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Morris 8/40...What did the '40' mean ?


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#1 GMACKIE

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 05:32

During a conversation to-day, it turned out that the chap I was talking to owned a 1936 Morris 8/40. It so happened my first car was a 1938 Morris 8/40.

 

When I asked him what the '40' referred to, he thought it was brake HP. It was nothing like 40 BHP ! Although not that concerned about it, I often wondered about that '40'...the nearest I ever found in the 'specs' was the oil pressure. :) Anyone know what it's about ?



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#2 Catalina Park

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 05:51

Copied from "The BMC Experience" magazine...
 

For the Australian market Morris Industries Export Ltd, in Cowley, a company owned solely by Lord Nuffield at that time, decided that this 8 hp vehicle would be called the Morris 8/40 and that the 'Two Seater' model would be marketed as a 'Roadster'.

Research to date has failed to reveal why Lord Nuffield decided on the Morris 8/40 name solely for the Australian market.

Although often today referred to in Australia as the Morris 8, advertisements and articles of the time from newspapers and magazines from around Australia show that the Morris 8/40 name, variously written as 8'40, 8/40 or 8-40, was used for all Pre-Series, Series I, Series II, and Series E, 8 horsepower vehicles sold in Australia.

It is commonly believed that the '40' represented the fuel consumption of 40 mpg at 40 mph (but may refer to 40ft.lbs torque) and the '8' naturally signified 8 horsepower RAC rating.


Take a look at http://bmcexperience...orris-8-40.html

Edited by Catalina Park, 27 February 2015 - 05:52.


#3 Dick Willis

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 05:54

What about 40 mph max !!



#4 GMACKIE

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 05:59

That's only with a tail wind, Dick.   ;) 



#5 eldougo

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 07:08

They sold 40 cars in OZ. :wave:



#6 DanTra2858

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 07:58

Dick are you refering in a roundabout way that your Renault 750 was quicker?????

#7 Stinky

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 07:59

Hi Fellas;

My parents had a Morris 8/40 when I was a kid.

Going on Dick's idea he could be right.

40 mph on a dead flat road into a normal Sydney sea breeze!!

Performance car NOT!!

If anyone knows the Northern Beaches it was second gear up Foleys Hill on Mona Vale Road.

Cheers.

Roger.



#8 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 08:16

What about 40 mph max !!

I once saw one doing about 50mph. Though I think it had been 'hotrodded' a bit. It had taken about 4 miles to wind up too!

With the 40 thing. A40? A70, A90 etc.

Very maybe BHP there though the poms used RAC rating. eg Morris 8. a grey Holden was 21.6!!



#9 GMACKIE

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 08:41

My brother drove my 8/40 once - from then on he called it "The Morris 8/39". :rolleyes:



#10 Catalina Park

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 09:30

According to a 1940 road test in the Brisbane Courier the BHP was no less than 30 and had a maximum speed of 63.38 mph. (I'm really glad they took the MPH to two decimal places.)

http://trove.nla.gov...rticle/40941753

Edited by Catalina Park, 27 February 2015 - 09:32.


#11 Ray Bell

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 09:53

Orginally posted by Lee Nicolle
.....With the 40 thing. A40? A70, A90 etc.
Very maybe BHP there though the poms used RAC rating. eg Morris 8. a grey Holden was 21.6!


But they knew what brake horsdpower was all about...

A40, A70, A90 were from a different manufacturer, not relevant.

There were a few of these in my family at some time or another. My grandfather had one, a ute, which my father drove to Sydney and back with his mother, mum's mother and him in the front, mum, her sister and brother in the back.

It broke a front spring at Newcastle.

Mum had one in which she learned to drive.

Later there was another which my older sister took driving lessons in. It was during this time that she gave up on learning to drive because of a sudden onset... well, perhaps she learned something else in there with the local hardware store proprietor.

#12 Glengavel

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 10:15

I once saw one doing about 50mph. Though I think it had been 'hotrodded' a bit. It had taken about 4 miles to wind up too!

With the 40 thing. A40? A70, A90 etc.

