Registration No: SV 7887
Chassis No: 73297
MOT: Exempt

• Owned by the West family in Devon from 1963-1999
• Current family ownership since 2000 with new exhaust inserts fitted that same year
• History file includes Morris Light Cars instruction book, V5C Registration Document, green logbook and sundry old MOTs etc.

Introduced in 1913, the basic Morris ‘Bullnose’ design lasted until 1926 by which time its variants accounted for an impressive forty-five per cent of new sales in the UK. Compared to domestic and foreign rivals in the 12hp-14hp market, the model offered notably good performance courtesy of its torquey, four-cylinder engines and light yet robust leaf-sprung chassis. Having originally sourced powerplants from the English White & Poppe outfit, William Morris switched to the cheaper American Continental Motor Manufacturing Corporation and then the French Hotchkiss & Cie firm. The latter’s Coventry factory proved so successful at producing a reworked version of the Continental Red Seal 1.5-litre unit that it was bought by its biggest customer becoming Morris Engines Ltd during 1923. That year also saw production split between the basic 1548cc ‘Cowley’ (three lamp set, minimal instrumentation) and de luxe 1802cc ‘Oxford’ (five lamp set, leather upholstery, Dynamotor). Approximately, 150,000 Bullnoses were made from 1919-1926 and they remained a familiar sight on British roads until well into the 1960s.

According to its accompanying green logbook, this particular Cowley example – car number 73297 – was first registered on 29th January 1925. Belonging to the West family in Devon from the early 1960s through to 1999, it changed hands once more before entering the current family ownership during 2000. An invoice on file from the Lenton Engineering Co Ltd suggests that the engine was fitted with new exhaust inserts that same year. Unused for quite some time, ‘SV 7887’ is now in need of recommissioning / restoration.