Motor centre commemorates the milestone of the millionth

Tuesday January 4 was exactly 50 years since the launch of the Morris Million, a limited run of 350 Morris Minors made with lilac paint and white leather sears to mark the production of the millionth Morris Minor.

Tying in with Tuesday’s celebration, One in a Million, a book telling the story of the restoration of one of the 350 was also launched at the event.

Written by Australian enthusiast Richard McKellar and his father Bill, it features contributions from writer and Morris Minor Owners Club secretary Ray Newell, who explained the car’s success.

He said: “The design was ahead of its time. When the car was launched in 1948 it was the star of the London Motor Show. It was very reliable, the ride was second to none and it was very economical to run.”

Designed by Alec Issigonis, who later created the Mini, the Morris 1,000 had been in production for 12 years when it reached the million mark.

Publicity material at the time said: “The production of 1,000,000 vehicles of a common design is a feat never before achieved by British Industry, the magnitude of which can be exemplified by saying that if all the units which have left the production lines at Cowley were spaced at intervals of 407 yards 11 ½ inches, the first would rest in Oxfordshire and the millionth would have its wheels on the moon.”

If the statistic was a little spurious, the gesture that went with it was more likely to win the hearts of the press. The millionth car was given to Magnus Williamson, national chairman of the National Union of Journalists, and was the prize in a national competition supporting the union’s widow and orphan fund.

In all, 1.6 million ‘Moggies’ were produced, by the time the last vans and timbered ‘traveller’ models were made in 1971. The car now sits alongside the Mini and Volkswagen Beetle in the pantheon of ‘everyman’ classics.

Mr Newell said: “Some were passed down from generation to generation and many people who have owned them have fond memories of them; a lot had names and many can still remember their number plates.”

One in a Million costs £29.99. Email [email protected]