A History of Restoring Morris Minors
1974 to 2012
Morris Minor Millennium Company.
The Home of the Morris Minor
This is the story of a car and a company in the business of restoration.
Founded in 1974 by Walter Wood who had been living and working in Nigeria with his family during the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Walter was working for the Nigerian Government as an engineer building bridges, making roads and drilling for water.
It was here that the whole family were introduced to the Morris Minor the predominant car used as a taxi on the streets of the Nigerian capital.
Arriving back in England Walter and his 2 sons Martin and Phillip Wood went into the business of restoring the cars they had travelled around in Nigeria.
They knew them as reliable and because of its design totally functional.
However the Morris Minor was not a fashion accessory for the masses as it once had been, but had become a collector’s favourite, a specialist vehicle for the thoughtful, the curious and the considered
Originally moving into Trumpet Street beneath what was once Central Station in the centre of the city of Manchester. Wood senior realised that the family had the skills, knowledge and enthusiasm to go into business restoring the Morris Minor.
Phillip was a welder and Martin was a mechanic working for the post office, the prime vehicle used by the post was, yes you guessed it, the Morris Minor, Wood senior worked the books, restored the upholstery and rebuilt the wooden structures of the Morris Traveller.
Central Station was redeveloped into G-Mex and the Morris Minor Millennium Company moved on, eventually arriving into the old stables built for the barracks in the late 1800’s on upper Chorlton Road, Whalley Range, Manchester.
The restoration of the Morris Minor continues with the third generation of the Wood family with Paul Wood who works with a team of dedicated mechanics.