Is it just me or is the world full of Morgan owners who spend time polishing their cars but never look under the bonnet?

This last Sunday, I had a chance to look at a 2004 Roadster which an acquaintance of mine has just bought.
He spent ages raving about the colour, the sports exhaust, the leather upholstery etc etc etc etc but when he opened the bonnet it looked like a building site- dirty, uncared for and, quite, frankly cheap and nasty
Ok, I accept that I am obsessive about this but even allowing for that, surely nobody- even if they don't even check their own oil- wnats to think about their propulsive unit looking like a pile o sh*te? Apart from anything else, I do a lot of my own spannering and I don't want to wade through crap to do it. ( Sorry mods, am I allowed to say 'cr*p?)

Ok, rant over
G

My '76 X-flow wants a bit of a clean... But only a bit!

Cheers,

Graham,
That's fair comment and a sign that the car is doing what it is supposed to do- be driven.
This thing was a municipal rubbish tip and two things made matters worse:
1. It had come from an old -established Morgan dealer so one would have thought they would have been professional enough to clean it up even a little bit ( good marketing if nothing else?)
2. The current owner has had the car for two weeks and hadn't even worked out that it is much easier to pop the bonnet if you work the rear catch first and then the front one!

G

part of riding and owning Triumphs was polishing the engine cases - must have rubbed off, because I am fussy about the state of things under the bonnet, even the Defender 5 cyl lump gets a wipe over.

More 'Gunk' needed, I say - I still keep a can full at the ready.

Difficult to comment with a new clean engine under my bonnet, even so the wiring needed tidying up.

Just discovered that if I cover the engine bay with two large poly bags before washing the car, the engine and all of those nooks and crannies stay nice and dry. Must remember to remove it each time though.

Hi All,
I keep my engine bay as clean as possible, just a wipe from time to time. But I replaced almost every nuts, washers and bolts by stainless steel, because originals are of a poor quality, rust and are difficult to clean.
I ever posted some pictures.
BR.
Daniel.

Well, it should be driven more - certainly going to do some miles this weekend!



Not good at all!
Makes one wonder how thorough the dealer was at checking the car over???



And, the dealer hadn't told him??
I'm not impressed...

Cheers,

2. The current owner has had the car for two weeks and hadn't even worked out that it is much easier to pop the bonnet if you work the rear catch first and then the front one!

G [/quote]

Odd that, I always pop the front first

Steve, I had a sneaking feeling somebody would say that!
Funnily ( or perhaps not?) enough, if I do it that way on my car it's a real struggle
Cheers
G

The 4/4 is much easier if the rear catch is opened first.
The +4 is almost impossible to do front catch first.
Reverse order for closing...

Cheers,

Now you are being modest, Daniel! To those of you who haven't seen Daniel's car, it is quite simply perfect.

I agree. For all those who don't remember, this is the engine bay on Daniel's car. truly excellent:
http://www.talkmorgan.com/ubbthreads.php/galleries/38790/Motor_bay#comments
!
G

The world IS full of Morgan owners that just seem to polish there cars and NOTHING else, does it matter if the polish is on the outside or under the bonnet? At the end of the day it's a SPORTS CAR that should be driven on the road, on track days, trialed, autotested, raced, hillclimbed, sprinted and taken to Tescos to do the shopping NOT polished and parked in a garage, whats the point in that, you may as well buy a painting if all you want to do is look at it.

The Morgan club is one of the biggest car clubs in the UK, and they can't find enough owners to do a track day. A sad state if you ask me.

Jim,
Don't disagree at all with your comments ( and particularly so in relation to the cancelled track day.)
Cars and especially SPORTS cars are meant to be driven and enjoyed- whether that driving is road use for pleasure or any motor sport of any kind and I would be the last person to advocate the ' it's far too nice to use' approach.

