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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Location: Yuba City, CA

Odometer reading: 71,000 miles

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)