by Lorne Goldman (published in MSCCC’s Blurb, Spring 2016)

At the risk of being controversial……..

Experts, engineers and students of automotive technology all herald the advantages of a stiff chassis. Logic is on their side. Without an absolutely rigid foundation, it is impossible to apply theories or componentry with a certainty of success and identical result.  Without rigidity, there is no way to guarantee that even the same models will respond to the same factors in the same way.   As well, a flexing chassis will react differently to different engines and different add-ons.   The flexing chassis will also wear and change over time, with or without usage.   And as it changes, it will incrementally change the performance of every component attached to it.  It will also both points of strength and weakness which will allow forces to concentrate and cause unhappiness a specific point. Cars with a flexing chassis will have a tendency to squeak and groan without constant owner attention and despite efforts to muffle this with the application of great gobs of factory goo.  A flexing chassis will absorb more of the power produced rather than getting it to the ground.

The degree of chassis flex will also be compounded on convertibles, cabriolets or roadsters because of their lack of a strenghtening rigid roof. Several prominent Morgan dealers have confidentially confided to me that only 25% of new Morgan classic chassis arrive within correct specification and alignment. Even GoMoG recommends that a replacement chassis be delivered to the local chassis straightener (rather than directly to the buyer) so that they may be tested and corrected before installation.

Consequences

But each classic Morgan has a flexing chassis and an open top. Each will be different, something that has been mentioned often for decades by Morgan owners, with rueful pride and frustration but the consequences of this are still not fully understood, even by enabled owners.

Consequent common sense dictates that each Morgan must be individually tweaked by trial and error and this process must be on-going as a flexing chassis changes over time with the interaction of its parts and the stress on the metal. Therefore intervention must express itself differently with every car. Ideally, each car must have someone specifically and fully familiar with it to best respond to its needs and changes. After 400,000 kilometers and twenty years of mechanical and driving interaction with many classic Plus 8s, to this I can add scores of others that I have helped copy to a template, I can attest to truth of these comments. Despite 10,000s spent, none Morgan can never be precisely made to handle like another. Of course, they all mightily improve, but they becomes exactly identical. Uniformity and predictability with a flexing chassis is impossible. The flexing chassis is the most salient characteristic of a classic Morgan.

Too often, poor or non-existent maintenance will convince owners that there are problems with car rather than with their lack of understanding the car. They soon become easy prey for snake oil salesmen promising them a modern panacea. Even installing dealers can be sadly co-opted, and obey theGoMoG Law of Expenditure: The likelihood of a car enthusiast reviewing anything he has already purchased with passionate approval is directly related to how much money he spent on it.”  There is ample evidence that gratuitous technology has deskilled and dumbed down the species.

On the happy side, with a flexing chassis, the ENTIRE car reacts to road anomalies. When a Morgan is properly sorted, they become downright sensuous. Never experienced anything like it another car! The flexing chassis acts as a major part of the suspension dynamic. They are one of the primary reasons for the legendary Morgan permasmile. To get there, aside from luck, it requires each owner to reflect his and his car’s individuality in tweaking it by trial and error. No other route makes sense. Interactive owners, to a man, will all have tales about how replacement parts or new “bespoke” components had to be adjusted to fit and function. This encourages the development of an understanding between these owners and their Morgans that results in solid reliability and great joy, something that used to shared through clubs and forums. I never found anything in the automotive world like it!

Yet there are those who wish to eliminate on of the most distinctive charms of a car that has lasted 80+ years. They sell one-size-fits-all solutions which makes no sense on a Classic Morgan. The design for THEIR car and can succeed, but it is no guarantee for another. Hit or miss without any certainty that the result will help or harm or please the different dynamics of another car or the tastes of another owner. The most experienced Morgan suspension specialists cross themselves and look to the heavens when approached by these newbie “experts”! (wry smile)  But there is predatory profits in these “solutions”.  It is irrestible to some looking for money and/or guru status. Buyer beware.  There has not been a single week in the last few years that I have not been responding to a frustrated someone trying to get their Morgan back on the road after a misguided installation of one of these. They are merely too embarrased to publicly warn their brethren after all the hype.  In my case, I have had to develop a tough skin and I am not selling anything. (sadly wry)

From a safety point of view, a flexing chassis absorbs impact force, sacrificing itself to save its occupants. Many (including my wife and I) owe our lives to the Morgan flexing chassis.  Why play games with that?

