Home » Straining The Limits Of The Term ‘Daily Driver’: 1961 Morris Minor vs 1922 Ford Model T

Straining The Limits Of The Term ‘Daily Driver’: 1961 Morris Minor vs 1922 Ford Model T

Sbsd 10 4 2024
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Happy Friday, Autopians! Since this week’s winners don’t really lend themselves to a shootout, I’ve decided to go the other way and show you some cars outside our usual price range. What do these two have in common? The term “daily driver” appears in both ads. One is claimed to be one, and the other claims it could be.

Before yesterday‘s vote, Ziggy predicted there was only a 37 percent chance you would take the Quantum leap, and wouldn’t you know it? He was right again. The MPV hauled home the trophy. It wasn’t a landslide win, and a lot of you said you could see yourself in either one.

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I really like the MPV. I wouldn’t bother with a V6 automatic version of it, but with a manual, it becomes more appealing. But if you recall, I mentioned a while back that I had a list of cars that I would consider taking on as projects under the right circumstances, and an early Audi Quattro is on that list. The Quantum Syncro is more or less the same car, but with the added benefit of a long roof. I think I would find it hard to resist.

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If you think about it, pretty much every car ever made was intended to be someone’s daily driver. And I bet most of them have been used that way by someone at some point; commuting in Corvettes, getting groceries in GTOs, and other alliterative combinations that aren’t coming to mind right now. But the point is that no automaker builds cars with the intention of leaving them sitting in a garage. If they did, they wouldn’t bother fitting them with engines. Cars are supposed to be driven.

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Both of today’s contenders were absolutely cars of the people, intended to be used hard, every day. Both sellers claim they still could be. Is it as crazy as it sounds? Let’s check them out, and then we’ll see which one you would drive to work.

1961 Morris Minor 1000 – $9,000

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Engine/drivetrain: 948 cc overhead valve inline-4, four-speed manual, RWD

Location: Yuba City, CA

Odometer reading: 71,000 miles

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Operational status: Runs and drives well

British automotive designer Sir Alec Issigonis is chiefly remembered for designing the Mini, but before the Mini there was the Minor. Introduced in 1948, just as Great Britain was getting back on its feet after World War II, the Minor was an inexpensive, friendly, reliable little car, like so many post-war “people’s cars” that came out around the same time. The Minor was meant to be a lot more technologically advanced, but budget restrictions meant that a lot of Issigonis’s wilder ideas would have to wait for the Mini.

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This is a Minor 1000, the third series, powered by an Austin-designed A-series engine displacing 948 cubic centimeters. It took the place of the Morris engine originally used after Morris and Austin merged to become British Motor Corporation. It’s the same engine used in the Austin-Healey Sprite, and later, the Mini. Here, it powers the rear axle through a four-speed manual gearbox. This one has been rebuilt, and runs and drives “awesome,” according to the seller.

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This is a left-hand-drive US model, so you can drive it just like any other car, without the hassle of sitting on the “wrong” side of the car. Note the covered-up slot behind the door: that was the location of the semaphore-style flip-out turn signals on 1960 and older Minors. For 1961, the turn signals were changed to the normal blinking lights on the front and rear of the car.

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This car has been restored, and it’s in lovely condition. The seller claims it’s driven daily, which doesn’t necessarily mean commuting – they could be retired and drive it to the drugstore every day, or something – but it is a testament to its mechanical condition. You probably wouldn’t want to drive it on the highway much; it takes more than thirty seconds to get to 60 MPH, and runs out of breath about ten miles an hour later, but around town it should do just fine.

1922 Ford Model T Touring – $9,500

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Engine/drivetrain: 177 cubic inch flathead inline-4, two-speed manual, RWD

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Location: Half Moon Bay, CA

Odometer reading: What odometer?

Operational status: Runs and drives well

If you want to talk “people’s cars,” however, you have to mention the original: the Ford Model T. Ford built just over fifteen million Model Ts over the course of nineteen years, a production record that would not be broken until 1972, by the Volkswagen Beetle. Just like the Beetle, the Model T went through a lot of changes during its run, but the basic mechanicals – a 177 cubic inch four-cylinder engine and a two-speed foot-operated planetary gearbox – remained the same throughout.

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I’ve never had the opportunity to drive a Model T, but I’ve always been curious to try. The way I understand it, the right-hand pedal is the brake, and the left-hand pedal shifts between high and low gear, along with something having to do with that lever. The center pedal shifts to reverse, somehow. And the throttle is a lever on the steering column. It’s probably easier in practice than it sounds in theory; I mean, millions of people did it just fine, but it sure does sound complicated.

