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In the 1950s a Morris Oxford belonged to the same comfortably secure realm as The Billy Cotton Band Show and Mrs Dale’s Diary – which is why the Series V caused alarm and consternation on its launch in March 1959. Gone was the curved bodywork of the outgoing Series III (which would live on in India as the Hindustan Ambassador until 2014), for the new model boasted tail-fins that were only just the right side of “flamboyant”.

Morris publicity urged the potential owner to ‘Take a deep breath...now look at a car which brings poetry to family motoring’. That was not all, for ‘every journey you make’ would be a ‘dream of comfort and elegance’. There was also ‘Dynamic power at your feet and finger tips’, ‘fashion-plate colours’ and ‘beauty from end-to-end’. Yet, beneath that rather dashing exterior was a car as sensible and dependable as the BBC Home Service. 

The Wolseley 15/60 became the original 1 ½-litre “Farina” in December 1958. It was also the second car to result from BMC’s £84,000 contract with Pininfarina – the Austin A40 was the first. In the late 1950s, the Corporation sought to revitalise its image with the latest “Italian Line” to shed its middle-aged image. By April 1959 the range encompassed the Austin Cambridge Mk. II, the MG Magnette Mk. III, the Morris Oxford Series V and the Riley 4/68.

The medium-sized “Farinas” was also the first BMC car line-up to be extensively “badge-engineered”, a policy devised by Longbridge as a way of satisfying rival dealerships at (hopefully) minimal cost. The Oxford De Luxe ranked above the cheapest A55 Cambridge Mk. II and below the 15/60. Beyond the Wolseley were the dizzying heights of the MG and the Riley, with their twin-carburettors and lavishly furnished cabins.

However, the Morris was far from Spartan and a worthy rival to the Ford Consul Mk. II De Luxe. Just £844 10d, gained you a substantial machine equipped with a heater, windscreen washers, leather upholstery, a clock plus centre armrests fore and aft. With somewhat misplaced optimism, the sales copy promised the owner ‘Big-muscled performance’, but the top speed was 78 mph in reality.

BMC facelifted the range in October 1961, with a widened rear track and an enlarged 1,622cc engine. The Oxford became the Series VI, and few examples of the Series V now remain in use. Dave’s 1960 “Clipper Blue” Morris has to be one of the most handsome on the road today.  He remarks ‘there seems to be more A55 Mk. II Cambridges around for some reason - although they are quite rare too’.

Mr . Morris acquired 140 UXW ‘because my dad had one’. He came by the Oxford in 2016 – ‘I bought her from a gentleman in Southampton who I don’t think really wanted to sell. She is lovely to drive and has never been welded, so my MOT examiner tells me’. And almost every detail, from the starting handle bracket to a dashboard that resembles a 1950s wireless set radiates a sense of well-being.

Autocar thought the Oxford was a combination of ‘comfort and roominess with modern appearance’, but perhaps The Motor best encapsulated its appeal in their 1960 road test. The writer concluded ‘In a quite unspectacular way, the Series V Morris Oxford provides pleasant and sensible motoring at a truly competitive price’.  Not to mention those distinctive, but never vulgar, tail-fins.

With Thanks To: Dave Morris and The Cambridge-Oxford Owners’ Club.

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