Just seems to me though, that without being obsessive in any way, if we put time into maintaining our cars because we want them to run well mechanically, then it's a logical extension to want them to look OK. Not least because clean 'lumps' are easier to work on than dirty ones

I guess from a personal perspective I could sum it up like this: I like to see fast, well sorted cars on the hills, I'm not really interested in pretty cars which either don't turn up or if they do don't cut it performance- wise because their owners are wrapping them in cotton wool, most of all, I like to see fast cars which look good -and it's surprising how often the two go together

Regards,
G

Like this ?

My '72 4/4 2 str is a disgrace, old leak from the rocker box and a sump gasket that has seen better days. When, (a likely story), the Land Rover is finished, the Morgan is due to come off the road for a cosmetic rebuild, (new wheels, paint and a really, really good clean).

Someone on this forum described my car as like a pretty girl with bad teeth - I need a new bumper too!

I plead lack of time, it's a daily driver and I am doing more than 1000 miles a month. You know it's getting bad when someone at the Leicester Chamber of Commerce meeting said the car had patina.

Exactly, just at those those 4 trumpet mesh filters, its Black!!!

I'm not surprised the Mallory track day didn't find enough owners, following the fatality in 2009 I don't remember seeing any follow up in Miscellany as to why it occured, ie track conditions/ driver error/ mechanical failure etc, hardly surprising that people thought "I'll give that one a miss..."

Jim,
Having seen those pics before, I rest my case. Good-looking car with- as the results show- loads of go
regards,
G

I didn't see any follow up either - which would have been nice, even as a footnote somewhere in Miscellany.
However, on my "Supercar Experience" day the other week near Loughborough, one of the instructors was also instructing at Mallory that fateful day.
The feedback she had was that he'd had a heart attack, before leaving the track. The marshal on the preceeding post reported a 'blank vacant look' from the driver. He was supposed to have an instructor on board for that session, but had left the pit lane before the instructor could get out of a car on the preceeding session.

Regards,

Have you gone over the circuit racing entirely now Jim?

Put over 430 miles on RTA's clock over the weekend, what with going to the MSCC Gymkhana to marshal on Saturday, then down to Gurston on Sunday.
Only 5 Mogs entered at Gurston: Philip & Margaret Parkes, Greg D-S, Joe Philips (broke a diff in practice - looks like more work for New Elms!) and Greg Parnell (retired after first timed run with major clutch slip, which he also suffered in practice).
At one stage there were at least 4 Mogs in the car park.

Great weekend on the road, but the tops of my ears are suffering today!

Cheers,

thanks Graham, still think the MSCC should have published an explanation or extract from coroner/inquest

Done 2 sprints this year so far, got 4 more speed events planned at the end of the year, including the club sprint at Curborough, but am concentrating on getting rid of the big yellow novice cross from the back of the car. So doing 2 races at the BDC @ Silverstone, and 2 at the MSCC meeting @ Mallory, plus another couple, and if the cars still in one peice the Birkett 6 hour race. Money as always is a factor, (why I didn't choose knitting as a hobbie I'll never know), plus I need to spend the odd day with the other half.

Motorsport is dangerous, it says it everywhere, thats why you sign a bit of paper to say you understand that before your let out to play on the black stuff, that's also part of the buzz. But IMO you more likly to be killed on the public highway, but some uninsured chav, driving a Vauxhall Corsa with an ill fitting body kit hitting you, than you are on a well run track day.

I can understand if people arn't intrested in track driving, but when the BHM track day @ Goodwood is full, I can't see why the Club track day was so poorly supported, and you far more likely to have a "serious" off at Goodwood.

I think a green 4/4 with wires in racing trim looks superb.Especially when it's well polished.

Hats off to you & yours Jim.

I agree entirely with your comments on relative dangers of motorsport, but an unexplained fatality meant people were not able to assess the risks and make a qualified decision.

[and your car looks superb by the way]

always a major factor!

I'll be watching out for you at Mallory and the BDC then Jim. No doubt I'll be on Post 1 at Curborough (trying not to swan dive off the bank again ) in September.
May also catch you at the odd sprint... Will you be at Prescott in October?

Hope the season goes well

As for the knitting Now, landscape photography I might understand

Cheers,