was a real banger, but its number plate's letters were *JET*.
> Ended up dumping it on a piece of waste ground.
> Wonder what it would be worth now with that number plate?


I have added you to the members list.
http://forums.motorhomefacts.com/78...ou-still-watching-posting-52.html#post2875410
I hope you don't go about dumping things anymore :frown2:


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

All relative though. £50 in 1972 is nearly £700 in today's money and £70 for insurance nearly a Grand!

if petrol was 33p a gallon say in 1972 thats about £4.50 a gallon now. A bit cheaper but not that much.

I think the average wage was maybe about the same.

Its those rose coloured spectacles again!!


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

1965 I bought a 1959 Standard 10 semi-automatic for £100.00 took me a few miles.* I think* petrol was 4s11d per _gallon_.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

barryd said:


> All relative though. £50 in 1972 is nearly £700 in today's money and £70 for insurance nearly a Grand!
> if petrol was 33p a gallon say in 1972 thats about £4.50 a gallon now. A bit cheaper but not that much.
> I think the average wage was maybe about the same.
> Its those rose coloured spectacles again!!


I have always said that the 'young' we have all this sympathy for because they can't afford to buy a house, have more DISPOSABLE income in their pockets but just choose to spend it differently.

Ray.


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

My first car was a Mk2 Escort bought for £900. It lasted 2 weeks before the piston rings went. My old man paid for a new recon engine for it, around £400 I think...I never did pay him back!

Graham :smile2:


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## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

We bought two Morris 1000 vans off my place of work, they were scrappers but one had an MOT and was taxed, they were taken in part ex against a new Viva van.

We made one good one out of the pair, swapped the chassis plates over so the MOT was on the better one of the two and ran that for a few years.

It was an 1100 engine, we did some work on it, then it went to a new owner in the area and we bought an Austin J4 van off a friend who was emigrating to Australia.

Peter


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

We did the same Peter but with two American Ford Galaxy 9 seater station wagons circa 1964.
One at Auction a runner but knocked about was 29 guineas. The other for spares cost us £99.
We ran the one after rebuilding courtesy of Vickers Armstrong and sold many years later for £400. The spares and non runner we got the £99 back.
The dog loved it and we managed to get an 8ft. dingy in and shut the tailgate.

Ray.


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## Sparky John (Jan 24, 2018)

When I bought the Morris I think I was on about 3s 6d per hour an apprentice wage but even then it wasn't a vast amount of money. But yes you are right its all relative. No doubt now there will be posts saying "well I only got 3d a fortnight and we used to live in a paper bag in the middle of the road" !!!!! Happy days


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## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

Well my first treasured vehicle was a bike. I saved up painstakingly from 11 years of age. I had a savings book at Grindlays Bank in Bulawayo. Eventually I achieved the purchase price of £15 when I was about 15. It was beauuutiful - a Raleigh with turquoise metallic paint and decals of Hawaiian palm trees etc. I'd had it just weeks when it was "affirmatively shopped" out of our garage. I was heartbroken!

My Dad got a new Morris Oxford out of the box in 1959. It cost £700 (Rhodesian). It was a very posh 2-tone pearl grey with a burgundy roof and Burgundy leather upholstery. Us 3 kids were barely allowed to sit in it and certainly never allowed to eat or drink in it. We travelled all over Africa in it, with all our camping gear expertly packed in the boot. You couldn't have slipped a sheet of paper in when Dad got the lid closed. 

I was eventually allowed to learn to drive in it after mastering gear changing in the government Landrover. My mother was a brick and had a bit of panel beating done quick quick before Dad got back from a trip. Yes me, newly licensed, reversed out of a parking place into a double-parked truck. 

Three times round the clock in miles before he sold it on to a 'local'. At 16 I got my own car a £60 Opel banger with a dodgy gear lever. Dad had been transferred to Salisbury, Mum didn't drive and my brother was at varsity in Durban. Lucky me driving myself to school like a "lahnee".


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Agreed, no eating in cars especially by kids.
They always make everything sticky........ Yuck.
After we found a half chewed toffee in the seat belt receiver, NO kids eating in our new car.!!!!!

Ray.


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## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

We were the ONLY kids who had to stand outside the car to eat our ice creams at the Eskimo Hut, a drive-in ice cream parlour and the place to be seen (or NOT) on a weekend. Thirty flavours of sno-freeze, 2 tone cones, with flaky, choc dip or crunchy dip. etc etc etc and that little known treasure of the colonies - a coke float/brown cow. A pint glass of coke with a huge dollop of soft serve ice-cream floating in it. Yummmmmeeeeee! Equally delicious in cream soda and (original) Fanta orange, unsafe dies and all!


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

But it made you appreciate Viv.

Ray.


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## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

You bet - my car is PRISTINE. I get a severe sense of humour failure if it gets scratched, so I won't report on my reaction when my husband did it R8000's worth of damage while it was parked at a local shopping centre. (How remains unexplained.) Now I park in the furthest, loneliest corner of the parking garage with the one wheel over the white line so no-one parks next to me. Me? Obsessive? Never!


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I didn't like our paper bag in the middle of the road. It was damp.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

This is why I liked my old Golf. It wasnt pristine. You could bash it, eat in it, abuse it. No problem.

You cant beat eating Fish n Chips in the car though on a Saturday afternoon in the Bowes Museum gardens. Dunno why people are so fanatical about their cars. Its just a car.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

I guess thats peace of mind motoring Barry. Yes I agree and for 30 years I drove old battered Merc 608D in and around London. No worries and could park anywhere.
But I guess we get to a certain age when this might be the last car we buy and want to take care of it to last us out.

Ray.


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

barryd said:


> ... Its just a car.


It really does also depend on exactly what car it is Barry, I reckon

Graham :smile2:


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