The hidden modern eight

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Morris Eights are a familiar staple of the prewar car scene and a very welcome one at that, but if cars could talk we wouldn't expect their stock of anecdotes to cover anything much more interesting than the time Mr Perkins got hopelessly lost on the way to have lunch at the in-laws’ in Bognor because Mrs Perkins was holding the map upside-down. If the conversation needs livening up, just mention the war…

Johannes Jacob Molenaar was a successful Dutch Morris importer with a large showroom in the striking Continental Modernist style. Life was good until 1940 when the Nazis stuck their oar in and demanded to know all about his dealings with the British. Fortunately, Molenaar had anticipated trouble and hidden 36 of his cars behind a false wall, which managed to fool the Germans while they occupied Molenaar’s premises. Now there is only one surviving original Morris Eight from the 36, a 1940 Eight Series E.

To read this Morris’s amazing good-luck story and learn the history of Garage Molenaar, as told by Jeroen Booij, pick up the June 2020 issue of The Automobile, available now.

Words by Zack Stiling. Photographs by Jeroen Booij.

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