Morris Oxford Series MO is a

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

produced by

Morris Motors Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same ve ...

of the United Kingdom from 1948 to 1954. It was one of several models to carry the Morris Oxford name between 1913 and 1971. __TOC__

Saloon

After the Second World War the 13.5 fiscal horsepower Oxford MO had to replace the Ten horsepower series M, Morris's Twelve and Morris's Fourteen. It was announced along with the new 918cc

Morris Minor The Morris Minor is an economy car produced by British marque Morris Motors between 1948 and 1971. It made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, in October 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.6 ...

and the 2.2-litre Morris Six MS on 26 October 1948 and was produced until 1954. The core design was shared with Nuffield Organization stable-mate Wolseley 4/50 which used a traditional grille and better finishes. Designed by Alec Issigonis, the Oxford, along with the Minor, introduced

unit construction : ''For the vehicle design where the vehicle's skin is used as a load-bearing element, see Monocoque.'' Unit construction is the design of larger motorcycles where the engine and gearbox components share a single casing. This sometimes includes ...

techniques such as Unibody construction even though it is not widely recognized as a true unibody car.

Torsion bar A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end ...

front suspension was another novelty, and hydraulically operated 8-inch (200 mm)

drum brake A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of Brake shoe, shoes or Brake pad, pads that press outward against a rotating bowl-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press o ...

s were fitted all around. Under the bonnet, the MO was a step back in technology from the pre-war Ten. It used a

side-valve A flathead engine, also known as a sidevalve engine''American Rodder'', 6/94, pp.45 & 93. or valve-in-block engine, is an internal combustion engine with its poppet valves contained within the Cam-in-block, engine block, instead of in the cyl ...

straight-4 A straight-four engine (also referred to as an inline-four engine) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout ( ...

rather than the older overhead-valve unit. The single SU-carburetted engine displaced 1.5 L (1476 cc/90 in³) and with its output of at 4200 rpm could propel the car to 72 mph (116 km/h). In order to reduce noise, the crankshaft helical gear that drove the camshaft was steel and the camshaft gear was of resin-bonded fibre construction, rather than a steel-to-steel coupling. It was believed, surprisingly, that the steel gear wore out first over time. Replacement parts were sold as factory-matched pairs of wheels. The four-speed gearbox had a column gear change and steering was by rack and pinion. Interior fittings were reasonably comprehensive by the standards of the time, with a full width shelf under the dashboard and "useful pivoting ventilator panels" (hinged quarterlights) at the front edge of each of the front doors and a rear window blind included in the price. Instrumentation included an oil pressure gauge, an ammeter and an electric clock. Also available, albeit at extra cost, was a heater. Morris Oxford 4-Door Saloon 1950.jpg, saloon 1950 Morris Oxford MO saloon 1950 3671562245.jpg, wide-mouth
alligator bonnet Engine Morris Oxford MO saloon, 1496cc sv 1950 3671563787.jpg, sidevalve engine (modified to use twin carburetters) Morris Oxford, in Edinburgh 2014-05-05.jpeg, grille 1952 File:1950s Morris Oxford in Newton Abbot, 18 February 2013.jpg, front 1952 Morris_Oxford_MO_1953.jpg, facelift grille 1953 Morris Oxford Traveller 1953 4659310521).jpg, Morris Oxford Series MO Traveller 1953

Traveller

A two-door estate version of the Series MO was introduced in September 1952.Michael Sedgwick & Mark Gillies, A-Z of Cars 1945-1970, page 143 Marketed as the Oxford Traveller, it had an exposed wooden frame at the rear. Just 3½ inches longer than the saloon which its dimensions otherwise matched the ''Traveller'' was given bench seats front and back, the front backrest split for access to the back. Six could be seated in reasonable comfort, though the back squab was narrowed by the rear wheel arches, and furthermore there was a large platform behind for luggage or freight. Folding forward the rear seat made an area nearly five feet square and three feet high. The front part of the car remained the same as the saloon and no comfort was sacrificed by front seat passengers. Normal winding windows were retained in front but the side windows at the rear (which provided excellent vision for the driver) could slide horizontally, the first for more than two feet and the second only a short distance to give ventilation. The vague steering column gear change lever still showed no improvement over previous OxfordsVirtues Of A Shooting Brake Body. ''The Times'', Tuesday, 7 Jun 1955; pg. 2; Issue 53240 ''

The Motor ''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine founded on 28 January 1903 and published by Temple Press. It was initially launched as ''Motorcycling and Motoring'' in 1902 before the title was shortened. From the 14 ...

'' magazine tested a Traveller in 1952 but only attained a top speed of and acceleration from 0– in 26.2 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £825 including taxes. The final drive ratio had been lowered from 4.55 to 1 to 4.875 to 1 in 1949 "in the interests of top gear acceleration, which still keeping top gear reasonably high, as is ...Morris policy", according to a statement attributed to the manufacturer.

Morris Six

A six-cylinder version was sold as the Morris Six MS. It was replaced by the Morris Isis in 1955.

Hindustan Fourteen

Hindustan Motors Hindustan Motors is an Indian Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer based in Kolkata. It is a part of the Birla Technical Services conglomerate. Hindustan Motors was the largest car manufacturer in India before the rise of Maruti Udyog. ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

produced the Oxford MO as the Hindustan Fourteen.

References

Footnotes Bibliography * {{Automobiles made by BMC, BL and Rover Group companies, post-1945 Issigonis vehicles

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Cars introduced in 1948 Cars discontinued in 1954