| Morris Motor Company Info
The Morris Motor Company was a British automaker started in 1910 when bicycle manufacturer William Morris turned his attention to car manufacturing and began to plan a new light car. In 1913 Morris opened a factory in a former military college at Cowley, Oxford, and started assembling the company's first car, the 2-seat Morris Oxford "Bullnose", primarily from outsourced components. After aquisition into British Motor Corporation, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984. With a reputation for high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris continued to grow and eventually overtook Ford in 1924 to become the UK's largest car manufacturer. In 1924 Cecil Kimber, the head of the Morris sales arm in Oxford, started building rebodied sports car versions of the Morris, called the "MG", after Morris Garages. Wolseley Motor Company started producing their engines after they became unavailable from Contintal in the US, and Wolsey became part of Morris Motors Company in 1927. In 1938 Morris entered the small car market with the Morris Minor, using an 847 cc engine from Wolsey. This small car market helped Morris through the economic depression of the time. In 1932 Morris appointed Leonard Lord as Managing Director, and he updated production methods and introduced a proper moving assembly line. In 1936 William Morris sold his commercial vehicle enterprise, Morris Commercial Cars Limited, to Morris Motors. In 1938 William Morris became Viscount Nuffield, and the same year he merged the Morris Motor Company (incorporating Wolseley) and MG with newly acquired Riley to form a new company: the Nuffield Organisation. During World War II auto production was interupted and restarted with pre-war designs (the Eight and Ten series models). In 1948 the "Eight" was replaced by the most famous Morris model, a new Morris Minor, designed by Alec Issigonis (who later designed the Mini). The "Ten" was replaced by a new 1948 Morris Oxford, styled like a larger version of the Minor. In 1952, Nuffield merged with rival Austin Motor Company to become the British Motor Corporation (BMC)and Morris only continued as a brand as rebadging models and brands became the order of the day for BMC. Morris continued as a marquee until the 1980s. The rights to the Morris marque are not currently clear after several trademark holding company's financial collapse, and partial purchase by a Chinese state business. The Cowley assembly plant is now owned by BMW, who use it to assemble the new MINI.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Motor_Company
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