In sum, the simple Morgan Classic responds robustly to intervention. There is a buffet of common sense ideas that have been discovered over the last 80 years..most are inexpensive,  some are less so (like better tyres). Some combination will work for your car. But for older cars, poor maintenance and care is normally the reason for a sad ride. For newer cars, Factory trends have made a compliant suspension more difficult to achieve as easily. But all Morgans, though different, can attain exactly the ride and handling each owner wants.

There is a wonderful Peter Morgan anecdote that is germane here. Some 70 years ago he slapped shocks to the Morgan front, fit alongside the kingpin springs, just as they are today. When asked whether they improved the handling or the ride, PM shrugged, indicating they had no effect that he could discern. But he confided that buyers were concerned as they saw them on other, different cars…so he added them.

One day, for your own amusement and in memory of Peter Morgan, remove your front dampers and go for a test drive.

Jaguar Land Rover has said some customers in Europe may be boycotting British cars following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

[This may be something to watch.  It will be interesting to see what impact this may have on Morgan’s production in the near future.  Much of the MMC’s production goes outside the UK and over to the European continent today.  I doubt the potential US imports  could compensate, should they the continent as a market, due to Brexit.  MB.]

Chief executive, Ralf Speth, said on Friday there had been signs some customers in Europe, Jaguar Land Rover’s biggest market, no longer wanted to buy British cars after the Brexit vote.

Speth said JLR would “realign its thinking” on investment after Britain’s vote to leave the EU and if Nissan got a Brexit compensation deal then other automakers would need the same advantages.

Nissan demands Brexit compensation for new UK investment.

When asked about remarks by the chief executive of Nissan, who said on Thursday he would halt new investment in Britain without a pledge of compensation for tariffs imposed on UK-built cars in the event of a hard Brexit, Speth said: “We are the only car manufacturer in the UK to do all the work in terms of research, design, engineering, production planning in the UK. We want to have fair treatment and a level playing field at the end of the day.”

Speth said the firm, which built one-third of Britain’s 1.6m cars last year, would face a double hit in the event of a hard Brexit, with tariffs on exported cars and imported parts and technology from within the bloc hurting competitiveness. He said the company’s long-term strategy on investment had not changed but the firm would now have to think again after Britons backed leaving the EU.

However, Speth left open the possibility of new investment such as an electric battery and car plant in Britain if the conditions, including pilot testing and support from science, were right. “The best thing would be to have something in the UK … If you are producing batteries there then you will also produce vehicles there,” he said.

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A new version of a much-loved classic Morgan combines character, charm and master craftsmanship, along with a welcome dash of British eccentricity, writes Tiff Needell

So Brexit will become a reality and, listening to the tidings of doom, you might be thinking the world is collapsing around us and foreign investment will vanish along with our car production. But fear not – whatever happens, we’ll still have Morgan!

Morgan is the world’s oldest privately owned car manufacturer, family owned and British – very British! It all started in 1909 when Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan began building cars which were, to put it bluntly, one wheel short of a full set. It wasn’t until 1936 that Morgan produced its first proper car, the 4/4, which this year celebrates an unbroken 80-year production run.

The company still makes three-wheelers as well if you want slow yet eccentric motoring thrills, and you can buy a 4/4 for as little as £35,400. As Morgan marketing moves into the modern world, you no longer have to wait two years to own one. But if you fancy something more exciting than a 110bhp four cylinder then the flagship Aero 8 is the model for you.

The original Aero 8 first arrived in 2000 but, after four generations of gradual development, production ceased in 2008, as the company focused on more exotic coupés such as its AeroMax, before being relaunched as the Aero 8 last year. Never likely to win a beauty contest with its cross-eyed, concave front end, the Aero 8 is nevertheless eccentrically English in style.

As with all Aero 8s the new fifth generation has a V8 BMW power plant under its long bonnet as the company says goodbye to the iconic Rover V8 used in its Plus 8 models since 1968. Connected to BMW’s smooth six-speed manual gearbox with a limited slip differential and no traction control, the 367bhp is as lively as you’d wish.
Morgan’s success comes from sticking to traditional coach building. While the Aero 8 replaced the 4/4’s steel chassis with an aluminium one it retained the beautifully crafted ash wood frame construction that supports the body. The result? A car that weighs just 1,150kg.

