1925 Bullnose re-joins Morris Motors collection
If you’ve ever wondered how it feels to sit behind the steering wheel of one of Britain’s most iconic vintage cars, you may get a chance, as The Morris Motors Museum in Long Hanborough has acquired a model that it plans to show at local events. The car has been on loan before, but its acquisition allows the museum more freedom to show it and allow visitors to local events to take a ride.
Michael Bartlett, a curator of the museum, which shares premises with the Oxford Bus Museum, said “This acquisition fills a gap in our collection, as we do not have a Bullnose Morris car, which is the iconic car made by William Morris, who later became Lord Nuffield. The museum’s volunteers are thrilled that we have acquired it are looking forward to showing it off at events.”
The car was first registered on 19 November 1925 and was built to a high specification. It even has handles for winding the windows up and down, which were a rarity at the time! The leather roof is original as is the paintwork. If there were more than two passengers, the boot could be opened to accommodate two small people.
The Bullnose Morris – named after its distinctive round-topped radiator, at first called the bullet nose - was one of the most popular cars of the 1920s. Morris claimed that the Bullnose car was capable of 50mph and 50 miles per gallon! In 1920, 1,932 vehicles were produced but by 1923 output had risen to 20,042. It still has a devoted following and The Bullnose Morris Club, set up in 1952, has over 700 members.
Morris made 151,424 Bullnose vehicles between 1920 and 1926. Production had started in 1913 when 404 were made, but the following year the factory was redirected to war production.
Morris began building cars in 1913 in the old Military College, Hollow Way, Cowley. His two great talents were being mechanically minded and having good business acumen. His success and final move to the Cowley site, were due to his production methods – assembling components made by others- including importing cheap supplies from the United States. The expansion in personal car ownership in Britain and across the world provided Morris with an expanding market.
In the 1920s William Morris began to buy the companies of his suppliers to directly control his manufacturing costs. By the mid-1920s he was a leading British car manufacturer and industrialist. In 1926 General Motors of Detroit offered him £11 million for his business, but he declined to sell (and so they later bought Vauxhall instead).
A rare 1926 Bullnose Morris van, which is owned by a member of the museum, is also on display at the museum.
The Morris Motors Museum is currently closed because of the Coronavirus epidemic but hopes to open in the next few weeks.
Since 2004 the Morris Motors Museum has been located within the Oxford Bus Museum in Long Hanborough. It charts the story of how these classic British cars and commercial vehicles were produced at Cowley, in the city of Oxford. Our impressive collection of vintage Morris vehicles covers those produced during the life of William Morris. The museum contains many historical pictures of production in the Morris factories and a collection of motoring memorabilia such as 100 year old petrol pumps, adverts for Morris cars and a 1950s garage scene. There are displays showing war production during both World Wars.
The Oxford Bus Museum tells the story of bus and coach travel around Oxfordshire over the last 130 years. Our exhibits include historic preserved horse-drawn vehicles, buses, coaches and a wide selection of artefacts (bus stops, ticket machines, timetables, posters, staff uniforms) and lots of fantastic photos illustrating our diverse public transport history.
We also have a unique collection of 40 vintage bicycles.
The museum is a charity and run entirely by volunteers. There is free parking, a play area and a café, but The Morris Motors Museum is currently closed because of the Coronavirus epidemic but hopes to open in the next few weeks.