Here is Bob Morton from the Central West Car Club with his 1929 Morris Cowley.
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The Cowley as a model existed from 1915 through to1958 in various formats for the UK manufacturer Morris.
As the photo suggests, Bob's Cowley is considered a Flatnose (in contrast to the previous Bullnose model) and is a narrow body hardtop tourer.
This isn't Bob's first Cowley, in fact its number three out of four that he currently owns.
Many years ago Bob bought his first Morris Cowley, a two door roadster convertible in bits and pieces with plans to complete it and get it back on the road.
The process was slow and in the meantime he was getting eager for something ready to drive, when this car came up for sale. Bob bought it in 2002 from a chap just out of Newcastle.
From its limited history, it seems that it was originally a Sydney car, having spent some time as a vintage wedding car at some stage.
According to the tags, Bob's Morris was supplied by Dixon's Motor and Engineering Co. of Sudbury, Suffolk in the UK with the assumption being that it would have been imported into Australia as a complete vehicle.
Most of these had only two wheel brakes which were a bit slow to pull up.
- Bob Morton
It has a four cylinder engine with a single SUcarburettor and a three speed manual gearbox letting it get along at 60-70km/h - "a good enough speed to wave people around on the main roads," Bob said.
"Most of these had only two wheel brakes which were a bit slow to pull up," Bob said
"And for those like mine which were equipped with four wheel brakes, there was typically a sign on the back of the car to warn other drivers that it'd be pulling up quick!"
It's got an electric magneto start but if you look closely there's a back up manual crank handle on the front to remind you how it was done back then.
For Bob, he gets the enjoyment out of getting the Morris out on club runs, either locally or with the Morris Registry of NSW of which he is a member, and particularly when there are similar slow paced vehicles.
You can find out more about the CWCC at www.centralwestcarclub.com or search for us on Facebook.
Meetings held first Wednesday of the month at the Parkes Leagues Club at 7.30pm. Feel free to join us at 6:30pm to 7pm for a social dinner before the meeting.
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