Morris One-Tonne Commercial

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As early as 1913, William Morris had been offering a commercial version of his famous Bullnose Morris. Lightweight van bodies were simple to build and the rugged design of the passenger car was sturdy enough to be useful for lightweight duties.

On 1st January 1924, the Morris organisation purchased Birmingham-based EG Wrigley & Sons, a substantial axle manufacturer who had gone into liquidation late the previous year. Their production facilities were sufficiently large to enable Morris to start manufacturing more specialised trucks, which the firm called Morris Commercials.

Their first model was an effective One-Tonner which used a substantial chassis and axles made in-house at the Birmingham works and a beefed-up Morris engine of modest capacity supplied directly from Oxford. The range soon grew to encompass a whole range of vehicles including Six- and Eight-Tonners as well as buses and taxi-cabs. By 1932, the factory had moved to the Wolseley factory at Adderley Park on the other side of town, having quickly outgrown the centrally located Soho works.

Little is known about this 1931 one-tonner, except that it must have been one of the last to leave the original Morris Commercial factory. We are advised that it was sold new to Eire, returning to home-turf shortly after World War II when it surfaced in Hemel Hempstead. It was discovered languishing in a garage in a dilapidated state, rescued and restored to its present condition.

This modestly-dimensioned truck would make an ideal promotional vehicle or a relatively easy machine to handle on one of the ever-popular commercial vehicle road runs.