Morris Fest 2025 Show Report

On a hot Saturday at the beginning of August this year, Lancaster insurance was invited to Morris Fest at Thoresby Park, Near Ollerton in Nottinghamshire.

Thoresby Park is a beautiful Country Estate set in 1000 acres of Nottinghamshire countryside, complete with a 17th-century mansion. It provides the perfect backdrop to the annual gathering of the Morris Register club that was set up for enthusiasts of Morris vehicles designed before 1940.

Say ‘Morris’ and a lot of people will immediately think of the Morris minor range of cars which from the launch in 1948, went on to be a mainstay of the British motoring scene. They provided economical and reliable transport for family motorists, right through to the 1970’s and beyond. Many are still being used daily by their enthusiastic owners.

There is of course a long history of Morris cars before the Morris Minor. The first Morris car was the Oxford Bullnose launched in 1913 at a converted factory in Cowley Oxford.

Although many people still associate the Morris brand as an economy car for the masses, the luxury and sporting side of Morris was not overlooked by the factory with cars like the Morris Oxford Six. This was a range of 6-cylinder cars produced by Morris from 1921, firstly as a cabriolet and then relaunched in 1929 with a larger 4 door steel body.

For an open top car, how about a Morris 10/6 sports tourer? Autocar magazine, when testing one in 1935, found it “an open car, with a useful and pleasing performance which runs smoothly and is comfortable.”

Autocar on test recorded speeds over 60 mph and a 0 to 60 time of just over 42 seconds, great for the day.

On the Saturday, I saw around 50 pre-1940s Morris cars on display, but many more took the opportunity to take a run into the local countryside. This was an amazing sight to see on the road and watching this convoy of cars almost takes you straight back to the 1930s.

Morris Fest was a great opportunity to see these pre-1940’s cars in the metal and for me to get a better understanding of them, which is of course exactly what these car shows are all about.

The Morris Register will be holding next year’s Morris Fest in the same place, Thoresby Park on the 31st July to Sunday 2nd August 2026.

With thanks to the team at the Morris Register, which is the world’s largest community for
owners and enthusiasts of pre-1940’s Morris cars and Morris Commercials.

They were founded in 1960 as the Morris Eight Tourer Club, but quickly grew to welcome saloons and other models. In 1968 they became the Morris Register. every pre-1940 model from the elegant Morris Eight to tough Morris Commercial vehicles are supported with around 2,000 members worldwide.