12 October 1948: the first Morris Minor is produced

The first of 1.3 million Morris Minors, Britain’s cheap post-war runabout, rolled off the production lines on this day in 1948

A 1949 Morris Minor
A 1949 Morris Minor.
(Image credit: National Motor Museum/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

When it came to affordable post-war motoring, Germany had the VW Beetle, France had the Citroen 2CV, and Britain had the Morris Minor – the first of which rolled off the production line on this day in 1948.

The “Moggy” was designed by Alec Issigonis, who would go on to design the Mini, and was an exercise in cramming the most seating space into the smallest-sized body. It had a 918cc engine producing a whopping 27HP, could hit a top speed of 64MPH and had a 0-60 time of over 50 seconds. It was remarkably frugal, however, racking up 40 miles to the gallon – something the public appreciated in the austere post-war years.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.