Dealer Changes

Has anyone picked up that there are changes to the UK dealership network going on at moment?

No, what are they?

Me neither - what have I missed??

Me neither. Please let us know

I am not really in the know , I was hoping someone here might have more information than I do.

I think it will become clearer over the next couple of days.

OK ...so what have you heard?

This has happened before.
One of two dealers come and go every few years.
Im at Williams next week, Henry should know.

Peter

I think this is a bit more significant than that if the rumours are true, but it is only a rumour at this stage and the facts may prove to be rather different.

I would be interested to see what Henry makes of it all.

But what would Minnie make of it?

Oh come on Andy, don't keep us in suspenders, spill the beans. You know we all love a bit of scandal as long as no one is hurt.

Start a rumour time- well Stewie and Davie have taken over control of all the dealerships bankrolled by Reggie

This could be untrue..

Very good!

Denis de Roos is returning as Customer special Relations manager ?

I thought you were with us Richie?

Shhh - I'm the silent partnerie

Blimey, you'll ALL be wearing flowery shirts soon..!!

I had a flowery shirt in, um, 1969.........

This is what I have heard.

Directive to all dealers, they must construct within 6 months a state of the art shed for owners to wait in whilst waiting for their cars to be repaired with a minimum of tea, coffee, kettle, week old milk and a grotty mug, sleeping bags optional.


Directive to all owners, trad owners are to stop fettling and drive their cars a minimum of 10,000 miles per year or face repossession of the vehicle. All Aero owners have to wear a flat cap without fail, as they have not been adhering to the Morgan brand. Lastly without fail, all owners will bathe in Morgan's aftershave weekly..

If it’s about a big dealer no longer selling new cars there were rumars about that before, but it didn’t happen. It due the the factory requiring large up front deposits for the dealer car allowcation. Which understandably some might not be happy with

Two whole pages of carrot dangling. Amazing.

the year I was born

Oh man they were cool days and nights and flowery shirts were everywhere peace and love and lots of lovely girls. I was 18 at the time.

*coughs* I managed to get two girls in my MG Midget.

More than once..........

Oh the year was 1972.......

That ether worked every time

Ditto

1971 and Elan SE - happy times.

It's true they were carefree times and everyone seemed far more relaxed.

Not sure what is happening in your part of the world but change is certainly in the wind.....

Those were the days...I was 17 and so cool on my Lambretta....flairs, flowered shirt and lots of glorious young ladies to tempt me...

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way

1969 to 1974...the time of my life.

. Ah the words of sweet Mary Hopkins.

They were playing her song last week on Radio 2. Bought back a load of memories......including flowery shirts and flares. Oh.....and cheesecloth shirts....remember them?

Yes I do remember cheesecloth shirts............

They were truly heady old times full of carefree fun.

Ah, the memories of youth when, after 50 or so years have passed, everything seemed so rosy

"Oh my friend we're older but no wiser
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same"

From the same song.

Not forgetting the long hair and platform soled shoes.

I used to drive in platform boots.......

Flares, flower shirts, long hair, platform boots: well that's killed the topic of dealer changes.

How does "dealer changes" lead to this trip down memory lane, as pleasurable as it is.

Because this is Talk Morgan

I got married in two tone platform soled shoes in 1972. Tripped up approaching the Registrar’s table and nearly knocked it and him flying!

1969, I was "In The Park" Hyde that is, wearing my loon pants grooving to the Stones, a bit different from when I saw them in Twickenham recently, I needed oxygen just to get to my seat. As for cheese cloth shirts, I think mine possibly still smelled of cheese or was that exotic tobacco?
Without a doubt, for people of "our" generation the mid'60's through to the early '70's were really magical, I'm sure we all felt that things were really going to change for the better but perhaps all young people feel that.
Still, enough of all that looking down memory lane through binoculars, what of all this dealer stuff??

A likely story duckie!!!

Don't forget dealers can mean something different in the modern world.

Flared Jeans (Wrangler) and Cheesecloth shirts, yup. Bata boots. However I think I may have been just after this although I do still have a Cat Stevens album.

Tank tops.......colour coordinated with shirts......

Tie-Dye.

