Morris Motors

The special kind of enthusiasm engendered by one-make clubs was demonstrated over the weekend of May 20-21 at the Bull Nose Morris Club’s Spring Rally. Based at Ruthin in Clwyd, it took in a trip on the Llangollen Canal (including the famous viaduct), a night and a Welsh medieval banquet in a hotel built in 1296, a 40-mile scenic run, lunch at a 400-year-old hotel and a visit to Chirk Castle. No wonder Morrises came from far and wide — the oldest (Bill Head’s 1917 Cowley coupe) from Yorkshire and others from Hampshire and Sussex.

We counted twelve Cowleys and two Oxfords, and were reminded that you can tell one from the other by the former’s three-stud wheels. Louis Bull’s 1924 Cowley two-seater was fitted with bumpers, Bill Cooke came in his 1924 Cowley Occasional-Four (or Chummy to you), and Tom Leake’s 1923 Cowley coupe had also come down from Yorkshire.

The route defeated one car near the summit of the steepest hill, and unfortunately broke a con-rod and cracked the head of another; otherwise, there were no problems.

We noted that many bullnoses were carrying Shell petrol cans (one supplied by Morris Cars themselves) and the ex-Hon Sec’s Cowley two-seater sported two, whereas Read’s flat-nose Oxford coupe preferred a Pratt’s can and Clarke’s flat-rad Cowley tourer with brass lamps also advertised Pratt’s Perfection Spirit.

The sun shone, the Welsh by-roads were delightfully free of traffic, and Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog made a peaceful second-day lunch-stop. Which is how such one-make get-togethers should be.