The latest Aero 8 has a much stiffer chassis than its predecessors and refined suspension has reduced the body-roll and sharpened its handling. The removable mohair roof can be stashed away out of site for the true sports car look and there’s plenty of room for storage inside the clamshell boot.

You could waste £2,495 on an automatic six-speed, but flappy panels are as out of place in a Morgan as a mid-engined layout would be. You might spend £6,495 on a carbon-fibre hard top which you’d have to leave behind if you took it off – although you’d still have the soft top ready for any rain.

I would be tempted to part with £2,795 for a performance pack that adds red brake calipers, a gloss black diffuser and side-exit exhausts for the optimum sound effect.
One thing that even the shock of Brexit can’t alter though is the value of a Morgan – beautifully hand-crafted in the Malvern Hills of Worcestershire and ready to blow all your worries away.

Morgan Aero 8
Top speed 170mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds
Engine 4.8 litre V8 petrol generating 367bhp
Gearbox six-speed manual
Economy 23mpg
Price £88,194
Performance 8/10
Performance 8/10
Handling 8/10
Economy 7/10
Comfort 7/10
Quality 9/10
Desirability 8/10

2,300 car companies have launched, but only two have hit the century mark

Ford, and Morgan. It’s an unlikely pair: the conservative, patriarchal American ur-manufacturer and the family of English handcrafters. What is the secret that has allowed these car companies to be the only ones that have gone through most of the 20th Century with their identities intact?

It’s a bit of everything. With the Model T, Ford built up such an enormous head start in the Teens and early Twenties that no amount of mismanagement or Nazi sympathizing—and there was plenty of both—could erase their advantage.

Founded in 1903, Henry Ford was company President on and off (his son Edsel ran the company from 1919 through 1943, when Henry finally broke his heart and badgered him to death) until after World War II.

(General Motors was in a similar position but wasn’t incorporated as we know it today until October 1916. It’ll join the list in about two weeks.)

Wartime military production benefitted large companies more than small and when Henry retired for good in 1945, another Ford stepped into the leadership, followed by Henry Ford II and today’s Executive Chairman, William Clay Ford, Jr.

While Henry Ford came from a poor farm family and built his first engine at home, Englishman Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan, known as HFS, was the well-off son of an Anglican reverend, whose father actively supported Harry’s career.

After apprenticing as a draughtsman for a railway engineer, he constructed his first lightweight three-wheel cyclecar in 1908-’09, inventing a sliding-pillar front suspension they use to this day. He intended the car only for personal use but the interest it attracted and his father’s urging, had him selling cars by 1910, with the Morgan Motor Company officially incorporated in 1912.

His son Peter took over the chairmanship when HFS died in 1959; followed by Peter’s son Charles in 1999. Charles was ousted by Morgan’s Board of Directors in 2013, but the company remains privately owned by the Morgans.

The family history of both companies is an obvious parallel, but they could otherwise scarcely have less in common. Ford’s philosophy was one of total control, famously owning the mines where their iron was extracted and the forests where wood was harvested.

In 1923, Ford sold 2,011,125 Model T’s. This was also a high point of Prewar production for Morgan, which cranked out 2,300 cars, approximately 1/1000th of Ford’s volume. Morgan’s most successful model ever, the Plus 8, was built from 1968-2004 and they sold 6,000 of them.

In 2004, Ford was selling over 2,500 F-series pickups a day. Ford builds the Fiesta; a 37-foot long, 13,000-pound F-750; and everything in between. Morgan’s largest car, the 2,600-pound Aero 8, is lighter than almost every Fiesta variant and is their only car that isn’t made out of wood. Their popular new 3-wheeler weighs just 1,157 pounds.

But there is one other thing in common: Neither company has ever declared bankruptcy. Ford took $5.9 billion in low-cost federal loans, but wasn’t bailed out like GM and Chrysler; and Charles Morgan was kicked out because the board felt he was leading them into financial disaster.

By keeping their firms in the family, Ford (although publicly traded, various Ford family members and trusts own most of it) and Morgan have been able to follow their own course without surrendering influence to non-car people and outside money.

Their continuity and deep knowledge of not just the industry, but their place in it, has given them the confidence and resources to pursue their own different but distinct paths.