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This car is also restored, by the seller, and they say it runs and drives very well. The Model T’s engine is about as simple as they come, downright primitive by modern standards. It’s a side-valve “flathead” engine, with no fuel pump or water pump, relying on gravity for fuel and a thermosiphon system for cooling flow. That simplicity and low parts count was the key to the Model T’s reliability, and also Ford’s ability to mass-produce it so cheaply.

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The seller claims this car is reliable enough to be a “daily driver,” their exact words, but this car is a hundred and two years old. It was literally built for a different world. It has wooden wheels, brakes only on the transmission and not the wheels, and is capable of around forty miles per hour – a speed which must be terrifying in this thing.

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When most enthusiasts hear the term “daily driver,” they think of a new car or a twenty-year-old Camry or something, some less-interesting car that takes the daily-use pressure off the more interesting rides. But there’s no reason that you can’t drive any car daily, even these, if your daily usage suits what it can do. If you only have to drive through town, then yeah, I suppose either of these could be driven daily. So which one will it be?

(Image credits: sellers)

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Phil Ventura
Phil Ventura
17 days ago

tough choice. a car that won’t keep me dry in the rain, or a car that won’t run in the rain… had a couple mm 1000s, gotta go with the T.

Drh3b
Drh3b
30 days ago

I kinda want both.

67 Oldsmobile
67 Oldsmobile
1 month ago

I would love to have a pre 30s car like the T. The have a lot of technology you don’t see anymore and if would be fun to try and keep it in shape enough for a semi -daily driver.

Freelivin2713
Freelivin2713
1 month ago

I like the Morris, but gotta go w/ the T…it’s such an iconic and revolutionary car…and it’s restored. It will be fun to drive like Jay Leno does
I also just realized something:
There’s AMC, BMC, DMC but I guess there’s no CMC- that would sound weird…if there was all the 1st letters would be ABCD

Freelivin2713
Freelivin2713
1 month ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

Nice! Then that works perfect. I sorta like those kinds of cars…a little bit

Sean O'Brien
Sean O'Brien
1 month ago

Every car I’ve purchased since college has been made in a year prior to the one before it. (2004 Focus, 2001 Crown Vic, 2000 Cherokee, 1996 Cherokee that I’ve been nursing as a DD for the last 9 years). I intend to keep this pattern until I get to a Model A, which is the oldest car that can be a realistic daily driver for a fairly short non-interstate commute. It’s fast enough, powerful enough, and has a properly enclosed all-weather cabin. There are still thousands of them on the road with huge owners groups and new parts and mods still being manufactured. Anything older…. The T is just not powerful enough or reliable enough and it comes from an era where we were still figuring out just how cars were supposed to work. Plus, wooden wheels that you need to soak in a stream every so often to prevent shrinkage….

PaysOutAllNight
PaysOutAllNight
1 month ago

I’ve driven similar Brit sedans and eventually want another as a retirement vehicle. I’d rather have a Triumph Herald, but the Morris is another I’d consider.

The Model T is a fun toy at this point. I’d love to have one, but I have other, higher priority garage fillers to buy.

J Wamsley
J Wamsley
1 month ago

My in laws live on Cape Cod. In their neighborhood is a family that dailys a model t. It’s the same config as this one, in black, and I’ve only seen it with the top up once, at a grocery store during a summer storm. The 18 or so year old kid was putting the top up and I helped him and struck up a convo. It’s his grandfather’s car (who sadly passed last year). The family just drives it like a normal car. I’ve seen it with kayaks hanging out of it and surfboards and fishing rods stacked in. In the town where my in laws live, you really never drive more than 35 mph. It’s a pretty viable mode of transportation. Anyway, model t for the win. I dream one day of a model t convertible pickup to drive when I’m there in the summer. The family vehicle is a 2006 commander that’s rusting off the frame, with sun cure ding repair on the holes in the roof.

Boxing Pistons
Boxing Pistons
1 month ago
Reply to  J Wamsley

Running an old T like a regular car? That warms my heart.

CSRoad
CSRoad
1 month ago

The T would be fun, but the Morris is more useful and gets my check mark.
The Minor is built like a tank, thick metal, zero crush zones, quite dangerous, tight turning circle, excellent for urban use. The A engine isn’t great, but it has a long history with a good aftermarket.

Along with Martin, Dutch Gunderson, Lana and Sally Decker
Along with Martin, Dutch Gunderson, Lana and Sally Decker
1 month ago

I’d give a Model A some consideration, but the Model T is only an automobile in the technical sense. Even at 63 years old, a Minor is something that resembles an automobile in the modern sense. If the goal is to drive in anything but parades, it’s no contest.

