did that car have a Ford 5 speed gearknob fitted? has it had a 5 speed box fitted? and gotta say, towing with a Morris 1000 is BRAVE, especially nowadays!
I began watching you on Top Gear in the early 90’s and I’m glad I still get to do that on TH-cam. Keep it up Tiff. One of my favorite videos of you is actually your episode with Harris spanking the 3 hypercars!
I love this insight into Tiff's early years. I would like to know a bit more about his (few) years as a Civil Engineer. Did all the mathematics and Structural design help in his racing career? I recently found out that Colin Chapman himself was also a Civil Engineer. My first car? That was a rear wheel drive Mazda 323 estate.
We have lost that simple joy of the freedom of a car, it is seen as such a right now. I remember sitting in the old Singer that my Dad bought for me to learn in, practicing gear changes and in my minds eye picturing the green country lanes that would lead me to places to go hillwalking and the pub afterwards, with a kip in the tent to follow!
These memories of good old days, the story of tiff how he became the great & loved driver we see today.... Literally I was smilling the whole time. A great video by the team. There is something we all just about tiff that charisma, a striking personality, he is the guy who had made so many people mad for powerslides. Keep going man you rock.
Living in Colorado I had a right hand drive Moggie. Loved it. I took out the passenger seat so my Great Pyrenees Khoda could sit next to me and look out the windscreen. got great reactions from oncoming drivers.
There's something reassuring about a Morris 1000, I am of a similar age to Tiff, passing my test on November 28th 1968 , my first car was a Morris Oxford Estate, 1962 vintage, with a very powerful 1622cc engine producing an incredible 61 bhp lol, remember racing a Ford Cortina 1.2 for around 25 miles while on holiday, we had our car full of camping gear, so it was so much fun, because going down a hill I would overtake the Cortina, but when we went up the other side the Cortina passed us lol, this went on for about 25 miles along a rare dual carriageway of the time lol, fond memories though, holes in the front footwells big enough to get your foot through ! exhaust held on with a piece of wire, and a brake pedal that went straight to the floor ! had to pump it several times for the brakes to work, drove over 1000 miles on the holiday like that 😅🤦♀️ but I was just 18 and a new driver, plus safety in those days was secondary to mobility !
British cars made up to and including the 1960s did not receive any rustproofing in the factory, so repairs due to rust were much more common than now.
What a wonderful episode! One of my favourite from your channel. Hopefully, we’ll see more diverse content such as this, aside from the usual supercar ones.
I am 65 at the moment lol .and my first car after passing my test was a beaten up oldsmobile rocket 88 my parents went mad I paid 25 pounds for it .my dad coverd the insurance. Great video love old tiff puts Clarkson in Second division
Shaun Sizmur Clarkson was never in any but the bottom division, Tiff in the top. Great in a car (any car? Any sort of motorsport event for four wheels), and always willing to learn. Loved this video. Les
Tiff, you won a Lotus Formula Ford in an Autosport competition... now that WAS a lucky break! I trained at Brands Hatch, like you I beleive, but I'm always telling people that they don't give you a car when you graduate and you need money. Well done for taking full advantage of the opprtunity though :-D My first car was a Mini 1000
Fantastic story! What more could you want? Racing and TV legend Tiff telling you his beginnings in modest and heartfelt way. This is why Lovecars is a cut above so many TH-cam car channels. My 1st Car was a 1981 Talbot Sunbeam 1300 LS with a 1600 Ti engine swapped in and lotus stripes & Rostyles, still have a polaroid of it, it rusted almost as fast as it went due to its 1300 diff 😂
A grey Morris 1000 - bought for £5 - when I was 13! To drive on the old aerodrome behind our house. Loved it when it was cold and wet and we could put the heater on 'full blast' - with wipers flapping away. Would often take a picnic too! Austin A55 next - ooh, wheelspin on the gravel in 2nd gear.
Sadly from 2030 on all the combustion cars including classics will be banned from public streets in EU :-( In Germany the Green party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025 on by reducing petrol stations to only one station per city. :-(
I don’t normally comment on these videos (despite being on TH-cam with a car channel myself!), but this was such an enjoyable, and beautifully presented, and well edited video, I just had to say how much I loved it. Genuinely brilliant, and very poignant. I remember travelling with my uncle in his old van as he competed in motorbike racing at Knockhill in Scotland. Such different times to today’s world of corporate sponsorship and the high cost of racing, even at junior levels. Brilliant Tiff, just brilliant. One of the best things I’ve ever seen you present.
I had a Morris Minor 1000 long ago. I sold it. That was a decision I have frequently regretted. Shortly after I sold my Moggie 4 door, I saw a Traveler at a used car lot. Their asking price was way beyond I could afford at the time. The Moggie was great fun to drive. A Moggie pulling a trailer? Hmm...I'll need to think about that one. Great video.