Both only make vehicles, although Ford did once make some very fine aircraft. Whether it’s drive, foresight, luck or a unique place in history, Ford and Morgan have done the nearly impossible and between them amassed 225 years of independent operation, while making some extraordinary cars.

They’re one in a thousand, and there are no other companies like them.

David Traver Adolphus is a freelance automotive researcher who recently quit his full time job writing about old cars to pursue his lifelong dream of writing about old AND new cars. Follow him on Twitter as @proscriptus.

Limited edition version of sports car maker’s all-electric EV3 costs £52,500 and aims to promote British craftmanship.

Just 19 of the UK 1909 Edition cars will be made and sold in Selfridges’ flagship Oxford Street store from the end of November. Photograph: Selfridges/PA
The world’s first zero-emissions, all-electric three-wheel car will go on sale in November – in the unlikely setting of a London department store, where it will jostle for shoppers’ attention alongside Louis Vuitton handbags and Tiffany jewellery.

Hand-built by the Morgan Motor Company, the British bespoke sports carmaker, the two-seater will cost £52,500 and is the result of a collaboration with retailer Selfridges that aims to promote craftsmanship within British manufacturing and sustainability.

Just 19 of the UK 1909 Edition cars – a nod to the year both companies were founded – will be built to be sold in Selfridges’ flagship Oxford Street store in central London from the end of November. A replica will be displayed in a purpose-built concession in the revamped ground floor accessories hall while a running prototype will be available to test drive.

Taking four hours to charge, the 1909 will have an expected range of 120-150 miles – with a top speed of about 90mph – and comes in a “luxurious yet understated black” with Selfridges’ bronze detailing, reminiscent of the Oxford Street store’s distinctive sign.

The limited edition car is a bespoke version of Morgan’s all-electric EV3, which was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this year, and retains the company’s traditional ash frame Power comes from a 20kW lithium battery and a liquid-cooled 46kW motor driving the rear wheel.

Sebastian Manes, Selfridges’ buying and merchandising director, said a flurry of interest had already triggered some pre-orders. “We are thrilled to be able to launch such an extraordinary product, which not only looks amazing but also responds to every criteria of sustainable, responsible manufacturing we adhere to.

The limited edition car is a bespoke version of Morgan’s all-electric EV3. Photograph: Selfridges/PA
“The development of this limited edition of Morgan’s forthcoming all-electric car has been a wonderful experience from start to finish, and we can’t wait to see the further response the car aficionados among our customers will give this unique and exciting collaboration. We have never done anything with cars before and hopefully this is the start of a long-term collaboration.”

Jon Wells, head of design at Morgan, which employs 180 staff at its Malvern factory, where not a single robot is used in the workshops, said: “Selfridges is a big machine and we are a relative minnow. But we got together after taking some senior staff on one of our factory visits and discovered we had a lot in common.

“The whole experience has been a very productive and immersive one combining Morgan’s legendary engineering know-how with Selfridges’ flair for style and sustainability goals. In the online world dominated by quick clicks, and immediacy, this is about promoting and celebrating two iconic British brands which share a history.”

He said 95% of Morgan cars built since the company’s inception were still traceable. The car is being unveiled at Selfridges’ Birmingham store – its nearest to Malvern.

About 95% of all Morgan cars built since the company’s inception in 1909 are still traceable.  [I find this a very interesting comment.  My experience is that you can find the beginning and the end of a car’s lineage, but finding out what has happened to that car in during the interim gets a little murky.  MB]

For shoppers with even more cash to splash, Selfridges has also created a range of upmarket accessories to complement the vehicle. They include a £2,995 trunk from British leathercraft specialist Globe Trotter made to fit the car’s luggage rack, driving goggles by eyewear-maker Linda Farrow, a classic wax belted jacket from Belstaff and an Alexander McQueen scarf.

Morgan is also leading a £6m government-funded consortium to develop new EV and hybrid technologies – promising that more new technology will be introduced across its hand-built sports car range from 2019.

“By 2020 we will be seeing emissions-free driving zones in many cities and town centres. This is a huge step for us,” said Wells.

At the Paris Motor Show in 1936, a British manufacturer exhibited a compact, two seat sport tourer, built as was conventional at the time around a steel chassis, a wood-framed body, semi-elliptic rear suspension, an overhead inlet, side exhaust valve engine and using an unusual sliding pillar front suspension. Unusually for a British sports car of the time, it was painted a bright, Carnation red.

