Tauranga man Ziggy King’s love for Morris Minors is borne out of his childhood. “Everyone’s got a story about a Morrie – whether they’ve been in one, been conceived in one, or been married in one.”

What about courting in one? “Oh well, dead right! And ya’ know, these days they’re still being used as a daily runner.”

So how many Morries does Ziggy own? “I’ve got two – well, I’ve got three really, but one’s in bits.”

But he hasn’t called The Sun to talk about his Morries – he wants to spread the word about the mass amount of Morries from clubs all over planning to descend on Tauranga this upcoming Labour weekend to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Morris Minor in New Zealand.

As Tauranga Rotorua Morris Minor Club vice president, Ziggy’s club is, by luck, hosting their 29th convention to coincide the big 75th anniversary – thanks to main sponsor Gateway Finance Limited.

“We’ve got the whole long weekend planned in Tauranga for the 75th anniversary – and we’ll have Morries coming from all over the place.”

Morrie fun in town!

Food, fun, beverages, entertainment and more yip-yap about Morries than you can throw a spanner at is happening at the main convention at Tauranga Citizens Club during the three days of Labour Weekend.

But there’s extra attractions for the public and car-lovers alike.

“The Morries will park up at the Mount-side port for judging first thing Saturday morning, October 21. Then we’ll leave the port and we’ll do a detour around the Mount.”

So a mass Morrie takeover of the Mount? “Dead right!” What a spectacle. “Yep!”

With 73 club members as far as the Coromandel, Hamilton and Auckland, Morries will descend on Tauranga from all directions? “Yep!”

On Sunday morning, October 22, they’ll be parked up at the Bay of Plenty Vintage Car Club at Cliff Rd, for the public to see up-close – and see a rocker cover race. A what? “A lot of people don’t know about rocker cover racing,” says Ziggy.

“On older engines the top of the cover is usually a steel, oblong shape – that’s called a ‘rocker cover’. What we do is take that cover off old engines and make cars out of them and race them down a ramp – it’s quite fun actually.”

In fact, Ziggy says rocker cover racing is quite big in the States. “We’ll be holding a rocker cover race on the Sunday morning, October 22, at Cliff Rd.”

Ziggy King’s rocker racer he’ll enter in the race on Labour weekend.

Revamp ideas

Looking back 75 years, the Morris Minor made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, in October 1948. The economy car produced by British marque Morris Motors between 1948 and 1971 was designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis.

More than 1.6 million were manufactured in three series: the Series MM (1948 to 1953), the Series II (1952 to 1956), and the 1000 series (1956 to 1971). And it was the first British car to sell more than one million units.

As such, Ziggy says the love for the Morrie is widespread in NZ and he’s expecting cars from the South Island to attend this 75th celebration weekend too. So what will he like most about the convention?

“It’s a great event to see what everyone has done to their vehicles. Some have been repowered by Datsuns; some have been repowered by V8s; there’s a lot with just the Morrie 1000 motor, which goes just as well at times.”

Will he get some ideas on how to revamp his one in bits? “Dead right!”

Ziggy has owned Morries “on and off” for years, but has only had his beautiful trio for four years, joining the club in 2019. His 1954 Grey Convertible and 1972 1000 Green Light Van will be in action on Labour Weekend, his third ‘love’, a ute, is “still in the shed”. 

“I even got my partner Maree Walker hooked on Morries – she loves the 54 convertible. I reckon she loves it more than her new MG3 Excite – mind you, what girl doesn’t like driving a topless car?”

Ziggy King with beautiful 1972 Morris Minor 1000 Green Light Van.

So what sparked Ziggy’s life-long love of Morries?

“I’ve been brought up in the back of a Morrie really. My late Dad Dick King owned a butcher shop back in Te Kuiti and he had two  of them.”

For the shop, Dick carted meat around in the back of his Morries. “Yep, he delivered the meat in the Morries, sometimes to the hospital, which was big in those days. Yep, pub crawls, everything.

“Dad was the main slowgrogger in Te Kuiti back then.” Again, a what? “So Te Kuiti was a dry town; you weren’t allowed to buy beer after-hours. So dad would go to Te Awamutu and load the little Morrie van up with crates of beer and bring it

back and sell it. His vans would’ve been 1968 and 1970 models.”

So what’s to like about the Morrie? “Oh, they’re just so easy to work on. I’m a typical Kiwi bloke and love to ‘tutu’ around with things. We can build everything ourselves aye?

“They’ve got no electronics, and you can pull a motor out and put another one in and get it running ya’self, ya’ know? It’s so easy.”

I suspect Ziggy spends lot of time in his shed with his Morries? “Yep, always.”

Ziggy says so far 68 cars are registered for the Labour weekend event in Tauranga – and he reckons more will sign up at the last minute. “We’re hoping for at least 75 vehicles.”

Registration closes October 2. If you want to find out more, email: ziggyking66@gmail.com