Fantastic video such passion and a lovely story. We have Arthur as our every day car he is a 1968 Morris 1000 you can follow his adventures on Instagram Arthur_the_morris_minor 😉
What a history lesson. What a story. Brilliant. More of this style please. None of this stupid boring drag races that seems to be the TH-cam trend these days
Thank you, and yes we aren’t the biggest fan of drag races but the wider audience appears to be! Hopefully having 1 drag race and 1 feature a week keeps everyone happy 😊
Lovely video tiff, great happy memories from your youth. Thanks for sharing. :-) Vinny. Oh, nearly forgot, at 17 I became the proud owner of LNX 755E Rover P5 3.0 straight six. Mega car but only 15mpg around town. Not much more anywhere else actually. :-)
What a really lovely film. I had a little tear in my eye towards the end. I was also a civil engineer and was surprised to hear your were also Tiff. My first car was a 1984 Cavalier but once I killed that I could only afford a 1977 Morris Marina Coupe 1.3 and I got very attached to that odd little car. Wonderful content. Keep it up.
Back in the '70's I had a '62 Morris Minor and a '67 XKE Jaguar 4.2. Guess which one was more dependable as a work transportation/parts shuttle car vs. a "driveway queen/monument", constantly needing some new serious factory shoddy short-cut methods-related maintenance problem resolved just to see it on the road now and then.
Many “Minors” were sent in CKD format for assembly to a number of countries. Prominent amongst these were South Africa, New Zealand, Malaysia, Ireland (Eire), Holland.and Rhodesia. In South Africa, the assembly of these CKD kits took place at the Motor Assemblies Limited plant in Durban. In addition a few hundred “Minors” were assembled at the BMC plant at Blackheath in the Western Cape. (Local South African figures suggest that some 33 333 vehicles were produced at these two plants). A 2-door “1000” saloon
My mum taught me to drive in a Morris 1000 in1987. That served me well because the clutch was stiff and it was quite hard to master. When I got in a new Mazda 3 for my driving test it was a doddle.
Like Tiff I learned to drive on Morris 1000s (with Elliscars of Exeter, if anyone remembers them), and passed my test in one in 1962, just short of my 19th birthday. Loved Moggies ever since, though I never owned one.
Lots of great moments; I love the trailer reversing lesson, but the best moment is from about 6.45 turning in the trailer centre where Tiff fumbles for the indicator stalk on the left, then remembers it's on the right... I do the same every time in my 68 mini😉
1st car June 1972 in Scottsdale AZ [age 16]: 1967 MGBGT grey w/overdrive + dealer 'Special' kit. 2nd car summer 1973: 1969 Alfa Romeo Berlina 1750FI 5-speed, 4-wheel discs. 3rd car in 1974: 1957 VW oval window [completed full original resto except for adding bored 40hp engine]. Sneaked into the first Barrett-Jackson auction in 1971 [went to school with Tom Barrett's daughter].
My first ever car was a blue 1965 ex GPO Morris Minor van, bought in 1972 for £125. I followed it up the year after, with a 1960 Minor Traveller in Smoke Grey, I had that for a year before the gearbox failed. From Feb 1974 to July 2010, I didn't own a Moggie, but I've had an F reg Traveller in Trafalgar Blue ever since then, nearly 12 years now.
My first car was a 1958 Morris Minor Traveller with an 850cc engine. Bought it in 1973 for $15. Took weeks until I found out how to operate the horn 😣. Mine was also green but it had a red interior. I loved the smell of the leather. I miss it. We had a lot of fun.
I had a Moggy Thou Traveller, in the 1970's did quite a few journey's up and down the A1 between Sheffield and Letchworth. Sold it for a Riley RM drophead. My first car was a 1946 1-1/2 litre Riley. www.flickr.com/photos/rtbcomp/albums/72157632941105294
First car was a 1964 Morris Oxford Traveller Series VI - reg no; CMO 335B, colour was Rose Taupe/Grey [two tone] with red trim. Bought new by a family member - owned by me 1977-79. Even had a radio!
I passed my test in 1989 and bought my first car in 1990, a 1986 Lancia Delta 1300LX. I loved that car and always kept a Lancia through the years. To this day have a Delta Lord Blue Evo 2, my daily is a Toyota engined Lotus Elise, which is very cheap to run. We also have 2 other cars, An oddball VW Golf mk2 country syncro (1990) and our reliable car is a nearly new 2002 Golf mk4 1.6, this car never lets us down. A good friend back in 1991 asked me to accompany him on a 400 mile drive to collect a Morris Minor, he had wanted one for ages. I drove it for about 100 miles, the gear change was really difficult as it was an old 50's car with double D clutch, beautiful though with split screen and indicator stalks in the door pillars, a small heater in a box which was pretty much useless. No brakes. Great days.
