Barn Find — Morris Minor Million #249

chris pick
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

My Grandfather purchased a Morris Minor Million (#249) in 1961. Oh, what is a Morris Minor Million? Well at the time the Morris Minor was the most popular built British Car (in terms of sales), in December 1960 they were to produce the Millionth Morris Minor, and as this was to be the first British car company to produce a million cars, the Morris company wanted to celebrate by producing a special edition car #1,000,000. They did not want everyone else to be left out, so they also created 349 (one for each dealership) Morris Minor Millions in commemoration of the actual Millionth car. The millionth car was given away, and the 349 were sold. To make them stand out, all 350 cars were painted a lavender color, and came with white seats with black piping and black carpets. Back to the story, my Grandfather purchased #249 from a Morris dealer near Barrow in Furness. (I will have to see if he had a diary entry to confirm the date of early 1961). My grandmother drove it for a few years, driving it to the Barrow Girls Grammar School where she taught Maths. My Grandparents loved caravanning, unfortunately the Minor did not have enough power to pull a caravan.

Newer Yellow License Plate GEO-470

So my grandparents sold #249 to their daughter; Joan, in the mid 60s. Joan moved to Croydon around 1968, and worked at a consulting firm as a director.

It was in 1972 (over 5 years before I was born), that she had an epiphany about energy conservation, and she parked #249 in the parking garage.

There sat #249 undisturbed until the early 90s when she was vandalized, with some seats torn and windows broken my aunt could no longer find it in her to go and see her car. Between 1972 and 2007 she used motorized transport only two times, once in an ambulance after dislocating her shoulder and then in the hearse for her mothers funeral. Her favorite mode of transit was her feet. Even though she did not drive it, she had a love for the car..

Joan Pick passed away Jan 29, 2017 age 76. Which is how I ended up here writing about her and #249. As the car (which deserves a name) has been in the family since new, I would like to keep her in the family, and have her restored to factory condition.. This is how I found her, after being covered up for decades, and not moved since 1972.

Follow along for the ride, where #249 is restored back to factory glory.

Morris Minor Million #249 uncovered after being parked since 1972

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