I think this is really cool, nice story behind it too!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200762794095

From the ad:

[quote]
Supplied new by Whadham Stringer (Devizes) Ltd KAM 229X was bought by a local man as a surprise present for his wife to replace her ageing Morris Minor. The new Ital was registered in her name on 1st August 1981 and she remains the only registered keeper today.

He had chosen the most attractive colour, Silver birch metallic, and delayed delivery until the 1st of August so that the car would be registered on the new X plate.

He thought that his wife would be delighted. Sadly though, she most certainly was not!

Not wanting to seem too ungrateful she agreed to drive the car for a while - just to see if she could get used to it after so many years in her beloved Minor.

It was not to be the case and after travelling a little over 100 miles she had to confess to her husband that it was really not the car for her, much preferring the Minor it was supposed to replace. Somewhat dejected and, perhaps, just a little out of spite her husband said “fine, then it can just stay in the garage until the Minor falls apart”

In the garage it stayed for the next 12 years or so. The husband ever hopeful and secretly willing the old Morris to, indeed, fall apart and be replaced by the ‘new’ Morris which he regularly started and ran up to warm.

The husband kept the Ital in tip top condition, taxed and M.O.T’ed in the hope that his wife would change her mind – unhappily though it was not to be the case and she never did. It was looking more like she would have to give up driving before the old Minor gave up being able to be driven.

Some old M.O.T,s are present with the car, in 1987 the mileage was 193, in 1988 223, in 1990 224 and in 91 266.

The last time the car was taxed was 30.11.1992 and by this time the standoff over whether the car should be used or not was wearing thin….. To say the least

During the following year when the wife had all but given up driving she finally won (no surprise there) her longstanding protest and with just 250 miles on the clock the car was disposed of to, of all places, a local Performance car specialist with a particular interest in Ferrari’s and other Italian thoroughbred cars.

KAM 299X was to spend the next 11 years or so as an exhibit in the Performance car specialist showroom. Strange you may think! However, their logic behind using the Ital for this purpose being that the Italian design company Ital design, from whom the car took its name, was better known for its creations designed for the Italian greats - Bugatti, Lamborghini, Maserati and Ferrari. It was a wise decision as the Ital proved a popular focal and talking point in the showroom for over a decade.

Of course in the hands of such specialists the car was properly dry stored, frequently started, run and cared for.

We first acquired this amazing Morris Ital almost 4 years ago; we were wowed by it then and we are even more so now.

We sold it to one of our longstanding clients who had bought it for pride of place in his private collection. It has travelled just 24 miles since we first sold it and during its time in his care has continued to be dry stored and cherished.

A recent sudden loss of storage has meant that we have required a number of cars from the collection and we are absolutely delighted to have The Morris back.

[/quote]

Did they not have any form of trim or covering on the boot floor? Surely there was something there? Picture shows painted metal that would look rather secondhand in short order.

Mixed feelings.

My dad had one many years ago (in white, MOC 450X), and it was a pretty hateful thing - a rehashed Marina which was by then 10 years old and was itself a bitsa of various BL bits and the venerable A-series.

However, that is the very definition of timewarp condition, and it's nice that there are conserved examples of those cars that were so common that you never see any more. There must be fewer Itals left than Marinas now...

Top Gear might see this.

I got given a 1.3L automatic. Dull in the extreme, but reliable and better than walking when skint. Characterless white, or by now grey, goods. A Morris Minor without the charm.

Will appeal to someone who likes beige curtains.

£100 J Clarkson. Does it come with a piano, i believe this was optional?

Honestly i hope it gets a museum place. A st car hence non left. Always nice to see the average, (well hugely below average car), survive for the present to see.

I had a white estate as a company vehicle quite a few years ago, absolutely hated it but to to be fair it had 175,000mls on it's original engine when the company sold it on to somebody else!

My first car was one of these... with an autobox, in hearing aid beige. To be fair, it was my dad's car (he had a hip problem) and my mum gave it to me when he died. Couldn't complain really.

Genuinely didn't remember it being that ugly though. Oh well, rose tinted glasses and all that.

Trace

Hateful hateful pile of crap someone please buy this then video it getting
run over by first a Challenger II then a Steam roller then drop the remains
into an active volcano.

They were st then and are st now we don't need reminding just how
utterly useless BLMC were at designing a car with the slightest trace
of flair or taste or performance or quality ugh spit.





nurse my pills

ETA even ITAL Design couldn't redeem it aaghh

After reading the first two lines of the listing I knew exactly who this was.

The Doc does have some lovely cars*, mainly of BL brand, and he always gives a full and frank description.

Apart from the Chrysler Sebring he tried to sell recently of behalf of a friend