Car : Morris Oxford
Year : 1912
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke : 60×90 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1018 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 15
Maximum speed : 50 mph
Wheelbase : 7 ft 0 ins (2.13 m)
Suspension : front: semi-elliptic leaf- springs; back: ¾ elliptic leaf- springs
With William Richard Morris, later created Lord Nuffield for his services to industry, the car took a definite step forward. No longer was it reserved for the few. Though he had no technical qualifications, he combined mechanical instinct with that of a far-sighted industrialist, setting up a large-scale, complex , and well articulated production system; bringing together the products from various suppliers and adapting his own vehicles, at least to begin with, to other goods on the market.
The Oxford, named after the city where his business grew up, typifies its creator’s philosophy. The engine, with T valves, was supplied by White and Poppe; the rear axle by Wrigley, and the chassis from a third source. The car weighed around 1,380 pounds (625 kg). Within a year after it had first been introduced, 40 were being made each week.
Continuing his policy of making as cheap a car as possible, when the Cowley was being designed, Morris did not think twice about using an American engine, the Continental. This at first had a cylinder capacity of 1495 cc (69×100 mm), but later grew to 1547 cc through an increase in the ‘stroke’ of the piston (103.5 mm).

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