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Morris Commercial Cars
Morris Commercial Cars Limited is a British manufacturer of commercial vehicles formed by William Morris, founder of Morris Motors Limited, to continue the business of E G Wrigley and Company which he purchased as of 1 January 1924.
Morris bought the assets of Soho, Birmingham axle manufacturer E.G. Wrigley and Company after it was placed in liquidation late in 1923. Up until that point a small number of commercial vehicle variants of Morris cars were built at the Morris plant at Cowley, but with the newly acquired plant in Foundry Lane, Soho, Birmingham serious production began.
In 1932 the business was moved a few miles across Birmingham to the former Wolseley factory in Adderley Park. As a response to success of the American-owned Ford and Bedford truck brands, in 1934 and 1935 the radiator badge incorporated the text "British to the Backbone". This somewhat jingoist design remained in use until the end of the war.
In 1936 Morris sold the company into his Morris Motors Limited. The use of the Morris Commercial brand name continued until 1968 when British Motor Holdings, by then the parent of Austin as well as Morris, merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation.
In wartime commercial vehicles in the Morris range were produced for military use – such as the Morris C8 field artillery tractor (FAT) and Morris CS8 15 cwt truck. Morris Commercial also built vehicles such as the Terrapin amphibious carrier while Nuffield Mechanisations also built a number of armored vehicles.
During the 1960s the light trucks and forward-control J4 light vans produced by Austin and Morris commercial were identical. The J4 was developed into the Sherpa in 1974 by British Leyland and later derivatives of this design survived well into the 2000s as the LDV Pilot/Convoy.
While production of the light vans remained concentrated on the Birmingham Adderley Park site, production of the F-series and W-series light trucks moved to Scotland with the opening in 1960 of the company's Bathgate plant. The Adderley Park plant was closed in 1971 and demolished shortly afterwards.
The light trucks in the 1960s included the FF, a forward-control design introduced in 1958, along with the WF which was a sibling vehicle with the driver placed behind the engine rather than on top of it. The updated version of the FF, the FJ, appeared in 1964; it featured a split-circuit braking system, a novelty in this class of vehicle. The FF remained in production and the two vehicles were offered side by side: in this class the BMC trucks were nevertheless out-competed in terms of domestic market sales volumes by Bedford and Ford (with their Thames). Austin/Morris commercial vehicles in the 1960s also included the Austin/Morris FG-series an unusual-looking urban delivery truck with driver doors set at an angle at the rear corners of the cab to permit access in confined spaces.
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Morris Commercial Cars
Morris Commercial Cars Limited is a British manufacturer of commercial vehicles formed by William Morris, founder of Morris Motors Limited, to continue the business of E G Wrigley and Company which he purchased as of 1 January 1924.
Morris bought the assets of Soho, Birmingham axle manufacturer E.G. Wrigley and Company after it was placed in liquidation late in 1923. Up until that point a small number of commercial vehicle variants of Morris cars were built at the Morris plant at Cowley, but with the newly acquired plant in Foundry Lane, Soho, Birmingham serious production began.
In 1932 the business was moved a few miles across Birmingham to the former Wolseley factory in Adderley Park. As a response to success of the American-owned Ford and Bedford truck brands, in 1934 and 1935 the radiator badge incorporated the text "British to the Backbone". This somewhat jingoist design remained in use until the end of the war.
In 1936 Morris sold the company into his Morris Motors Limited. The use of the Morris Commercial brand name continued until 1968 when British Motor Holdings, by then the parent of Austin as well as Morris, merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation.
In wartime commercial vehicles in the Morris range were produced for military use – such as the Morris C8 field artillery tractor (FAT) and Morris CS8 15 cwt truck. Morris Commercial also built vehicles such as the Terrapin amphibious carrier while Nuffield Mechanisations also built a number of armored vehicles.
During the 1960s the light trucks and forward-control J4 light vans produced by Austin and Morris commercial were identical. The J4 was developed into the Sherpa in 1974 by British Leyland and later derivatives of this design survived well into the 2000s as the LDV Pilot/Convoy.
While production of the light vans remained concentrated on the Birmingham Adderley Park site, production of the F-series and W-series light trucks moved to Scotland with the opening in 1960 of the company's Bathgate plant. The Adderley Park plant was closed in 1971 and demolished shortly afterwards.
The light trucks in the 1960s included the FF, a forward-control design introduced in 1958, along with the WF which was a sibling vehicle with the driver placed behind the engine rather than on top of it. The updated version of the FF, the FJ, appeared in 1964; it featured a split-circuit braking system, a novelty in this class of vehicle. The FF remained in production and the two vehicles were offered side by side: in this class the BMC trucks were nevertheless out-competed in terms of domestic market sales volumes by Bedford and Ford (with their Thames). Austin/Morris commercial vehicles in the 1960s also included the Austin/Morris FG-series an unusual-looking urban delivery truck with driver doors set at an angle at the rear corners of the cab to permit access in confined spaces.