This was the first in a line of Morgan roadsters that continues to this day, still built the same as in 1936. The Morgan is a living dinosaur, the carrier of a proud tradition of car building by hand, with traditional materials and tools, that has long gone extinct otherwise.  Morgan’s unceasing traditions, spiced by new adaptations and evolutionary models, is one of the greatest stories of the automobile’s history.

Actually, several such cars would have been shown – marques like MG, Hillman, Talbot, Riley, BSA, AC and Singer were all producing cars of this format at that time. Most of those marques have gone, but one remains, and so does the car, the Morgan 4/4, a derivative of which is still in manufacture, in the same factory, on the same tooling, and still with a wooden frame and sliding pillar front suspension.

The 1936 Paris Show car is still extant. A natural Car Show Classic, and a great car around which to tell the story of the Morgan Motor Company.

Much has been and still is said about Morgan.

Read More →

Selfridges is teaming up with Malvern-based car manufacturer, Morgan, to celebrate the launch of the its first zero emission, all-electric car.

With Morgan about to launch the EV3 and Selfridges motoring ahead with its drive to put sustainability at the core of its business, the historic firms are now set to collaborate.

Selfridges and Morgan are creating a limited edition of the EV3, called UK 1909 Edition, blending Morgan’s legendary engineering know-how and iconic design with Selfridges’ famous flair for fashion.

The result is a collector’s item car that combines beauty, practicality, comfort and speed. The UK 1909 Edition will only ever be made in a limited edition run of 19 – a number that is a nod to the year during which both Selfridges and Morgan were founded.

Selfridges has also enlisted nine British brands, including Alexander McQueen and Belstaff, to produce a driving kit with sustainable accessories for contemporary recreational motorsports fans. The kits will be priced separately but can only be ordered with the car.

The contributing brands have found Britain-based artisans to manufacture their contributing accessory, instead of manufacturing it overseas as they do with their main lines, to ensure all elements of the UK 1909 Edition, from the car to the driving kit, are exclusively handmade in the UK.

The full driving kit also features brands such as Globetrotter, Christopher Raeburn, George Cleverley, Richard James, Linda Farrow, Karl Donoghue and Dents.

The UK 1909 Edition will be officially launched in store at Selfridges Birmingham – near the site of the Morgan factory – on 1 October and in London Oxford Street on 1 November.

The UK 1909 Edition and complementary driving kit will be manufactured from November 2016 and will be delivered to each customer within six months.

V8-powered British retro roadster receives Australian Design Rule certification; will cost $270K 

That’s an indicative retail price, before options and on-road costs.

First Australian deliveries of the Aero 8, which reverts back to its original Aero 8 name and full convertible configuration following several previous iterations including the limited-edition AeroMax, the Aero SuperSports and the Aero Coupe, will commence early next year.

Although it might not look it, the Aero 8 is a cutting-edge ‘modern’ Morgan – as opposed to some of Morgan’s ‘Classic’ models that date back to 1936 – and the most advanced Morgan car ever produced.

Based around a bonded and welded aluminium chassis and weighing just 1180kg dry, it’s powered by a BMW 4.8-litre V8 (matched with both six-speed manual and automatic transmissions) that produces 270kW and 490Nm – enough to propel it to 100km/h in a claimed 4.5 seconds and as fast as 273km/h.

Morgan says the Aero 8’s latest chassis benefits from improved torsional stiffness, a revised front-end, all-new suspension, anti-roll bars and a limited-slip differential, resulting in “a more responsive and better handling sports car whist retaining the previous high standard of comfort”.

The Aero 8 is available with an optional hard-top that transforms the car into a coupe, while new dashboard arrangements, real wood surrounds, textured box-woven carpets and fine leather trim enhance the new interior.

Features such as air-conditioning and, for the first time in a Morgan, satellite-navigation and Bluetooth connectivity are standard, while a dramatic rear opening clamshell boot is used to both tension and hide the new double-lined mohair hood.

“Whilst all of these attributes and features are available in many luxury sports cars, the Aero 8 offers the perfect marriage of fine craftsmanship and personalization not common in today’s increasingly autonomous world,” says Morgan.

Each Aero 8 takes six weeks to handcraft to order at the Morgan factory in Worcestershire, England, and the company says infinite combinations of paint, leather and equipment choices make every example a one-off.