MORRIS Minor enthusiasts from Ireland and the Netherlands joined British motoring fans to celebrate the history of the icon.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the one millionth Minor rolling off the production line.

To celebrate the million mark, 350 bright lilac models were produced and 10 of the special cars took part in Sunday’s rally.

Enthusiasts travelled from far and wide to be part of the event, which took the cars from Steeple Aston to Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire.

Oxfordshire was chosen for the event because the car was produced at the Cowley car plant. It was 40 years ago the last Minor was built in this country.

Denis Lynch, 69, owns one of the limited edition Minors and travelled from West Limerick in Ireland to be part of the event.

He said: “I am a Minor fanatic – my first car, back in 1962, was a Minor – and we like going to these events.

“It was a very enjoyable event because everyone was so enthusiastic about the rally and the anniversary.

“The Minor was one of the first cars people were able to afford back in the late 60s, and it is a British icon.”

Ken Giller, 54, from Wageningen in Holland, also owns a lilac Minor and travelled down in the vehicle on Friday with his son, Onno, 22, to be part of the event.

He said: “I have had this car for 28 years and, to me, it is very special.

“The Minor is a car that is very, very easy to work on, it is amazingly reliable and it is part of English history.”

Assistant organiser Andrew Dyer, originally from Oxfordshire, said: “The Morris Minor was the first British car that ever sold one million units. At the time, to celebrate Morris made a specially edition of 350 cars, the idea being to send them out to each of the dealers for publicity.

“They are spread all around and today was about getting to see how many of those special edition cars that have survived we could get together.

“We think there is somewhere around 40 of the 350 that were originally made on the road and we managed to get 10, which is pretty good.”