Morris Oxford bullnose

 
Morris Oxford Manufactured by Morris Motors Ltd, Oxford, England.
For some years William Morris sold and repaired cars from his garage in Longwall, Oxford, and this gave him a good idea of the designs of different makes, among them Arrol-Johnson, Belsize, Enfield, Humber, Hupmobil, Singer, Standard, and Wolseley. He compared their production technology, and in 1910 he embarked on producing his own vehicle, which he then called Morris Oxford. What Morris had in mind was an economy vehicle with low running and maintenance costs, using a great number of parts obtained from outside suppliers.
The prototype Morris Oxford, without an engine, was built at Morris's garage in Oxford in 1912. Later the cars were assembled at a former military training college at Cowley, which Morris bought cheaply.

This first car incorporated a 1080 cc four-cylinder White & Poppe engine, with bore and stroke of 60x90mm; a three-speed gearbox, also produced by White & Poppe; Ignition was by a Bosch magneto.Sankey wheels; Dunlop tyres; and Powell & Hammer headlights. It was claimed that 'Morris' is the only light car which embodies the joint production of the greatest British experts.' Despite some setbacks in the engine cooling system and steering, with rather poor roadholding, the Morris Oxford managed to establish its position in the market. This was achieved by its fairly good performance, reliability, and low running costs. 
However, the Morris Oxford could not win a larger market since a two-seater body was as much as the engine output could handle. The car could not compete with four-seater family cars. In order to satisfy this demand Morris developed a new larger version, the Cowley model, also called the Bullnose Morris because of the shape of its radiator.The car got its name from its distinctive round-topped radiator at first called the bullet nose. Most bodies, made by Raworth of Oxford, were of the two-seat open tourer type, there was also a van version, but the chassis was too short to allow four-seat bodies to be fitted.The chassis was of pressed-steel construction and suspension was by semi-elliptic leaf springs at the front and three-quarter ones at the rear. The brakes, on the rear wheels only, were external contracting type using metal shoes. A three-forward and reverse gearbox was fitted. The headlights were acetylene and the side and tail lamps oil.

From 1913 to 1917 Morris built 1475 of these cars.