This is class. I absolutely love how fast he's driving it now. Reminds me of my dad driving our Rover P4 - basically a 67 year old boy racer with the wrong car.
I remember back in the good old 1950´s my dad had a 4 door split front windscreen morris minor in black...850 cc I believe..and I still remember the registration number..OLY 175..I wunder who has got that registration now...or maybe it doesn´t exist anymore.
My first car was a BMW Isetta 300 bubble car, bought for £45 in 1968 and sold for £45 a year later - would be worth thousands now! I drove a few Morris 1000 travellers in the early 70's in my job - they were 'J' reg, pale blue with white doors, a Police sign on the roof and a blue light on top of that, good reliable panda cars but not much good for high speed chases. Main problem was those tiny down-into-the-floor pedals so close together - with big policeman's boots on you could almost press all the pedals at the same time with one foot. The non-assisted drum brakes were positively dangerous by today's standards, emergency stops certainly required a strong right leg!
Wow! You won a Lotus race car with a trailer at age 19! Great video Tiff, we have a 1970 convertible called Lettice. But, what was that 5 speed gearbox?? And that engine didn't sound like a 1098.
The Morris Minor was a car that never appealed to me at all. This despite the fact that my father worked at Morris Engines in Coventry. My first car was a 1965 Vauxhall Viva SL in two-tone blue. It was a marvellous car to drive with a wonderful gear-change and a few luxury touches that the base non-SL models didn't have. Unfortunately, the rust-bug got it as it did with so many cars of that era.
Morris 1000 was my first car too - such a sweet handler for a 1948 design. It was "der-if-to!" opposite lock around every roundabout on crossplies! Radials not as much fun, but undoubtedly safer, thank goodness, on a couple of occasions (!)
That was fantastic! It took me back to my first car, a trafalgar blue minor 1000 saloon that my mom gave after passing my test in 1984. The freedom it gave and the hours of fun😅😅
Thank you Tiff, for that insight into your early life and the start of your racing career. A really heart warming story in these trying times. My first car was an MG Midget, first I saw and equally as rotten as your Traveller, seller was having a laugh.
You omitted mention of my first - a '51 LOW light convertible Morry but I did become a Civil Engineer and handed the Merry to my fiancé/wife. My Mum did have a 1000 MM 'tho.
Brilliant video, and loved the trailer reversing. I could never do that!! 😂 I learnt in a mid 60's mini, red with a black roof and some of my parents left over carpets in the interior as the original had gone, some really lovely swirly Axminster! My first car was a 4 speed Triumph TR7 finished in a glorious "russet brown" I think it was called....😳
My first car was a blue Renault 5 TL registration JUR 175N. I was 9 years old and I swapped it for a top loading VHS video recorder (an xmas present) with my neighbours 2 doors down. It sat near my mums house and for a full month every night I sneaked out back to the car and drove it round the borough of Merton, South London. Never got stopped. Never had an accident. Even learned to reverse park with a few scuffs of rear wheels. Drove to Wimbledon and back to Mitcham many times late at night. My mum asked the neighbours who owned it and she found out it was me and I came clean about driving around the area. She went beserk and got the car towed away. I was grounded for 3 months. Thirty six years later I have 4 cars and (legally) still sneak out for a bit of night time driving for fun.
Fantastic video. My first car (in 1982) was a 1977 Mini 850. I wonder if it is always a good idea to try to relive the past by revisiting your first cars? Is there a risk that they won't be as fun/good as you remembered them, imbued with that glow of nostalgia? I still have fond memories of the Triumph Spitfire I bought a year later when I was 19, and long hot summers with the roof down - but I have resisted the temptation to repeat it (though last year I finally fulfilled my teenage dream of owning a Morgan Plus 4 :)
Nice look back. Fine story. Literally... in the case of the car on the trailer in the rear view mirror. Could drive around the neighborhood like that all weekend 🙂 Cars have changed a lot. You will see some Travellers here, and yesterday I saw 3 Stag's... They're not really 'at home' over here. Your roads haven't changed much at all. Many of you might hate them, but I'm jealous of it, living in the 'flat Low country'. Never want to go to GB without a car, and drive your fantastic B-roads.
Sadly Charles Ware in Brislington Bristol went into receivership last Xmas (2021), they're no longer rebuilding cars, but still sell spare parts. Fortunately, there are several other companies who still specialise in repair and renovation of the Moggie.
