Rare Morris Back on the Road: The Resurrection of Worthy's Special Coupé

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We would like to think that once a car enters preservation, its long-term future is secure and guaranteed, but that isn’t always the case. It was no less than Mike Worthington-Williams who saved this 1935 Morris 10/4 Special Coupé in 1985 after 50 years in single-family ownership and 25 years off the road. He sympathetically recommissioned it, and other owners did their share to maintain it until 2005, when one chap bought it, parked it in a damp lock-up, and literally forgot where it was. After two years of searching, a Morris enthusiast managed to exhume it in 2012, but by then it was a sorry sight.

It was a non-runner with a cracked cylinder head, and the interior had been feasted on by mice and woodworm. The damp, meanwhile, had utterly ruined the paint, chrome and leatherette roof. The new owner started to pull it apart and repair it bit by bit until 2015, when a medical emergency put the project on hold. It remained in suspense until 2023, when a concerted effort was started to put the Morris on the road once more, and that aim was finally realised earlier this year.

Despite the extent to which the car had deteriorated, the restoration has succeeded in preserving much of the original interior and the finished car is now back where it belongs: on the road and in enthusiast hands. Zack Stiling finds out how this rare survivor was resurrected in the November issue of The Automobile, available now.

Words and Photographs by Zack Stiling

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