… John Morrison, 1925 – 2014 …
A wee bit of sad news. John Morrison passed away last month. Many of you won’t know the name, but old timers will recall the man and his cars. I only found out about this a couple of weeks back, hence this rather late tribute to a rather special and really nice man.
A member of Aberdeen & District Motor Club, John Morrison was one of the most prolific clubmen drivers in the late 1950s and 60s contesting autotests, autocrosses, navigational rallies and special stage rallies. He competed in a variety of cars, but was best known in the early days for campaigning an Austin Westminster which was entered under the team name of ‘The Tank Corps’. That gave way to a more nimble Riley 1.5 and then the cars for which he was best known, a Ford Cortina GT and latterly a Ford Escort Mk1, with both cars featuring the memorable registration mark ‘FAV 4D’.
In 1963 and ’64 he won the North East Championship title for his mixed discipline activities and the move to the growing sport of special stage rallying was a natural progression. This represented quite a change in those days as stage rallying as we know it now only really got started properly in 1961 when some clubs started to get access to private Forestry Commission roads. And the rest as they say is history.
John Morrison was amongst those early ‘special stagers’ and adapted to the new challenge of driving at speed on gravel roads with much more success than many of his contemporaries.
On the 1968 Granite City Rally he finished fifth overall in his Cortina GT (and first in class) finishing two places ahead of Mike Hibbert who went on to win the 1968 Players No.6/Motor World Scottish Rally Championship. He also finished 8th overall in the Hackle that year behind R.C.S (Stuart) Brown.
In 1969 he finished fifth overall in the 6-round Scottish Rally Championship sandwiched between twice Scottish champion, James Rae (4th o/a) and Mike Hibbert (6th). This was Donald Heggie’s title winning year and on the Granite City Rally, Morrison finished 8th overall behind Heggie who was 4th. He was also 7th on the Saltire and 9th on the Border Rally. And at a time when most of his rivals had moved on to the Escort TC, Morrison was still campaigning his Cortina. Those results spoke volumes for the man’s skill behind the wheel.
He did actually drive a Vauxhall Viva on a few events, but bowed to the inevitable and an Escort was acquired and campaigned in the early 70s as and when he could fit his outings around an increasingly busy work schedule. He may have been unable to commit to a full championship but he contested four International Scottish Rallies from 1968 through to 1971 and finished four times, quite a feat in those early days of stage rallying.
For a while he ran his own business, Corner Garage at Maryculter, before selling up and then working for SMT. He left there and joined the Harper Motor Company, the well known Ford dealer in Aberdeen, where he retired from his post of Workshop Manager after 21 years with the firm.
What was particularly memorable about the man and his machines were the immaculate presentation at the start of each event, setting an example to us all. He had a natural skill and flair behind the wheel and who knows what might have been achieved had he been able to contest more events and championships. As it was, he went rallying for the sheer enjoyment of the sport not for the points or the prizes, but he did it in style and with good humour. As I say, a lesson to us all.
Our thoughts must be with his family, friends and wide circle of acquaintances at this time.
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