A fascinating video, really enjoyed it. I did notice the 5 speed box however, my Moggie never had one of those! I passed my test in 1964 and had a couple of A30's before progressing to a Morris 1000. I worked for a year in a photofinishing company and had a new Morris 1000 to deliver and collect films and photos. In that year I did almost 70,000 miles and the only time I called out the breakdown was for a shattered windscreen. My own Moggie was a bit tatty and had all the usual problems with gearbox, kingpins and inaccessible brake master cylinder but I learned a lot on how to fix and maintain a car, I couldn't afford to take it into a garage to be fixed. No plugging into a diagnostic computer in those days either.
Wonderful story and thanks for promoting the brilliant Morris Traveller. Just one thing - owning a Traveller myself, weren't you quite a bit over a sensible towing figure with that trailer AND Lotus on the back?
![ผัวเถื่อน - ยูริ โตเกียวมิวสิค [ OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/P08ORRVDGl8/mqdefault.jpg)
What was your first car? Let us know below.
did that car have a Ford 5 speed gearknob fitted? has it had a 5 speed box fitted?
and gotta say, towing with a Morris 1000 is BRAVE, especially nowadays!
Red 1979 Chevy Van (car?!), 87 Dodge Charger (awful!), 1990 Nissan 240SX, then almost always Miatas after that.. Thanks for the beautiful video!
1983 BMW 320i
I had a 4 door MK2 Escort 1300L
MK3 Escort 1.1 in yellow.
One of the best films I’ve seen on TH-cam in ages. Well done guys and what a brilliant story.👍
Cheers Blair! :)
I began watching you on Top Gear in the early 90’s and I’m glad I still get to do that on TH-cam. Keep it up Tiff. One of my favorite videos of you is actually your episode with Harris spanking the 3 hypercars!
@blair henderson agreed 😌👍
Beautiful episode! Especially when he opened garage door for the Lotus 69F...
Thank you very much. We love this one too.
I’d like your comment but it already has 69 likes.
The end photo gave me chills.
Thank you!!
@@lovecarsTV did you have to make it end like it was Tiff's obituary?
@@Pionirish Exactly my thought too ! I was waiting for the RIP and 19xx-20xx !
Tiff Needell is the "class" when it comes to anything with cars, reviews, stories etc. Just awesome. RESPECT
🙂
Given çurrent climate this film is an oasis of calm in a world that has gone to hell in a handcart............Nice one 👍
Yes agreed, 'Foxes Afloat' a narrowboat adventure is wonderful too! Also a 'Rogue Mariner on the upper Thames' (&France) is just great.
My first car was a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe (with performance pack)
You could swap the rubber to somethijg grippier treads to increase the off-road traction on those vehicles!
I love this insight into Tiff's early years. I would like to know a bit more about his (few) years as a Civil Engineer. Did all the mathematics and Structural design help in his racing career? I recently found out that Colin Chapman himself was also a Civil Engineer. My first car? That was a rear wheel drive Mazda 323 estate.
Thank you very much! Will ask Tiff about the further information!
Or you could buy his fantastic Autobiography. ( dm me Tiff for my bank details 😅)
I started with a 1930-something Morris 8. Fantastic car. (mind you, having *any* car back then was fantastic).
Oh wow! 🙂
We have lost that simple joy of the freedom of a car, it is seen as such a right now. I remember sitting in the old Singer that my Dad bought for me to learn in, practicing gear changes and in my minds eye picturing the green country lanes that would lead me to places to go hillwalking and the pub afterwards, with a kip in the tent to follow!
Get back to your rc matey.
Ah wonderful memories of a time when traffic was almost non existent, drivers were polite and traffic cops would let you off with a caution! 🇬🇧
So true!
Tiff can talk about brushing his teeth and it would sound amazing
Hahahahaha! Not sure about that, but thanks!!
Lovecars well either way we love the videos! Cheers from San Francisco! 🥂
A very heartwarming story. 👍
Ford Escort. And no, not a cool one!
But I do now have a Lotus Esprit.
Thank you Paul. Our own personal favorite!
These memories of good old days, the story of tiff how he became the great & loved driver we see today.... Literally I was smilling the whole time. A great video by the team. There is something we all just about tiff that charisma, a striking personality, he is the guy who had made so many people mad for powerslides. Keep going man you rock.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you very much!
Whos cutting them effin Onions? 😭😭👑
😂😂😂😂😂
Same here
Living in Colorado I had a right hand drive Moggie. Loved it. I took out the passenger seat so my Great Pyrenees Khoda could sit next to me and look out the windscreen. got great reactions from oncoming drivers.
Amazing how that competition just totally changed Tiffs life direction. Imagine winning a formula car in a competition now. Would be unheard of.
Fabulously heart warming 22 minutes of video.
