Minor population

[Chris Edgar]

Has anyone any data regarding the number of Minors in existence, on or off the road?
And is that number going up or down?
The MMOC will have membership figures... do those figures reflect the numbers of Minors in use?
Has membership gone up/down/remained the same over recent years?

I often come across the comment along the lines of "as more & more Minors are scrapped" & I wonder if this is true.
Are we not at a situation where the current population will, with care, survive & go on for years & years?
Indeed, are Minors which would, by some be considered as scrappers, being restored & put back on the roads by specialist restorers or expert owners ...in greater numbers than those which fall by the wayside.

I know of a Company which has a whole line of cars waiting to be done & who has a long waiting list for restored cars.

Is there a point where the population of a car falls to a low point & then, when enthusiasm grows, begins to recover & increase again?
There seem to be very many enthusiasts out there who are dedicated to the cars & who are prepared to spend the necessary needed to keep them going.

The spares situation is very good for cars of this age, but if numbers are falling, then this will not continue . If numbers hold up or increase then the outlook is good for us all.

Presumably the restorers & dealers in parts must be keeping tabs on the trend.

regards
Chris

[mike.perry]

The number of Minors in daily use has decreased dramatically in the past 10 - 15 years and cars are certainly still being scrapped which is one reason why the spares situation is so good.
Also the age profile of the average Minor owner and MMOC member is increasing and will ultimately fall off the top leaving Minors looking for younger owners.
There are probably very few Series MMs being scrapped as their numbers are already down to a few hundred cars and this would also apply to limited editions and rarer versions of the Minor.
We can be thankful that the Minor is still popular whilst other cars have come and gone. When did you last see a Ford Anglia, Cortina, Escort or BMC 1100, cars which all outsold the Minor?

[faversham999]

The Average was 19700 Moggies Scrapped each year since 1948 so thats less tha 2 years left at that rate, bet its only a few hundred or less each year now

[Alex'n'Ane]

There are still many mk1 and 2 escorts about, admittedly many of them are modified for rallying, but there is still a very strong community and numbers.

[Chris Edgar]

Also the age profile of the average Minor owner and MMOC member is increasing and will ultimately fall off the top leaving Minors looking for younger owners.

I hadn't thought of that aspect....
Minors probably don't appeal to the younger generation so much.

The reasons why people own them must also be a factor.
The reasons why I got involved were:
Nostalgia (I'd had a 4 door in the early seventies for about 3 years)
The ability to maintain it yourself (didn't apply when the automatic gearbox on the Convertible failed !)
Parts availability
No jaw-dropping depreciation.
Cheap insurance & free road tax.
A hobby (obsession?)
Always admired the design of the car

Since buying the 2 Minors I have also discovered the social side ..meetings with people with a common interest.
Rallies & drives. Forums such as this.
Being talked to in the street by huge numbers of people I've never met before. In the Traveller, I've been asked 4 times by other motorists if I'll sell it.

Chris

[irmscher]

The price of restored minors is getting higher and higher and may put younger people off . i worry that when people buy cheap cars off ebay etc then realise they are wrecks and have to spend a fortune puts them off .Ford escorts rest on there rallying laurels but the rs2000, etc are mundane under braked road cars but lots of enthusiasts .Some of the dealer restored cars leave a lot to be desired after looking at quite a few and they charge fortunes but seem to cut corners but this is my opinion as some do good work and are worth reccomending

[Robins]

The latest DVLA figures for the Classic Mini have been published in the November 2010 issue of Mini Magazine:-

63,592 Classic Minis still registered in UK on October 1st 2010
of which:
32,847 were taxed,
30,745 on SORN

(Wolseley Hornet and Riley Elf derivatives were not included)

and thats the good old mini!!! I had no idea numbers had got so low considering they are a regular sight on the roads, could someone not do the same DVLA search for minors? would be very interesting. Club records are not going to be acurate due to owners who are not members. I rarely see minors on the road now, just scruffy ones that are cheap transport destined for scrap in an expensive MOT.
The rarer they get the more the nice ones are worth.

[LouiseM]

I had no idea numbers had got so low considering they are a regular sight on the roads, could someone not do the same DVLA search for minors?

Someone has! There was an article in the July /August issue of Minor Matters by Nigel Harrison who paid £100 to obtain the information from the DVLA (hopefully Nigel won't mind me quoting from his very well researched article). This showed that 27,010 Minors had either been taxed or declared SORN'ed within the previous 12 months. These figures were broken down as follows:

16,618 saloons
2,717 convertibles
6,169 travellers
946 vans
487 pick ups
73 registered as chassis cabs only

As for knowing how many Minors are still in existence worldwide though it's difficult to say.

