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1954 Morris Oxford 4-Speed Manual, Restored
Here is a fully restored example of a 1954 Morris Oxford 4-Speed Manual. It is a local car to the owner, with a reproduction dealership decal on the trunk lid and the owner is familiar with local whereabouts of some of this dealer’s surviving relatives. It is an excellent restoration of the “Series MO” saloon, finished in cream with green accents and a burgundy interior. It is powered by the original 1.5 litre inline-four, factory rated at 40 horsepower, with a four-speed manual getting the engine’s output to the rear wheels. It had remained with the original selling dealer’s family through purchase by the mechanic seller some 25 years ago, when he began the refurbishment.
The paint job is strikingly good, with the only flaw being the driver’s fender – which we show in our photo gallery. Rather than re-chroming the bumpers, the seller decided to have them painted in the forest green employed on the remainder of the exterior trim. Other forest green appearing on the exterior is in place on the Morris wheel covers and the protective strips running down the car’s side. Morris emblems also appear in the door sill metal protective strips. Chrome brightwork is in place on the door handles, it does show signs of pitting. There are stone chips on the front bumper though they seem to be limited to this area only. The original colour is believed to be black.
The bench seats, front and rear were re-covered in maroon vinyl as part of the restoration and the upholstery remains very good and free of imperfections. Sun visors matching the fabric of the headliner and manual-wind windows are equipped while the carpet below is in a matching maroon, protected by a universal set of black floor mats. The three-spoke banjo-style steering wheel fronts a gold metal dashboard with instrumentation by SMITHS mostly centre-mounted. The analog clock is inoperative and the speedometer tops out at 90 MPH. There are tertiary gauges for fuel level, oil and amperage while knobs control accessories and air ventilation is controlled below the shelf at the base of the dash. A modern gauge for coolant temperature by Hastings has been installed to augment instrumentation while the parking brake is controlled at the left hand of the driver.
Mechanically, the 1.5 litre four hooks up to a four-speed manual transmission. The four-speed is shifted on the column and puts the factory-rated 40 horsepower to the pavement via the rear wheels. As part of the restoration, a 12-volt stealth alternator was installed and exhaust is by a stainless steel system. Most recently, the oil was changed in Autumn 2023 with few miles driven since. Tires were installed at the time of the restoration and the owner estimates that the car has driven approximately 3,000 km since. The odometer reads under 61,000 miles, though True Mileage is Unknown (TMU). Do review our driving videos which demonstrate the car accelerating to and traveling at highway speed.
Coming along with this 1954 Morris is a motherlode of parts, both new and used. They are photographed and appear in the gallery and the owner has prepared an itemized list in painstaking detail, which we have also included in the gallery.
This 1954 Morris Oxford 4-Speed Manual, Restored is available with an abundance of spares, owner’s manual, service manual, parts manual and two sets of keys from the 25-year owner in Cobourg, Ontario.
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