Minor Changes - Page 1
I was sure we wouldn't make the corner. `Morris Minors are not supposed to do this', I thought. 'A modern car perhaps, but not a Minor.' I braced myself for the inevitable.
When I opened my eyes again, I realised that not only had we made the corner, but we'd done so without the slightest drama. Chris Street, proprietor of CS Autoclassics, was still chatting away, one hand on the steering wheel, the other gesticulating as it had been when we approached the bend with the speedometer needle nearing the end of its sweep. A standard Morris Minor would certainly have ended up in the ditch, but this car had the benefit of the CS Autoclassics 'Series IV' suspension update.
To the uninitiated, the company's demonstrator, affectionately known as 'Merlin', looks much like any other well-restored Minor Traveller. But the car's staid appearance belies the years of development that have gone into improving the Minor's brakes and suspension, with the result that the Series IV Minor driver can enjoy classic car motoring while still being able to keep up with modern day traffic.
Although the ride and handling of a well-maintained standard Minor is adequate, serious use finds the car sadly lacking: brakes which suffer from fade on long steep hills, inefficient damping and axle location which cause roll and axle tramp on corners, a tendency towards understeer if pushed, and performance that can make long journeys a chore.
The idea behind the CS Autoclassics' approach to update the Minor is not so much about creating a wolf in sheep's clothing but more about making the Minor more usable on a day-to-day basis. Modern disk brakes and updated suspension with telescopic dampers help to make the car safer in inexperienced hands.
The updated Minor was developed from a competition car built in the early eighties by Geoff Moore, an accomplished rally driver and chassis design engineer, and financed by the Morris Minor Centre, Bath.
Chosen as an ideal starter rally car, Geoff's Minor utilised Marina front disc brakes and a Marina rear axle located by radius arms and with vertically mounted telescopic dampers replacing the old-fashioned lever arms. Fitted with a tuned 1275cc Midget engine, the car was a great success on the rally track, much to the consternation of some drivers who objected to being overtaken by a midwife's car!
A chance meeting with Charles Ware of the Morris Minor Centre in Bath resulted in the system being developed for production. Further research and development was undertaken by Chris Street (then of CS Autotech), a qualified aeronautics engineer with a lot of experience in engineering and a great enthusiasm for the Minor. The system was marketed through the Morris Minor Centre as the Series III and received much media acclaim.
Meanwhile, Chris was looking ahead and developing the concept further with his refined Series IV. This features revised damper brackets, radius arms, damper rates, the use of the 30% stronger Marina torsion bars and eyebolt bushes, and front suspension uprights which are fitted with the tougher Marina spindle to do away with any special adaptor sleeves and allow the use of standard Marina wheel bearings. So, when CS Autotech parted company from the Morris Minor Centre in 1989, Chris established CS Autoclassics and began to market the Series IV himself.