This morning I woke to the sad news that Charles Ware had passed away. Of course there is a slim chance that the name will mean nothing to you, but for Morris Minor enthusiasts and owners of a certain age, he could arguably be regarded as one cog in the machine that kept the humble ‘Moggy’ on the road for future generations to love and enjoy.
Now before I go all misty-eyed, I shall point out two things: firstly that I only ever met the man once and secondly, that at the time I wasn’t exactly a huge fan of what Mr Ware’s outfit seemed to pushing heavily – the theory that in order to keep the Morris Minor on the road, it was best to uprate and modify various key components.
Of course, 23 years later, and I’ll admit that perhaps my opposition was a little misguided, but at the time I was an eager wannabe Morris 1000 owner that truly believed that things should be left alone and that if I wanted disc brakes, then I should bloody well go and buy a modern car. In hindsight, the disc-brake conversion and 1275cc Marina engine swap that seemed to form the basis for Charles Ware’s upgrade package was actually very well thought out and not at all that drastic – certainly not compared to some of the more extreme conversions that have been done since, but at the time it felt like heresy.
Living near Newbury, I also never had any reason to go to Ware’s centre which, at the time, was based in Bath, but rather handily he had an outpost just 15 minutes up the road from me in Inkpen.
