'Morris Minor – The World’s Supreme Small Car' by Paul Skilleter
NEW VERSION DUE SPRING 2008!
BOOK DETAILS
Those of you who know me through Jaguar topics might be surprised to learn that one of the books I most enjoyed
writing was about the Morris Minor. The story behind the car and its creator, the amazing (Sir) Alec
Issigonis, is, in fact, almost as interesting as that of Jaguar.
Certainly there are a number of parallels with Jaguar, notably the influence of the Citroen ‘traction avant’ of
1934 which inspired both the XK 120’s and the Minor’s front suspension, while Jaguar’s first chief engineer to
be, William Heynes, worked pre-war at Rootes while Issigonis was also there. The two engineers also worked together
when both came within the British Leyland consortium in the late 1960s.
The Minor book was first published in summer 1981 and went through three editions. Out of print for well over ten years,
in the spring of 2008, sixty years after the car first appeared at the 1948 London Motor Show, it is going to be released
as a completely revised fourth edition.
An old favourite back in print, to celebrate 60 years of the Morris Minor!
MORRIS MINOR – THE WORLD’S SUPREME SMALL CAR
By Paul Skilleter
This book was the first to be written on the post-war Morris Minor, one of Britain’s best-loved family cars,
and the only one compiled with the full co-operation of the genius behind it and the original Mini –
Sir Alec Issigonis, who the author interviewed and who read the manuscript. First published in 1981, the book was
quickly listed by The Times as a ‘best-seller’ in the motoring category, and subsequently went through three editions,
the last issued in 1989.
In recent years, however, the book has been out of print, but (after several false starts) this situation is being
rectified by a fourth edition, due for publication in the spring of 2008. This will now take the
form of a complete revision, not just a reprint, and will feature updated material and many new illustrations.
It is being redesigned and will be produced in a much larger format, as a companion volume to the Norman Dewis
and Ecurie Ecosse books.
The contents of this hard bound, 230-page book include:
- Pre-Minor
- Not Minor but Mosquito – the development story
- Series MM
- Series II
- Sisters-in-law: Riley, Wolseley, and the ‘Aussies’
- Van, pick-up and postal vehicles
- Competition
- Production figures, specifications and experimental cars listing
- Buying, restoring and modifying
- Minors in America
- Clubs
- Colour schemes
Probable price: £35.00
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