Very maybe BHP there though the poms used RAC rating. eg Morris 8. a grey Holden was 21.6!!

 

The Wolseley 14/60 had a 60bhp engine and was presumably RAC rated at 14hp(?). So maybe the Morris had 40bhp.

 

In later years (e.g. 6/110) it looks like they just took 'number of cylinders/Austin base model'.

 

I've just had a thought - was there ever an Austin A80? Google has a couple of references to 'A80 Atlantic', which is surely incorrect; apart from that there are links to sites in Canada and NZ, which make me think it was an export-only model?



#13 275 GTB-4

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 10:25

I've just had a thought - was there ever an Austin A80? Google has a couple of references to 'A80 Atlantic', which is surely incorrect; apart from that there are links to sites in Canada and NZ, which make me think it was an export-only model?


More likely typo's for 'A90 Atlantic'...

#14 Dick Willis

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 10:42

Dick are you refering in a roundabout way that your Renault 750 was quicker?????

My Renault 750, you blokes have good memories ! Seriously though I suspect the "40" might have been for 40 mpg. And I did have a lovely black Morris 8/40 saloon for a while, bought it in about 1972 but hardly drove it for obvious reasons.



#15 Terry Walker

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 11:05

Amazing to find another Renault 750 owner. My first car was a Hillman Minx, 1935 model, top speed about 45 mph (seemed like twice that when driven on our narrow bumpy roads of the early 60s), then came the 750. Mine had a Dauphine-like dash, a three bar "grille" but spider wheels, and was about '54???.  Never seen one with that combination since, although have seen one like it with Dauphine wheels. Gosh,  More than 50 years ago. Mind boggles.


Edited by Terry Walker, 27 February 2015 - 11:06.


#16 Dick Willis

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 20:43

Terry, my Renault had the same grille etc as yours, there is a pic of it somewhere on this forum. Overall though it rates somewhere near the bottom of the list of the favourite cars I have owned.



#17 GMACKIE

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 21:13

If there was one thing worse than a Renault 750...it would be a Renault 750 with a Ferlec clutch. :eek:



#18 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 27 February 2015 - 23:08

Terry, my Renault had the same grille etc as yours, there is a pic of it somewhere on this forum. Overall though it rates somewhere near the bottom of the list of the favourite cars I have owned.

In my youth I had a neighbor with a Renault bent, and in my early twenties had friends with 8s and 10s.

My neighbor progressed through a couple of 750s into a Dauphine. At least one 750 had the 'spider' wheels. Personally i liked them better than a VW.

The 8s and 10s I drove, Top gear was useless, you went faster in third!

Here in SA Steve Blee used a 750 with a 16TS at rallycross with success. Though after a huge rollover he could not reshell as CAMS had banned suicide doors so thge mechanicals went into a R8



#19 Ray Bell

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Posted 28 February 2015 - 11:40

Originally posted by GMACKIE
If there was one thing worse than a Renault 750...it would be a Renault 750 with a Ferlec clutch.


I went out with a girl named Sandra Waterhouse a couple of times... back in 1965... and yes, that Waterhouse family...

One day she let me drive her grandmother's Renault Dauphine. It had a Ferlec clutch, strange device, but I don't think the 750 ever had them.



.

Edited by Ray Bell, 28 February 2015 - 21:13.


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#20 Catalina Park

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Posted 28 February 2015 - 12:08



#21 Ray Bell

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Posted 28 February 2015 - 12:50

At least they didn't rob the car of power...

Thanks for setting me straight on this.

#22 seldo

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Posted 28 February 2015 - 13:40

At least they didn't rob the car of power...

Thanks for setting me straight on this.

O - O = ....O

#23 GMACKIE

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Posted 28 February 2015 - 20:30

At least they didn't rob the car of power...

Thanks for setting me straight on this.

That's alright Ray, no need for an apology. I know everything I say must be questioned.



#24 Ray Bell

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Posted 28 February 2015 - 21:14

That's because I keep forgetting, Greg...

You're so much older and wiser than I am!

