Vintage Minor Register

Does anyone know whether Morris made their own brakes for the Minor or bought them in. In an article in Motor Sport in 2001 Bill Boddy said that Alford and Alder (the brakes and axle makers) were bought by Morris following his practice of buying up suppliers where possible. So were the brakes made by Alford and Alder and then Morris acquired them and brought the manufacturing in-house? While one hesitates to disagree with Mr. Boddy, the fact that Alford and Alder were subsequently bought by Standard would seem to make it unlikely that they had ever been owned by Morris. Might Wolseley have made the brakes?

Can anyone say for sure?

Simon,

I'll forward your query to our hon. historian, Peter Seymour and post his response here.

Ian

Simon,

Here's the reply from Peter:

To the best of my knowledge, there is no evidence that Morris Motors Ltd. bought Alford and Alder. As Simon has mentioned, Alford and Alder was acquired by Standards in 1959, see attached copied from 'Wheels of Misfortune' by Jonathan Wood. I do not know who made the brakes for pre-war Morris Minors, but I suspect Morris Motors Ltd. bought the components for the brakes from their suppliers.

Incidentally, I understand that Alford and Alder made parts for the D.H. Mosquito during WWII.