Yes, I watched this twice
HA! Andrew, thanks very much!!
Nice story. Decent guy with his feet on the ground.
Thanks very much Martin
Made me a bit tearful 😅 you can just see the love for cars in this film! 👍 Good job guys
Thank you very much Mike!
This film was absolutely brilliant! The edit, the story, and presented by an iconic individual 👌
There's something reassuring about a Morris 1000, I am of a similar age to Tiff, passing my test on November 28th 1968 , my first car was a Morris Oxford Estate, 1962 vintage, with a very powerful 1622cc engine producing an incredible 61 bhp lol, remember racing a Ford Cortina 1.2 for around 25 miles while on holiday, we had our car full of camping gear, so it was so much fun, because going down a hill I would overtake the Cortina, but when we went up the other side the Cortina passed us lol, this went on for about 25 miles along a rare dual carriageway of the time lol, fond memories though, holes in the front footwells big enough to get your foot through ! exhaust held on with a piece of wire, and a brake pedal that went straight to the floor ! had to pump it several times for the brakes to work, drove over 1000 miles on the holiday like that 😅🤦♀️ but I was just 18 and a new driver, plus safety in those days was secondary to mobility !
"... fifty minors on the premises in various states of repair" sounds like the parents went away for the weekend...
British cars made up to and including the 1960s did not receive any rustproofing in the factory, so repairs due to rust were much more common than now.
What a wonderful episode! One of my favourite from your channel. Hopefully, we’ll see more diverse content such as this, aside from the usual supercar ones.
Thank you Sam! Our favourite too. Just a shame [insert word here!] drag races, get so many more views and costs much less to produce!
Old school wins everytime for me!
I am 65 at the moment lol .and my first car after passing my test was a beaten up oldsmobile rocket 88 my parents went mad I paid 25 pounds for it .my dad coverd the insurance. Great video love old tiff puts Clarkson in Second division
Lol my dad's first car they were fast.
@@pyrrhus17 I wish I had that car now lol
Shaun Sizmur Clarkson was never in any but the bottom division, Tiff in the top. Great in a car (any car? Any sort of motorsport event for four wheels), and always willing to learn. Loved this video. Les
A Oldsmobile 88 1957 has been in my son in laws family since 1957👍
But the traveler is my wife’s all time favourite 💪
Wow.. Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks for sharing your story Tiff.
Thank you very much!
1969 Morris Minor. I bought it in 2019 and can't drive till December.
You will love it
Thanks for a beautiful story Tiff! I just wonder who are those 7 heartless people that disliked this video :)
Thank you. And TH-cam is a funny old place! 😉
Perhaps the 3 Grand Tour presenters and the 5th Gear Team.....all jealous ;)
Probably not fast enough for them.
Tiff, you won a Lotus Formula Ford in an Autosport competition... now that WAS a lucky break! I trained at Brands Hatch, like you I beleive, but I'm always telling people that they don't give you a car when you graduate and you need money. Well done for taking full advantage of the opprtunity though :-D
My first car was a Mini 1000
Fantastic story! What more could you want? Racing and TV legend Tiff telling you his beginnings in modest and heartfelt way. This is why Lovecars is a cut above so many TH-cam car channels. My 1st Car was a 1981 Talbot Sunbeam 1300 LS with a 1600 Ti engine swapped in and lotus stripes & Rostyles, still have a polaroid of it, it rusted almost as fast as it went due to its 1300 diff 😂
Thank you very much!!
A grey Morris 1000 - bought for £5 - when I was 13! To drive on the old aerodrome behind our house. Loved it when it was cold and wet and we could put the heater on 'full blast' - with wipers flapping away. Would often take a picnic too! Austin A55 next - ooh, wheelspin on the gravel in 2nd gear.
Beautiful video, thanks for sharing your memories with us Tiff ☺️
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you very much
Sadly from 2030 on all the combustion cars including classics will be banned from public streets in EU :-( In Germany the Green party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025 on by reducing petrol stations to only one station per city. :-(
Great episode could feel your nostalgia!!
Thank you Gary!
I don’t normally comment on these videos (despite being on TH-cam with a car channel myself!), but this was such an enjoyable, and beautifully presented, and well edited video, I just had to say how much I loved it. Genuinely brilliant, and very poignant. I remember travelling with my uncle in his old van as he competed in motorbike racing at Knockhill in Scotland. Such different times to today’s world of corporate sponsorship and the high cost of racing, even at junior levels. Brilliant Tiff, just brilliant. One of the best things I’ve ever seen you present.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment 🙂
Absolutely loved watching this. Tiff is such an incredible man and it’s so nice seeing an insight into where his love of cars began
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you very much!