Oh, tie-dye, weren't they great. I still remember getting a white T-shirt and making mine to go with multi patch jeans just like the ones on Neil Youngs album "After the Gold Rush"

But we still await the definitive answer to the dealer changes as Davie, Stevie, Ritchie and I can't agree on who will be the Sales Manager. Davie is obviously going to be workshop Manager but I don't want to fund all the purchase.
Regards,
Reggie

Who else slit their Levi's up the outer leg seam and stitched in a triangle of denim to make their flares even bigger? Mine used to flap like a sail when riding my bike.

I think we shall have to discuss this further over a pint in the Malvernie maybe this evening if we all think that a suitable arrangement .


ps I have a feeling Stewie is the man for the job his comparative youthfulness and epicurean dress sense I feel will appeal to the Hipsters, just my 2 penny worth..talking of which Reggie we could have a whip round to help with stock costs or tell the factory it's untenable that we should be expected to hold that amount, we can discuss later over the pint..

Richie,

See you in the bar later, mines a pint of Barolo !!! Hic-Hic

Reggie it's out already for you having a little "breathe" so plenty of time to let the curry settle and the rest to arrive .

I think I'll stay on the Broadside tonight .

Chaps — be a good lot and get back on topic - who and what dealer changes are afoot after all - or do you not know???!!

I suspect we may need a little patience on this.....

Sorry for the diversion Robbie - but it seems that when the OP started this thread about a week ago it was all smoke and no fire as nobody has come forward with anything meaningful at all.

It's the normal round of speculation such as we see when there is a hint of a new model - time will provide the correct answer in every case.

We'll let you know who the new sales director is later .

Richie,

I think we may have found him------ Robbie!!!

But seriously folks, this is what makes TM so entertaining and I doubt we will ever get to the bottom of the dealer story so what's the next rumour going to be?

Bang on Reggie - he was there all the time...

p.s. Reg, Clive Sinclair has applied for a patent on the new EV3.255555r.

Would you dare buy a new Morgan from this man?

Where do I pay - brilliant shot

What would you like to drink Stewart, I think there's still some Borolo left ..

I think I must have drunk too much, surely I can't be seeing this !!

You could maybe try an Underberg !

Underberg ??????

When we worked in Germany we were introduced to it as a hangover cure - it tastes nice and seemed to work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underberg

A lot of bars here sell it.

Rich,

Well that's a new one on me. One half of my family are German ( the other being American ) so I was brought up on Jägermeister and Lufthansa cocktail which is possibly why I like Italian wine

Reg,

That Jagermeister is lovely and very popular with the students now, I believe they call them Jager bombs and drink them down as shots as a chaser a bit of a waste to me as they taste good.

I had a Polish father and English mother and from the age of 11 a Dutch stepmother so there's not much I haven't tried but Advokat I truly hate.

My late father spent time during the war in Italy in Gambalunga country and was entertained by an Italian Countess (he got shot down and crash landed in her olive grove, one round went straight through his chest) so naturally I was introduced to Italian wines and they are tops for me.

If you like Jägermeister I'd be surprised if you didn't like Underberg.

I remember Underberg being available in the Students Union bars in Bristol back in the 70s.
Years later, during my Chevron years Gammel Dansk was a favourite!
Nothing mentioned about dealer changes during a tour guide meeting this morning. Suggest a watch on MMC web site...

That's interesting Graham I guess you guys would need to know of immediate or imminent changes to bat off any awkward questions.

Possible, though we're not really involved in that side of things.
I do get asked quite often how many dealers there are (usually in the UK) and which dealer might be closest to a tour participant's home location.

When I worked for a Danish Company we always used to drink a small Gammel Dansk on our exhibition stands as we were preparing for the day.

Our non Danish Competitors could never understand why we were in such a good mood first thing in the morning.

Put it down to the herbs Bob!

This is the best threaddrift in a long time.
Well...Underberg is quite medical in taste. But nevertheless a round thing. Jägermeister was almost dead and then Red Bull came in the 90s. The techno scene mixed Jägermeister with Red Bull, and that's why Jägermeister still lives with big sales.

It's a total mystery to me.

I think Jaegermeister tastes absolutely ghastly, yet in my pub we sell on average about 8 litres a week of the stuff. The punters lap it up. Hey ho.