Club records are not going to be acurate due to owners who are not members

True, and there are also club members who don't own Minors and plenty of members who own more than one Minor.

Minors probably don't appeal to the younger generation so much.

There are quite a lot of younger owners who post here and the newly formed 'Young members Register' will hopefully help to raise the profile of the Minor amongst younger people. Saying that, the Minor seems to be the sort of car that either appeals to you or it doesn't, regardless of your age.

[carlosramalho]

In Portugal are at least 4 Morris Minor

[chrisd87]

I was very interested to read that article in Minor Matters a little while ago. Was nice to see the breakdown by year too, which shows that the surviving Minor population isn't entirely representative of how many were made (survivors are biased heavily in favour of the later years, when sales were declining). What would also be interesting to know is how many Minors have been off the road for too long to fall into the SORN system and are tucked away somewhere awaiting restoration. Obviously it would be impossible to know for sure.

I have to say I thought there would be rather more still around. Can't recall where I heard/read it, but I remember a figure of about 100,000 still in existance in the mid-80s being mentioned. ~30,000 still around today is very healthy compared to many other cars but still means that two-thirds of those 25 years ago have gone. I hope very much that the 'death rate' has slowed, otherwise in another 25 years time we may wonder

As for getting a new generation interested in Minors, I don't think we really need worry. I bought my first when I was 16 (am 23 now), and will never be without one. I agree that a certain sort of people will always be interested in Minors, and as long as enough of them come along to replace the ones 'dropping off the top', as Mike so nicely put it , we needn't worry too much. In fact, I think that the lack of appeal to 'boy racers' is probably one thing the Minor has greatly benefited from. If you think of the number of Ford Capris, Opel Mantas and Vauxhall Novas that have been crashed or hacked about beyond recognition, you realise the perils. The club is perfectly right to think about attracting a new generation, but we perhaps need to be careful what we wish for!

Price-wise, in the past few years I personally detect an upward trend. There could be lots of reasons why this is the case, such as ebay bringing the cars to a wider market, more foreign buyers, or increased rarity. It doesn't seem uncommon for cars in need of serious work to fetch a couple of hundred quid on ebay these days, whereas five years ago they'd go for far less. Not sure whether this might reflect the increase in the value of scrap metal over that time . On the other hand there was an article in Classic Car Weekly a few months ago saying that while the price of good convertibles and travellers has gone into orbit over the past 5-10 years, saloons have barely appreciated at all, so I may be wrong! Of course higher prices may be a double edged sword, in that although it may put people like me off, it might make it more worthwhile to spend the large amount of time and money needed for proper restorations.

[faversham999]

It would be a good if the check done this year on how many minors left, could be repeated next year to see how many are being scrapped each year now

[mike.perry]

Carlos, There is another Series MM in Portugal for which I have been sending out parts

[phurn]

I rarely see minors on the road now, just scruffy ones that are cheap transport destined for scrap in an expensive MOT.
The rarer they get the more the nice ones are worth.

not all scruffy ones are just transport! mines probably the scruffiest of all, but thats becuase i like its sense of history that comes from seeing what bumps scrapes and bdges previous owners have done to it. beneath its scruffy ways lies a car thats had a fair bit spent on it on exhausts, batteries, alternators, welding.


sure enough i could restore it to its former glory, but why get rid of 47 years worth of history? every peice of my car tells a story about its life.

[carlosramalho]

Carlos, There is another Series MM in Portugal for which I have been sending out parts

I know, it was me who gave your contact!
Cheers
carlos

[faversham999]

I have traced 33 Minor Million on the road or on a SORN in the UK if you want the list or have any info on any Million you know about PM me please

[Fingolfin]

auto-part.com's Minor production data say the last chassis number was 1294082. Taking this at face value as the total number of Minors produced, and taking 27010 taxed or "Sorned" recently in the UK, that means that just 2.0% of the total production remains going and in the UK.

The number is surely far higher than that worldwide. I can confidently say there are at least 500 in the United States, and probably another 200 in Canada. Perhaps 2000 in Australia and New Zealand, and perhaps 1000 in India and Pakistan? Let's throw in another 1000 for Europe and 2000 more for the rest of the world. Finally, I would confidently add at least 10000 to the UK number, if not more -- because so many Minors are being worked on, or laying in fields, or whatever, and aren't registered.
By this very rough guestimation, there should be between 40000 and 45000 Morris Minors, of all stripes, left in the world today. Many of them -- perhaps a majority of those that are in good condition -- have been modified visibly. Even a high estimate of ~ 50000 leaves only 3.9% of the total production, though.

I think the vast majority of them are gone, unless they're very well hidden.

[Chris Edgar]

When I was with the U.N. in Cyprus in the early 80's I saw quite a few...

Any members in Cyprus?