By Paul & Susan
On August 25th 1961 a 17 year old engineering apprentice arrived home for lunch to find a strange vehicle parked in the drive of his parents bungalow, he asked his mother who the car belonged to, she replied " ask your father ". This was not an unusual reply as the apprentice’s father often had vehicles belonging to works colleagues left in the drive whilst they were away on company business. The car in question was a black 1936 Morris Eight registration number JE2238.
As you may have guessed, the apprentice was yours truly ( see photo ) the car turned out to be a 17th birthday present from my parents. I found out later the price paid was £15.
This was to be the beginning of my motoring experiences; low oil pressure, oil leaks, white metalled big ends, burnt out valves, leaking sliding head and blown head gaskets. Yes I suffered all of these problems during the two years that I owned the car.
My friends and fellow apprentices at the time also owned a variety of old cars :- Austin 10 Cambridge, Ford ? van, Standard ? and a Morris Minor.
Four years ago my mother found photos of JE 2238 with friends and asked if I would like them back, silly question. Susan and I have owned another Morris 8 for the past three years!
Sadly I had to part with JE 2238 to ‘ the big scrap yard in the sky ‘ when it was no longer possible to get the big ends re metalled ( no such thing as classic cars in 1963 ).
We would be interested to hear from anyone who may know the whereabouts of JE 2238 or any of the other vehicles referred to in photos.