4:01 Uncle Tiff telling a story about how he was the original Drift King back in the summer of 1969.
🙂
Delightful! My first car was indeed a Moggy Traveller - from Charles Ware - and in green! Happy memories 😀👍
Hello Adam
Tiff’s car: *has turn lights*
Tiff: uses his hand
Much love, your friends at Rev Media!!
Cheers guys!
Lovecars cheers!!
Right in the feels ❤️
Thank you Jared!
I passed my driver's test in June of 1969 driving a 1960 VW Beetle, the 36 horsepower German equivalent of the Minor.
👍👍
Great story Tiff. My first was a Renault 5 TL.
Thanks Graham. Renault 5 with gears shifter on the dash?
@@lovecarsTV No it had a normal gear stick, the Renault 4 had the dash mounted gear stick.
Graham Sivill ah yes. Thank you
Hello Sivill how are you doing
I had a Morris Minor 1000 long ago. I sold it. That was a decision I have frequently regretted. Shortly after I sold my Moggie 4 door, I saw a Traveler at a used car lot. Their asking price was way beyond I could afford at the time. The Moggie was great fun to drive. A Moggie pulling a trailer? Hmm...I'll need to think about that one. Great video.
Thanks 🙏
A Hilman Imp 😂
Nothing wrong with that!!! 👍
Fantastic video such passion and a lovely story. We have Arthur as our every day car he is a 1968 Morris 1000 you can follow his adventures on Instagram Arthur_the_morris_minor 😉
Thank you! Look forward to checking out Arthur!
Absolutely Class!!
Thank you Tony!
Sweet story.Tiff is by far the best motoring TV presenter.
My first car was a Ford Escort 1100L😎👍
Glad you enjoyed the video 👌😁
What a recreation👌🏻
Thank you!
Just awesome . Can I import one for me from here in India .
If cars or bikes are more to you than just getting from A to B. This video will have some meaning, stir up some memories and emotions. Love it.
Thanks for watching 🙂
What a history lesson. What a story. Brilliant. More of this style please. None of this stupid boring drag races that seems to be the TH-cam trend these days
Thank you, and yes we aren’t the biggest fan of drag races but the wider audience appears to be! Hopefully having 1 drag race and 1 feature a week keeps everyone happy 😊
My grandpa bought a Morris traveller for $30 back in the 1950s
😱 That's amazing. 👌
Lovely video tiff, great happy memories from your youth. Thanks for sharing. :-) Vinny. Oh, nearly forgot, at 17 I became the proud owner of LNX 755E Rover P5 3.0 straight six. Mega car but only 15mpg around town. Not much more anywhere else actually. :-)
Thank you very much! And wow... 15mpg is killer!!!
Tiff Needell, drifting round corners since 1969! 😁
😂
I really enjoyed this video. Nice to hear about Tiff's passed, he definitely grew my love for cars during my early years.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you very much!
Minors always seem to tread lightly, perfect for country lanes; the anthesis of road rage and tailgating. Smiles fitted as standard.
😂
What a really lovely film. I had a little tear in my eye towards the end. I was also a civil engineer and was surprised to hear your were also Tiff. My first car was a 1984 Cavalier but once I killed that I could only afford a 1977 Morris Marina Coupe 1.3 and I got very attached to that odd little car. Wonderful content. Keep it up.
Thank you John! Lovely first car too!
9:07 One of the most beautiful images.................In the Woooorld.
It was a nice scene! Imagine that 50 years ago!
I started out with a Hillman Imp!
Brilliant 👏👏👏
Thank you Ped!
Back in the '70's I had a '62 Morris Minor and a '67 XKE Jaguar 4.2.
Guess which one was more dependable as a work transportation/parts shuttle car vs. a "driveway queen/monument", constantly needing some new serious factory shoddy short-cut methods-related maintenance problem resolved just to see it on the road now and then.
God how I've loved the Traveller since my mid-teens.
Thank you for a most wonderful piece.
I never would have guessed that's how the legend began. And that Lotus, be still my heart. Thanks Tiff
My first love '72 240Z
What a wonderful video! Tiff is such a legend
Glad you enjoyed the video, Tiff is a legend!
Very nice. I just don't like modern cars...they all look the same...no soul. My first was a 71 Spitfire.
Late to the party, but the subtitles cheered me up no end when they referred to Tiff as "Tiffany Dell".
Many “Minors” were sent in CKD format for assembly to a number of countries. Prominent amongst these were South Africa, New Zealand, Malaysia, Ireland (Eire), Holland.and Rhodesia. In South Africa, the assembly of these CKD kits took place at the Motor Assemblies Limited plant in Durban. In addition a few hundred “Minors” were assembled at the BMC plant at Blackheath in the Western Cape. (Local South African figures suggest that some 33 333 vehicles were produced at these two plants).
