Maximum Mini: Morris Bishop dies at 92

Wednesday, 28 September 2022

Morris Bishop dies at 92

It's with great regret that I just heard of the passing of Morris Bishop on last Thursday, the 22nd of September, at the age of 92. Morris was the man behind MoBi-One - the Mini based car that proved to be virtually unbeatable in autotesting in the late 1960s due to its clever design with four-wheel steering.

Alastair Moffatt, who owns MoBi-One and is a multiple autotest champion himself, made me aware of Bishop's death. Morris lived both in the UK as in Spain, but was in England on Thursday, or so Alastair told me: "He went out for a walk with his wife and on return home sat down and fell asleep in front of the tv not to wake. Morris' son added: "He and mum had been out for a walk, and he had just settled down to watch telly, air high-fived mum (as they did) and died. Not a bad way to go."

Moffatt rediscovered MoBi-One some two-and-a-half years ago (click here) and reunited the car just in time with its creator last summer (click here). The car was based around the chassis' of a burnt-out BMC 1100 and built with the Flather Star championship in mind. Bishop told me: “The first few events were mainly to discover how to drive the beast. It quickly became clear that I was suffering from a lack of power, so I wrote Alec Issigonis at Longbridge to see if he had a spare Cooper ‘S’ engine laying around. And to my surprise and delight he organized one to be sent to me via their development facility Downton works! I converted this to run on propane, mainly because I was a manufacturer of gas calibration equipment, and it was a winner. I achieved a back-to-back win of the championships of 1969 & 1970. In 1975 I sold the vehicle to someone who used it for autocross.” I wish all the best to Bishop's family and friends with the loss of Morris.