Help with identifying a car please.
Author
Discussion

MisterNick

Original Poster:

109 posts

50 months

Saturday 5th September
quotequote all
Hi,

I wonder whether anybody can help with the car in the foreground please?
I'm thinking the picture was taken pre WW2, and the location is possibly Camber Sands.

I am also a bit interested in the car behind, as I can't make out what is over the wheels.

Many thanks for any help..


Astacus

3,737 posts

263 months

Saturday 5th September
quotequote all
Bullnose morris oxford? Don’t know about the one behind

thegreenhell

23,723 posts

248 months

Saturday 5th September
quotequote all
Austin 7 behind?

MisterNick

Original Poster:

109 posts

50 months

Saturday 5th September
quotequote all
Thanks for the very quick replies.

Were these cars built to last? If this picture was taken mid to late thirties it's a ten to fifteen year old car.

I have only just found the photo. Its must have been in various lofts and mine for the last 7 or 8 years. It's almost as if there are a couple of tricks to it. I can't make out what is between the legs of the man in the black trousers (who I think may be my grandfather) and the chap in the jumper who I think may be his eldest son.
Also, there doesn't seem to be any drivers side window / clear space under the hood and I presume they are towels on the hood on the right.
Can you make out the number plate?

So many questions.

many thanks again

Glosphil

4,873 posts

263 months

Saturday 5th September
quotequote all
Astacus said:
Bullnose morris oxford? Don t know about the one behind
My knowledge of cars before the mid-1950s is just about non-exsistsnt, but I looked at that photo & immediately though "Bull Nose Morris"..

occrj

378 posts

207 months

Tuesday 8th September
quotequote all
The three-stud wheels and painted headlamps suggest it's probably the slightly cheaper Morris Cowley, as opposed to the Oxford (which usually had five-stud wheels) Car in the background looks like an Austin 7 Chummy.

RJ

h0b0

9,055 posts

225 months

Tuesday 8th September
quotequote all
l

I updated the photo based on feedback.

A couple of interesting changes in the photo once color. First, the reg plate has changed. Second, the man on the right is now wearing a hat.

MF prefix, was the geographic code issued by Middlesex County Council



Edited by h0b0 on Tuesday 8th September 16:33

thegreenhell

23,723 posts

248 months

Tuesday 8th September
quotequote all
It's changed the radiator on the Morris as well.

occrj

378 posts

207 months

Tuesday 8th September
quotequote all
MisterNick said:
...
Also, there doesn't seem to be any drivers side window / clear space under the hood and I presume they are towels on the hood on the right.
...
Being a tourer it would have had side screens that slotted into the tops of the doors, front and rear.

While it's nice to see a bit of colour, the colourised photo demonstrates how AI should stay away from historic photographs.

RJ

MisterNick

Original Poster:

109 posts

50 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Thanks for the updates. A quick Google suggests that MF was issued from about 1923 and the Morris Oxford ceased production in 1926. I think the man in glasses was born in 1909 and the lady on the front fender in the same year. I would assume that the car was purchased second hand.
It's a shame that AI makes the changes as they can become baked into the future history. It also looks like it has added a strip to the picture down the right hand side. By doing that, I would have thought another headlight should be showing on the nearside. It also doesn't answer what is over the wheels on the car behind.
I heard a lot about the cars from my dad (He's not in the picture, if I am right these are his elder step brothers and sisters) but this I the first time I have seen a picture of any of the cars.
Once again - many thanks

wildoliver

9,300 posts

245 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Boring fact for you, those cars were the start of MG. They started modifying bullnose morris. Morris Garages.

MisterNick

Original Poster:

109 posts

50 months

wildoliver said:
Boring fact for you, those cars were the start of MG. They started modifying bullnose morris. Morris Garages.
Thank you - live and learn

Willhire89

1,462 posts

234 months

Yesterday (09:54)
quotequote all
I would agree it is a Morris Cowley

The Oxford and Cowleys had three stud wheels and all had painted headlamps. What Oxfords do have is a large radiator and added bling in the form of nickel finishers around the bonnet edges you do ne see here. The Oxfords also have Barker dipping headlamps which were larger and connected by a cross bar. Bling also extended to nickelled hub caps

Kimber's Morris Garages used the Oxfords and Cowleys as the underpinnings for their competition cars and as Chapman later added lightness



Sixty years later: