The Classic and Series IV Systems Concept

The Real Story...

At the beginning of the 1980s A.D. Engineering of Wells, Somerset began work on a brake and suspension system that would improve the road holding, brakes and control of the Morris Minor.

A.D. Engineerings' MD, Geoffrey Moore, had a theory that an affordable vehicle was required for use on rallies by budding rally drivers. The vehicle had to be cheap to run, but with enough competitive grunt and good handling to give necessary experience to newcomers to the sport.

The Morris Minor was chosen for the task, and work began on research and development. Much progress was made in trials on and off road, testing various ideas. Each stage was given a bench mark of development starting with a prototype series 1 and so on.

During the middle 80s, A.D. Engineering was approached by the then Morris Minor Centre at Bath with a proposition that they join forces and market a radically advanced Morris Minor which would have good brakes and a better suspension coupled with a more powerful engine.

In 1986 Chris Street joined A.D. Engineering as their development engineer and redressed many of the early problems encountered. His main aim was to productionise a system for the market place which would be sold by a satellite company between A.D. and the Morris Centre.

Work continued until it was felt that a positive marketable brake and suspension system was ready which was the prototype Series III system.

A milestone was reached when the prototype vehicle together with a full blown rally version, were tested by the magazine Autocar at MIRA, the Ministry of Transport proving ground near Coventry.

The test was a resounding success and some very glowing articles appeared in the press together with coverage by the TV and Radio.

Later some prototype and pre-production systems were sold through A.D. Engineering to help their cash flow problems. Unfortunately, before the basic system was fully productionised A.D. Engineering went bust.

Chris Street went back to his own business C.S. Autotech and continued with development himself.

Shortly afterwards he was approached by the Morris Centre and asked if he could supply production kits directly to them.

Agreements were made and over the next three years many productionised Series III kits were sold through the Morris Centre.

In 1989 Chris Street ended his contract with the Morris Centre and went out directly to market his later Series IV system, which in reality is the real blueprinted, productionised system as was envisaged by Geoff Moore in the beginning of the 80s.

The up to date Series IV is still selling well, along with its entry level sibling, the Classic System. New and innovative developments are now on stream such as the Series V incorporating the Merlin Wishbone System. This, together with other radical approaches to keep up with today’s motoring requirements put C.S. Autoclassics/Opus Car Company as leaders in this field.