The Auckland Morris Minor Car Club

CLUB HISTORY

History of the Auckland Morris Minor Car Club Inc

The Morris Minor Car Club of New Zealand Inc 1977 to 1996

The Morris Minor Car Club scene began in New Zealand in 1977, when three men Stan Hunte, Barry Wrightson and Graeme Wrightson decided to form a Car Club for this “little car”, as after investigating, they discovered that none existed in New Zealand . Unknown to them, at the same time, clubs were springing up in various countries around the world. In time of course they came into contact with one another.

So the first Morris Minor Car Club was up and running and in that initial year some 25 people joined

It grew slowly, but in 1981 during a visit from Nick Harding of the Bath Morris Minor Centre, a double page article on the Morris Minor appeared in a Sunday Newspaper which contained a photo of a nude lady atop a Minor (no, not a club member). Well needless to say membership doubled to 60 in a short space of time and peaked at 195 in 1987.

As happens occasionally, the leadership and thus the direction, of a club changes, and as a result, in 1989 a breakaway group of Morris enthusiasts formed another club.

Auckland Morris Minor Enthusiasts Club 1989 to 1996

On Sunday 31st July 1989 the Auckland Morris Enthusiasts Club was born.

Other Clubs were also appearing around New Zealand at this time, but independently of each other.

This club organized a national event in 1990 to raise funds for Telethon and organized the 1993 Convention held in Auckland after becoming an affiliated member of the newly formed NZ Morris Minor Federation.

NZ Morris Minor Federation Inc. 1991 to Present

The idea of a convention was mooted by the Waikato Club (now defunct) and in 1990 the first one was hosted by them. At the second one, the following year, the NZ Morris Minor Federation Inc was born and since then Annual Conventions have been held at Taranaki, Tauranga, Auckland, Wellington, South Canterbury, Rotorua, a 50th Golden Jubilee of the Morris Minor was held at Tatum Park, Otaki and since then further conventions have been held at Nelson, Dunedin, Wanganui, Christchurch, Gisborne, Invercargill, Masterton, and Timaru.

Usually up to a hundred cars register at these conventions the aim of which is to keep up the standard of the Morris Minor in New Zealand and are held alternatively in the North and South Islands . The Federation at the present time consists of 11 Affiliated Clubs, Auckland , Rotorua, Gisborne, Taranaki, Wanganui-Manawatu, Wellington , Top of the South, Canterbury , South Canterbury , Otago and Southland.

Auckland Morris Minor Car Club Inc 1996 to Present

During the early 1990’s the two Auckland Clubs which had split in 1989, were both in decline, a matter of “united we stand divided we fall” and with rapidly falling membership in both Clubs, meetings were held to discuss recombining the membership of the two Clubs.

In May 1996 the Auckland Morris Minor Car Club became an Incorporated Society and the merger was completed and despite some early teething troubles, the new Club has settled down and was able to enter the new Millennium in a much stronger position and hopefully the Morris Minor will survive for another, 50 Years.

With the turn of the Century coming up, retiring President Alison Mehaffy (now Brown) suggested that that the Club needed it’s own Web Site and the incoming Committee took up the challenge. The, then Membership Secretary Steve Moon set up the Club’s first Web Site, this considerably enhanced the Clubs profile in New Zealand and resulted in increased Membership. This Membership has now stabilized in the nineties and the reasons that the Club has been able to maintain these numbers is the number of new members attracted through this media. We now have members from the far north to as far away as Queenstown and Invercargill.

This early advantage, was further enhanced when, after Steve’s resignation from the committee, we were able to set up our own Web Address of www.morrisminor.co.nz and Email address through the services Larry Robbins, a long time Club Member.

The other reason that we are able to maintain a steady membership is that, while out of town members may not be able to participate in monthly outings, they enjoy keeping up, with what is happening, through our monthly News Connection newsletter which is edited and compiled by John Chamber’s, our long standing ex President.

Like many Clubs today, it is difficult to find people willing and able to devote the time to running the Club, we have for a number of years operated without a Vice President as we have had nobody willing to accept office, and many of the present Office Holders have occupied their positions for a number of years.

Auckland Morris Minor Car Club Incorporated

Office Holders

Year to 31/3/	President	Treasurer	Minute Secretary	Membership Secretary	Club Captain	No.of Members
1997	Alison Mehaffy	Ron Murgatroyd	-	Paul Steffensen	-	N/A
1998	Alison Mehaffy	Doreen Atwood	Ana Squire	Paul Steffensen	-	N/A
1999	Alison Mehaffy	Ted Dixon	Ana Squire	Steve Moon	-	79
2000	John Chambers	Ted Dixon	Martine Fremaux	Steve Moon	-	78
2001	John Chambers	Ted Dixon	Martine Fremaux	Steve Moon	-	86
2002	John Chambers	Ted Dixon	Ana Squire	Ted Dixon	-	94
2003	John Chambers	Ted Dixon	Ana Squire	Ted Dixon	Richard Mason	95
2004	John Chambers	Ted Dixon	Ana Squire	Ted Dixon	Phil Clements	105
2005	John Chambers	Ted Dixon	Ana Squire	Ted Dixon	Phil Clements	92
2006	John Chambers	Ted Dixon	John Watkins	Ted Dixon	Phil Clements	97
2007	John Chambers	Ted Dixon	John Watkins	Ted Dixon	Phil Clements	104
2008	Vacant	Ted Dixon	John Watkins	Ted Dixon	Phil Clements	109
2009	John Watkins	Ted Dixon	Mary Eyre	Ted Dixon	Phil Clements	103
2010	John Watkins	Ted Dixon	Mary Eyre	Ted Dixon	Derek Goddard	107

However it is the “small car that embodies big car features”, that will probably outlast us all.

Our Club has an extensive library of MORRIS MINOR books and manuals for members to borrow, and receives many monthly newsletters from other clubs in New Zealand and around the world. We ourselves return them overseas every three months.

It is hard to put a figure on the exact number of MORRIS MINORS in New Zealand but it is believed that up to 70,000 arrived in the country or were assembled here by Dominion Motors, which later became NZ Motor Corporation. The car production stopped in 1963 but the vans and utilities were assembled until supplies ran out in 1974.