A 2-door “1000” saloon
My mum taught me to drive in a Morris 1000 in1987. That served me well because the clutch was stiff and it was quite hard to master. When I got in a new Mazda 3 for my driving test it was a doddle.
That was surprisingly emotional! 😭 Mine was a 1985 Mk.2 Fiesta XR2 in Stratos Silver.
Thanks John! And lovely first car!
My father had a Morris Traveller when I was a young boy in the early 1960s and I loved it.
Like Tiff I learned to drive on Morris 1000s (with Elliscars of Exeter, if anyone remembers them), and passed my test in one in 1962, just short of my 19th birthday. Loved Moggies ever since, though I never owned one.
Lots of great moments; I love the trailer reversing lesson, but the best moment is from about 6.45 turning in the trailer centre where Tiff fumbles for the indicator stalk on the left, then remembers it's on the right... I do the same every time in my 68 mini😉
What a delight Tiff!!!!
Yestercars..Hello o o o o )))),..Tiff Needell ,..He'd ever raced by Aston Martin NIMROD !?! ,.. I remembered him !?!
1st car June 1972 in Scottsdale AZ [age 16]: 1967 MGBGT grey w/overdrive + dealer 'Special' kit. 2nd car summer 1973: 1969 Alfa Romeo Berlina 1750FI 5-speed, 4-wheel discs. 3rd car in 1974: 1957 VW oval window [completed full original resto except for adding bored 40hp engine]. Sneaked into the first Barrett-Jackson auction in 1971 [went to school with Tom Barrett's daughter].
My first ever car was a blue 1965 ex GPO Morris Minor van, bought in 1972 for £125. I followed it up the year after, with a 1960 Minor Traveller in Smoke Grey, I had that for a year before the gearbox failed. From Feb 1974 to July 2010, I didn't own a Moggie, but I've had an F reg Traveller in Trafalgar Blue ever since then, nearly 12 years now.
My first car was a 1958 Morris Minor Traveller with an 850cc engine. Bought it in 1973 for $15. Took weeks until I found out how to operate the horn 😣. Mine was also green but it had a red interior. I loved the smell of the leather. I miss it. We had a lot of fun.
I had a Moggy Thou Traveller, in the 1970's did quite a few journey's up and down the A1 between Sheffield and Letchworth. Sold it for a Riley RM drophead.
My first car was a 1946 1-1/2 litre Riley. www.flickr.com/photos/rtbcomp/albums/72157632941105294
First car was a 1964 Morris Oxford Traveller Series VI - reg no; CMO 335B, colour was Rose Taupe/Grey [two tone] with red trim. Bought new by a family member - owned by me 1977-79. Even had a radio!
Thank You, Sir! Brilliant and beautiful! (And now I got the urge for restart work with my -52 four door!)
I passed my test in 1989 and bought my first car in 1990, a 1986 Lancia Delta 1300LX. I loved that car and always kept a Lancia through the years. To this day have a Delta Lord Blue Evo 2, my daily is a Toyota engined Lotus Elise, which is very cheap to run. We also have 2 other cars, An oddball VW Golf mk2 country syncro (1990) and our reliable car is a nearly new 2002 Golf mk4 1.6, this car never lets us down. A good friend back in 1991 asked me to accompany him on a 400 mile drive to collect a Morris Minor, he had wanted one for ages. I drove it for about 100 miles, the gear change was really difficult as it was an old 50's car with double D clutch, beautiful though with split screen and indicator stalks in the door pillars, a small heater in a box which was pretty much useless. No brakes. Great days.
This is class. I absolutely love how fast he's driving it now. Reminds me of my dad driving our Rover P4 - basically a 67 year old boy racer with the wrong car.
I remember back in the good old 1950´s my dad had a 4 door split front windscreen morris minor in black...850 cc I believe..and I still remember the registration number..OLY 175..I wunder who has got that registration now...or maybe it doesn´t exist anymore.
I liked to drive the Morris in Finnland without a licens:) First car was a Glas 1004 Coupe (must google). Wish I bout a Morris.
My first car was a BMW Isetta 300 bubble car, bought for £45 in 1968 and sold for £45 a year later - would be worth thousands now! I drove a few Morris 1000 travellers in the early 70's in my job - they were 'J' reg, pale blue with white doors, a Police sign on the roof and a blue light on top of that, good reliable panda cars but not much good for high speed chases. Main problem was those tiny down-into-the-floor pedals so close together - with big policeman's boots on you could almost press all the pedals at the same time with one foot. The non-assisted drum brakes were positively dangerous by today's standards, emergency stops certainly required a strong right leg!