#25 275 GTB-4

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Posted 28 February 2015 - 21:20

O - O = ....O


Sing it Billy! :up:



#26 Ian G

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Posted 28 February 2015 - 22:17

I'm surprised no one mentioned it yet,it was the nickname when i was at School,it took 40 people to build it of which 8 actually did something.

 

Edit...as you were,still hungover,wrong model British car.


Edited by Ian G, 28 February 2015 - 22:20.


#27 seldo

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Posted 28 February 2015 - 23:28

I went out with a girl named Sandra Waterhouse a couple of times... back in 1965... and yes, that Waterhouse family...

One day she let me drive her grandmother's Renault Dauphine. It had a Ferlec clutch, strange device, but I don't think the 750 ever had them.



.

I experienced my very first spin in a Dauphine mit Ferlec. A teacher at our school wanted to show off his new Dauphine Ferlec to a couple of us keen car-boys. He took us for a run around the oval in it and as soon as he thought about turning the wheel, it instantly did a 360 on the wet grass....
Sorry - but it's not an 8/40 is it...?
As you were....

Edited by seldo, 28 February 2015 - 23:29.


#28 cooper997

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Posted 01 March 2015 - 06:10

I'm afraid no answer to the original question. 

 

Had Greg seen this 1939 AGP advert he would have been rushing off to buy a new or near new 8/40! Or maybe not!

 

My dad had one as his second car I believe - a ute though. Got talked into an old Chev tourer to become his first, then the 8/40. Then finally he got an MG TC, that he'd wanted from before he had a license.

 

1939_AGP_Morris_ad.jpg
how do you print screen

 

Stephen

 

 



#29 GMACKIE

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Posted 01 March 2015 - 08:09

That's uncanny Stephen ! A neighbour gave my brother and me a 1927 Chev, that had been 'uted'. As neither of us were old enough for a licence, Mother insisted we get rid of it. :cry:

 

My 8/40 was like the lower one - 1938, with 'easy-clean' wheels. It cost 50 quid...which was a lot when my apprentice wage was 5 pounds 3 bob a week ! Fortunately there was plenty of week-end work around.

 

In order to get to work a bit quicker, a 'shaved head' and a pair of Amal Monobloc carbies was required.  ;) That's when I found out the rear axles were easy to break. ): 1960 was my first VW.



#30 cooper997

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Posted 01 March 2015 - 10:08

That is indeed uncanny Greg. But clearly you caught the Beetle bug well before any Nuffield/MG virus could seriously take to you!

 

Here follows the Morris, broken down in Yarrawonga. Because the photo has Yarrwonga scribbled on the back. So a fairly brave move on my old man's part to drive from Monbulk in The Dandenongs, to the border. Probably to go fishing or shooting or both, back in or around 1958. I however can't ask him anymore.

 

SLD_Morris_ute_2.jpg
picture sharing

 

Stephen



#31 GMACKIE

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Posted 01 March 2015 - 10:18

SU fuel pump, i'll bet !



#32 ken devine

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Posted 03 March 2015 - 00:06

At a car show yesterday i asked some owners what the 40 meant but none of them new, It is the same as the A40 in my Austin means.I seem to recall there was a Buick 8/40



#33 Ray Bell

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Posted 03 March 2015 - 03:41

Wasn't the Buick 8/40 eight cylinders and 40 RAC horsepower?

Probably not, that name was used in the US too.

#34 wagons46

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Posted 03 March 2015 - 05:46

The '40' with Buicks denoted the model, e.g. Standard, Special, DeLuxe etc, so there was 40, 50, 70, all various lengths and power trains and compressions and HP.

Edited by wagons46, 03 March 2015 - 06:32.


#35 Dipster

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Posted 03 March 2015 - 10:36

SU fuel pump, i'll bet !

This brings back memories of the only time i saw my Dad make a co@k up of a repair. An SU fuel pump had failed and he had the end cover and the fuel union off at the same time. But the ignition was on....  an unfortunate flash of the lead on the terminal and the pump bursting back into life (a successful repair) caused the inevitable fire! But doused fairly quicklyn no serious damage done but a lesson learnt by son (me).