Description
Kelham Hall | Newark, Nottinghamshire Viewing: Tues 22nd September 2026 from 12pm Auction: Weds 23rd September 2026 12pm Location: Kelham Hall Main Street, Newark, Nottinghamshire NG23 5QX Registration No: Un-Registered Chassis No: M/ A2S5D1284971M MOT: Exempt Due to have been sold through the BMC agent Joshua White Ltd., but retained and never used A remarkable 16 miles from new! Never registered, still waxed, and completely untouched; surely unrepeatable? Retained in the Ronald White Collection throughout its entire life The Morris Minor is almost as universal a symbol of England as the London bus and the red telephone box and, with over 1. 3 million manufactured during its twenty-three year reign, it is one of the most successful cars of all time. Designed by Alec Issigonis (who later penned the ubiquitous Mini), the Minor was unveiled at the 1948 Earls Court Motor Show. There were two variants at launch, a two-door Saloon and a Tourer. The four-door Saloon followed in 1950 and the popular Traveller, Van and Pick-up versions completed the range two years later. Power initially came from a 918cc straight-four, side-valve engine producing 27. 5bhp and 39lb. ft. of torque—sufficient output to propel the gamely newcomer at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour and return an average of 40mpg. With the Series II of 1952, came a new, Austin-designed engine—the A-Series 803cc OHV unit. The more major update of 1956 saw the engine increased in capacity to 948cc (the car was now renamed the Minor 1000), the rear window enlarged and the split-screen front one replaced with a single pane. The final iteration of the model followed a year later and featured a further increase in engine capacity to 1, 098cc, a modified fascia layout with recessed centre section in textured steel, a return of a glovebox lid for the passenger-side cubby hole, improved heater and more contemporary-looking front light units. It is not hard to find an excellent Morris Minor, even though the true mileage of many of them is well into six figures. That’s not a problem—the robustness of the A-series engine and the easy availability of spares mean that you could confidently drive one to the moon and back. Nevertheless, it would be truly special to find one Morris Minor that is still just as it entered the showroom. That’s exactly what we have here, allowing for time’s patinating touch. When it arrived at the BMC dealership of Joshua White Ltd., Mr. White was beginning to appreciate what a phenomenon the Minor had become, and had the unusual foresight to put one aside for preservation, with only 16 delivery miles on it. The Minor then passed into the collection of his son Ronald, with the result that we are now in the unique position of being able to offer a totally original Morris Minor which has been in the ownership of its supplying family from new, has never been registered for the road, and is factory-correct. Truly one for a museum or the devoted connoisseur, it is almost beyond our powers to describe just how an unrepeatable opportunity this car is. About the Ronald White Collection: A lifelong enthusiast, Ronald White inherited his interest in motor cars from his father, Joshua. Joshua was still an adolescent when he took over a small bicycle repair shop and grew it into a successful family-run garage as private car ownership became more commonplace after the Great War. Father and son alike caught the collecting bug, and Joshua started the collection with a Bullnose Morris, which he displayed at the garage, and it grew from there. One of the White Collection’s gems is a delivery-mileage Morris Minor, which Joshua had the foresight to preserve from new, astutely identifying it as a landmark in the post-war Morris range. Another was the Alvis, which was sold new to a local gentleman, Nevill Bond, who lived at a stately home called The Argory. Joshua bought it back after Mr Bond had suffered an assassination attempt while driving it! The Whites also developed a personal friendship with Harry Ferguson; hence, the White Collection came to feature Ferguson tractors. By the 1950s, Joshua White Ltd. was well-established as a large BMC, Ford, and Ferguson dealership. It was around that time that Ronald—known to friends as Ronnie—started competing in tests, hill-climbs and rallies with his local motor club in Northern Ireland, always displaying the proud sponsorship of Joshua White Ltd. Upon his father’s retirement, Ronald took over the business and also set up Armagh Garages to sell Fiats. Come the 1960s, his competition career blossomed and took him all over Ireland and into England and Scotland. He was successful in many events, including the Circuit of Ireland Rally. In the late 1970s, his interest turned to rallycross, again competing in Ireland and England. It was a testament to his amiable personality that many of his employees at the garage would work through the night to prepare his cars for their sporting outings, and several continued to...
