“Press Button A, Caller” - The GPO Morris Minor Vans

In the mid to late 1950s, vehicles such as the 1954 GPO Morris Minor Telephone Engineer van and mail van sold by Canterbury Convertibles were as much a part of everyday life as complaining about the local Teddy Boys. These were the Morrises to bring you news of your distant cousin in Woolloomooloo or your eldest son undertaking his National Service in Aden. Not to mention repairing the telephone line so you could finally obtain Flaxman 4672.

Morris launched the ‘Quarter Ton Van and Pick-up' in May 953. An impressed Commercial Motor thought “For its excellent steering, suspension and braking qualities I award the Morris full marks and consider it one of the 'safest ‘light’ vans in production”, and ‘Mechanically, the van is an excellent example of modern design and engineering”. One of the Minor Van’s first major fleet customers was the GPO – the General Post Office.  

Of the 326,609 Minor light commercials to depart the factory, the GPO ordered 52,745 between 1953 and 1973. The most notable feature of a 1954 Post Office Morris is, of course, the Dunlop-manufactured rubber front wings. The GPO had previously specified this modification to minimise parking damage on the Minor Van’s predecessor, the Morris Eight Series Z.

Rubber wings proved a short-lived fitting for the GPO Minors, lasting only until 1955, although the BMC LD series retained them for postal service for rather longer. One reason the Post Office may have dispensed with them on the Minor was cost, as they were keen to save £sd wherever possible.  

And so, the standard equipment of the GPO Minor is best described as ‘minimal’. The fascia is covered in plywood, and there was no provision for installing a heater. Instead, the driver’s half of the windscreen opened to provide demisting, which must have been a fun-packed experience in winter.

Other modifications to the Post Office Minor Vans included lifting and towing brackets mounted on the rear of the chassis. Power was from a low-compression version of the 803cc engine. GPO vans did not use the 948cc unit of the standard 1956 light commercial, retaining the older engine until 1964. The Post Office also used the split-screen bodywork until 1958, two years after the launch of the Minor 1000.  

As a security measure, the GPO installed a rear door locking bar device, operated via a lever behind the driver’s seat, on their Morris mail vans.  The ‘Bronze Green’ telephone engineer’s vans had a ladder rack and storage bins in the rear cargo area. Classic and Vintage Commercial magazine points out that: “GPO vehicles like other government departments initially carried London registrations. The first batch of production GPO Minors were allocated registrations in the NXO and NLW series”.

Two final points. Firstly, both of these Morris Minor GPO vans look as though they belong in a Norman Wisdom film (with ‘Mr. Grimsdale’ as the irate postmaster). Secondly, the Telephone Engineer’s van makes me instantly think “Insert fourpence, caller, and press Button A...”.

With thanks to Canterbury Convertibles - for their time.

With thanks to Canterbury Convertibles for the permission to use the images in this blog.