Tim Beamer
Tim Beamer
1 month ago

Rode in a couple Model T’s at Greenfield Village. Fascinating to watch the drivers operate them. I’d love to take a spin in one someday.

Dennis Birtcher
Dennis Birtcher
1 month ago

Given the speeds on my local roads, I need the higher performance of the Morris Minor.

Now there’s a sentence that’s never been written before.

Theotherotter
Theotherotter
1 month ago

I don’t think I have ever had as much fun driving a car as when I got to drive a Model T. I had an ear-to-ear SIG the whole time. Driving it isn’t complicated or hard, just different – the owner (or whoever) explains it to you, and you learn it. I was happily motoring around after about five minutes. Since I live and work in the city of Chicago, I ride my bike or take the CTA to work, or both. But if I had to drive something I’d enjoy the f*** out of this, and so would everyone else.

Gubbin
Gubbin
1 month ago

Mark, I hope you get to take a Model T driving lesson some time, it’s a great way to rethink car design and user-interface. If you make it back to Portland with enough advance notice, you can reserve a lesson at WAAAM.

That T is gorgeous, and it even has a driver’s side door (many did not because the hand lever is in the way so it’s nearly pointless.) However, I live on a highway so it’ll have to be the charming Morris, with plenty of traffic spacing.

Car Guy - RHM
Car Guy - RHM
1 month ago

I like Model T and that’s not a bad price, but to daily drive I couldn’t. They are a chore to drive and certainly wouldn’t want to be in traffic. The Morris would be far better to daily drive.

JDE
JDE
1 month ago

OK the Morris Minor, simply because of it reminds me of the Tom McCahill’s reviews in the old Mechanix Illustrated magazines I found stashed in my grandpa’s old garage. I saw plenty of European cars like this, but in reality never saw one in the wild. though I do realize this particular car is quite common and cheap in Britain.

Jay Vette
Jay Vette
1 month ago

If you want, and you have the money, you can make a Model T hit speeds of 60 and above. There’s still a lot of parts availability for these due to how popular they were and still are, and a lot of those parts are performance parts. It’s been a dream of mine lately to build a Model T speedster. Strip it of most excess weight, although leaving the lights and fenders so it won’t be TOO bare-bones, modify the engine, update the electrical system, and add bigger, more effective brakes. You’ll have a really cool brass-era sports car that you can drive almost anywhere except a major highway.

Old Busted Hotness
Old Busted Hotness
1 month ago
Reply to  Jay Vette

My grandfather did that in 1925. He really enjoyed that car.

Cyko9
Cyko9
1 month ago

If you were really going to drive it often, the Morris is probably the right choice. But for the price, I think the Model T is actually the better deal. Four doors and windows all around – it’s practically a wagon!

Njd
Njd
1 month ago

I’ve been thinking lately that it would be fun to have a Model T.

Dottie
Dottie
1 month ago

I think both are neat but I’m going with the Model T for a few reasons:
My work commute is hilariously short and is no highway and parts availability. Sure I’d have to basically relearn how to drive a car but we’re partying like it’s 1929: surely nothing of historical significance happened then 🙂

Chris Stevenson
Chris Stevenson
1 month ago

It’s Morris Minor Day on The Autopian!

I’ll take the car I know how to drive intuitively, without having to relearn how to shift into reverse.

JDE
JDE
1 month ago

or adjust the timing on yourself, or hand crank it to start it.

Manwich Sandwich
Manwich Sandwich
1 month ago

Morris Minor for me. It’s a car that you can actually use as a car and even take it on the highway.

The Model T? That’s more of a showpiece than a real car by modern standards. The Model T is halfway between a ‘car’ and a horse buggy.

Rich Hobbs
Rich Hobbs
1 month ago

I’m sorry but $9000 for the Morris? Huh ? There are so many other choices for thstvkind of money. An MGB GT if you’re stuck on British Bolides. For 9k I can find a decent used Vette! But If you have to choose, the Model T makes more sense value wise. Looks well done. Restoration at todays prices would be more than the asking price. Would stand out even among other Model Ts at the Antique Auto Show.

Mike Harrell
Mike Harrell
1 month ago

I admit I’ve been keeping an eye on the local Model T market. This one is tempting, particularly considering the weather here in the Pacific Northwest:

https://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/d/mckenna-model-1926/7789632174.html

Drive By Commenter
Drive By Commenter
1 month ago

British Invasion time. Being at least passingly similar to a modern car would help this guy with the inevitable troubleshooting.

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