Wow! You won a Lotus race car with a trailer at age 19! Great video Tiff, we have a 1970 convertible called Lettice. But, what was that 5 speed gearbox?? And that engine didn't sound like a 1098.
The Morris Minor was a car that never appealed to me at all. This despite the fact that my father worked at Morris Engines in Coventry. My first car was a 1965 Vauxhall Viva SL in two-tone blue. It was a marvellous car to drive with a wonderful gear-change and a few luxury touches that the base non-SL models didn't have. Unfortunately, the rust-bug got it as it did with so many cars of that era.
Love my EV *AND* my classic 88 3d Golf Mk2 GTi (the first car I wanted but ended up with a dog eared 78 Passat GLS). Wouldn't get rid of either!
Morris 1000 was my first car too - such a sweet handler for a 1948 design. It was "der-if-to!" opposite lock around every roundabout on crossplies! Radials not as much fun, but undoubtedly safer, thank goodness, on a couple of occasions (!)
That was fantastic! It took me back to my first car, a trafalgar blue minor 1000 saloon that my mom gave after passing my test in 1984. The freedom it gave and the hours of fun😅😅
Thank you Tiff, for that insight into your early life and the start of your racing career. A really heart warming story in these trying times.
My first car was an MG Midget, first I saw and equally as rotten as your Traveller, seller was having a laugh.
You omitted mention of my first - a '51 LOW light convertible Morry but I did become a Civil Engineer and handed the Merry to my fiancé/wife. My Mum did have a 1000 MM 'tho.
Brilliant video, and loved the trailer reversing. I could never do that!! 😂 I learnt in a mid 60's mini, red with a black roof and some of my parents left over carpets in the interior as the original had gone, some really lovely swirly Axminster!
My first car was a 4 speed Triumph TR7 finished in a glorious "russet brown" I think it was called....😳
Thank you and love the car history!!
What a wonderful little video. Totally enjoyed this. Can we have more like this 👍😀
My first car a 1986 Austin metro
My first car was a blue Renault 5 TL registration JUR 175N. I was 9 years old and I swapped it for a top loading VHS video recorder (an xmas present) with my neighbours 2 doors down. It sat near my mums house and for a full month every night I sneaked out back to the car and drove it round the borough of Merton, South London. Never got stopped. Never had an accident. Even learned to reverse park with a few scuffs of rear wheels. Drove to Wimbledon and back to Mitcham many times late at night. My mum asked the neighbours who owned it and she found out it was me and I came clean about driving around the area. She went beserk and got the car towed away. I was grounded for 3 months. Thirty six years later I have 4 cars and (legally) still sneak out for a bit of night time driving for fun.
Fantastic video. My first car (in 1982) was a 1977 Mini 850. I wonder if it is always a good idea to try to relive the past by revisiting your first cars? Is there a risk that they won't be as fun/good as you remembered them, imbued with that glow of nostalgia? I still have fond memories of the Triumph Spitfire I bought a year later when I was 19, and long hot summers with the roof down - but I have resisted the temptation to repeat it (though last year I finally fulfilled my teenage dream of owning a Morgan Plus 4 :)
Nice look back. Fine story.
Literally... in the case of the car on the trailer in the rear view mirror. Could drive around the neighborhood like that all weekend 🙂
Cars have changed a lot. You will see some Travellers here, and yesterday I saw 3 Stag's... They're not really 'at home' over here.
Your roads haven't changed much at all.
Many of you might hate them, but I'm jealous of it, living in the 'flat Low country'. Never want to go to GB without a car, and drive your fantastic B-roads.
Beautiful. Just beautiful storytelling.
Thanks for listening! 😁
Sadly Charles Ware in Brislington Bristol went into receivership last Xmas (2021), they're no longer rebuilding cars, but still sell spare parts. Fortunately, there are several other companies who still specialise in repair and renovation of the Moggie.
A fascinating video, really enjoyed it. I did notice the 5 speed box however, my Moggie never had one of those!
I passed my test in 1964 and had a couple of A30's before progressing to a Morris 1000. I worked for a year in a photofinishing company and had a new Morris 1000 to deliver and collect films and photos. In that year I did almost 70,000 miles and the only time I called out the breakdown was for a shattered windscreen.
My own Moggie was a bit tatty and had all the usual problems with gearbox, kingpins and inaccessible brake master cylinder but I learned a lot on how to fix and maintain a car, I couldn't afford to take it into a garage to be fixed. No plugging into a diagnostic computer in those days either.
Wonderful story and thanks for promoting the brilliant Morris Traveller. Just one thing - owning a Traveller myself, weren't you quite a bit over a sensible towing figure with that trailer AND Lotus on the back?