The car was still in its original color - a sort of turquoise color known as Valley green, with original pale green seats and door trims with a mottled off white head lining. It had chrome glove box lids, steering column and a sports steering wheel. In the boot were lacquered marine ply base boards, one of which had a hole the size of a hub cap, which the spare wheel with its hub cap could be seen. Also in the boot, screwed to the back of the seat was more lacquered board on which the wheel brace and hub cap remover were clamped.
The car proved to be a hit especially with Suzy's father, my future father in law - Bill. Suzy, after passing her license, went off driving, that is to say, she lost interest in driving all together. But this didn't mean the Morry lay idle in drive way, for Bill was driving it most of the time and it would have taken a wheel brace to remove him from it. He could often be found under the car, with only his feet visible and up to the elbows in oil/grease, as the car had a bad habit of eating gearbox's.
It was about this time when the in-laws inherited a family heirloom, her name was "Strawberry". She was in fact a 1950 "MO" Oxford, who strangely enough was the first car I had come across with a name. To its previous owner - Auntie Gwen, the car was actually human, or the way she talked about it you would be forgiven for assuming she was!
She was so similar to a Minor - a "lo-light" that is, except she was literally twice the size. With such a huge selection of colors offered at the time of her original purchase - Black, green or Oxide red, she was Empire green. Mr Thomas (Mother in laws grandfather) purchased "Strawberry" in 1950 from Lane Motors in Melbourne, he drove her for about 5 years then Auntie Gwen inherited her after his death.
The story still told by my mother in law is that Mr Thomas was a rather round & short man who had difficulty fitting behind the steering wheel whilst requiring the seat in the forward most position - the solution - remove a section from the steering wheel!!. We still don't know whether to believe this story or not.
Another interesting thing about this car is that in its first few weeks in the Albury area, whilst the car was parked frontwards towards the gutter, a shop front and verandah fell onto Strawberry's roof (see photo below, she is on the right side). The repair was visible until a few years ago when we restored her to her former glory. The material used at the time - around 1950, to repair the dent, being a type of paper-mache mixture. Another unique feature was the "Dip switch" for the headlights, it was mounted on the glovebox! Apparently Auntie Gwen couldn't reach it when it was on the floor!
The car was really optioned up, it must have been the top of the range (ha!ha!), it had a transistor, also known back then as a wireless. It had a swing out handle either side of the wireless, which enabled you to actually remove it from the car and take it with you.
Auntie Gwen had so many stories to tell about her travels in old Strawberry, she reckoned she'd been around Australia "numerous times", this I found difficult to imagine in a side valve Morris Oxford!!
Anyway, back to the story, both cars kept each other company under the carport of the home at Rowville Victoria, until the time came when the in-laws decided to move to Albury. As already detailed above, Strawberry had originally come from Albury many years before, but had also spent many years in Melbourne. Now she was chafing at the bit to get back home, back to Albury. Bill then moved the business to Albury in December 1987 and was trekking to and from Albury for several months thereafter. The first problem we had was waiting for the house to sell, which took around 5 months. The second problem was how to transport 6 motor vehicles and 1 boat with only 5 drivers, the solution was as follows.
It was early one Easter morning in 1988, we awoke in the normal fashion, however, we were still in Melbourne, but surrounded by packing boxes. Someone said "Where's Dad?", Dorothy replied "Probably out driving around", we looked in the carport and sure enough the Oxford was gone, so we assumed the obvious. Around lunch time that day, Bill strolled in the door, Dorothy said "We didn't hear a car pull up", Bill said "No, I came in a truck!" It turns out, Bill, in his usual fashion couldn't hang around waiting for removalists etc, so he woke up in the early hours of the morning and set off to Albury in old Strawberry, he got to somewhere around Benalla and ran out of petrol. So he slept in the car until the service station opened, with a full tank of fuel he headed off again, then encountering intermittent spark from the generator, he pulled over and lifted the bonnet.
Day light had still not broken but he could see the spark at the generator and tightened the problem connection and continued on his way. Arriving in Wangaratta, the car then boiled, he allowed the car sufficient time to cool down, refilled the radiator and eventually made it to Albury. Bill then hitchhiked back to Melbourne, coincidentally he found a truck driver who was planning to travel right past the back door of the house in Rowville.
Around the same time as the above event, Dorothy was asked by a neighbor of her sisters (who had noticed that they drove Morris Minors), "Weve got a Morris Minor panel van, would you be interested in buying it", Dorothy replied, "I'll contact my husband and let you know". With that Dorothy phoned Bill with the story, Bill said "Buy it!", so she did. Now we were back to the same problem all over again 6 cars with 5 drivers.
On arrival at Albury we squeezed all our belongings into the one house - a rental property which Bill had organised, a stopgap until we found a house to purchase. It was about this time that Dorothy (Bills wife) had acquired a reputation around the real estate agents as "that woman that needs a house with at least 4 bedrooms and accommodation for 7 cars!!
After many months we found the right house out at Jindera NSW, a huge 12 kilometers from Albury. Initially the trip out to Jindera seemed to take forever, especially after living in the suburbs of Melbourne. The journey involved a winding road through the hills surrounded by gum trees, and at worst, if you were unlucky you might meet up with another car that you may have to overtake!
The house was as described by the Estate agent "one of a kind", it had 4 bedrooms plus a study, a huge Dining/lounge room - (we have often jested to Dorothy about ripping up the carpet and using it as a show room for the cars) It had a Rumpus/family room adjoining the kitchen, two bathrooms (because you know what sisters are like) and carport accommodation for 4 cars, with a shed out the back. The shed can fit 6 Morry's comfortably (believe me, weve tried it), the previous owner had ultralight planes, the whole back wall of the shed opened out in sections and he would use the paddock behind as a landing/takeoff strip.
It was from that time on that we knew the addiction had really set in. We had actually bought a home especially to suit our hobbies! This was scary, to think that the Morris Minors had taken over all of our values. Counting back over the years up until writing this story, I end up with a figure of 34 Morris Minors that we have owned in 11 years.
At the time of moving into the house we had Strawberry, Bill's 1000 panelvan and Suzie's Series II 4 door. Around 3 months later Andrea and I found a house to buy also in Jindera, I moved in with most of our possessions and Andrea moved in the day of our wedding, the 1st October 1988. Soon after this time was the arrival of our first Minor.
It was January the following year when an advertisement in the local paper caught my eye. It read "Morris Minor - 1000 2 Door with Datsun engine g/box - good condition - $400". After a quick phone call and the directions in my hand we made a quick trip to Corowa and a purchase was made. We drove home and hooked up the tandem trailer and made the return trip to pick up the vehicle.
We arrived back at our house and the car was rolled into the back yard, as we couldn't work out why it wouldn't start. I washed the car to get a better view of my purchase, then proceeded to remove some panels to familiarise myself with the vehicle. After removing only the front and rear guards, we found there was only minimal rust, also we decided a replacement bootlid would need to be found as it was badly rusted. Bill eventually worked out why the car wouldn't run, the previous owner had put the distributor in 180degrees incorrectly.
It was October 1988 that we decided we would advertise in the paper for expressions of interest to join us for our first meeting. The meeting was held at Bill's factory, in Albury. We had plenty of interest with around 8 people showing. The following months involved organising runs and garage trips to see what cars people were building.