Al 3 are disgusting but the old Dane tastes the worst. Give me Skona aquavit anyday

The most disgusting drink I have had recently was Brewdog 18% beer. YUK!
I poured it away.

Thanks for the warning on that one

That’s what TM is great for!

Warning against bad beer and hot curries

It's all a question of priorities

It seems like all Canadian dealers will soon be out of business

Oops wrong site ...

Hygge

Is thread drift what happens when your stitching goes wrong??

Back to the original query, I understand there may be an extra dealer in Japan sometime soon.

I love it Graham it's taken 9 days and 9 pages to learn that and still no news on UK dealerships

The Japanese members that I speak to are really keen but most of their cars are Plus 8's and the odd M3W,4/4 and +4. So there must be room for another dealership, they had over 100 cars at their recent 46 year celebrations.

Reg,
I think an M3W owner suffered that recently in the seating area.

This "Thread Drift" is what makes TM the brilliant forum it is and seems to be a showcase for an vast pool of knowledge, alternate views, humour and down right nonsense, but what about the Dealer News??

Quite impressive toking skills displayed by our Canadian brothers and sisters. Apparently the country had run out of weed by the end of the second day!

Lots of happy citizens and a happy government too, the additional tax income must be very welcome.

It can't be all bad, too busy chillin to want a fight and the revenue dept are happy .

I wonder how many others will follow the Canadians down this sensible (to me) road, when I worked out there I always thought they were a really nice crowd, no I didn't smoke it. I tried it out there when I was offered it but it kinda didn't work for me. The Molson was good and worked really well though.

Rich, you must be viewing on default settings if you have 9 pages of this topic.

Assuming you're not still using a dial-up connection, I recommend that you edit your preferences and increase the value of "Total posts to show on one page" to something more useful. The default value of 10 is far too low.

~iw

Thanks for that Ian - I couldn't even remember seeing that page

Indeed! Several of the provinces have restricted sales to the official Government on-line store for the first few months, ostensibly to give a breathing space for the storefronts of "questionable legality" to get their house in order before opening officially in the spring. Of course everyone knows that it's so the Provincial govt can run an effective monopoly for 6 months or so and gain a loyal customer base for their online distribution - and, of course, provide a new revenue stream for the beleaguered Canada Post.

Canada Post workers, of course, have seen the sudden upwelling of support for online deliveries, and taken the opportunity to threaten strike action as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. That would split public sentiment right down the middle, I suspect...

There were well north of 100,000 transactions posted in the first couple of days after legalization, in the provinces that reported total volumes (in some provinces, private retailers are supplied through government wholesalers, so there's no aggregate retail data available). BC, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland all reported shortages of product in the "official" supply chain.

It all seems to be a bit of a fuss over nothing, though. Most indications are that total consumption won't change much in the medium term; it remains an offence to supply to (or consume if you are) a minor; the most significant overall effect is that the flow of cash into organized crime has been at least turned down a bit. Instead some of the tax revenue - at least in Ontario - has been ring-fenced for drug treatment and harm reduction programmes.

Ian, I too am on 9 pages for this thread. Please explain what it was you told Rich to do and accepting that I hope to understand, will your suggestion mean the individual posts will be smaller i.e more difficult to read? Thank you

Reg, Click on "My Stuff" at the top, then "Edit Preferences". Check that you are viewing in "Flat Mode" and increase the "topics per page" and "posts per page" values to whatever suits, I use the maximum of 99.

It doesn't make anything smaller it just stops breaking threads into so many pages.

Ian.

Thank you very much Ian, when the previous bottle of Red has left my system I will give it a go. It's good to have people who know what they are talking about.

Thanks Ian, I followed your instructions and, guess what, it works. I wonder if Rchie is now one the same format. Thank you once again
Reggie

Yes it's a big improvement Reg I went 50 + 50

A new dealer for Perth, Western Australian was appointed just before the Muster in mid October but not sure of the details for the new Sydney dealership.
Great news for the Australian market. This has been very much work in progress and long overdue.

That's good news Gary - a bit more support out there for you boys will be a good thing

FYI
Great to receive this email from Len Taylor, our President in Western Australia regarding the opening of the new dealership


Good Morning All,

Just a reminder that opening day and launch for WA’s own Morgan dealership will take place on Saturday 16th February.

David McLaughlan’s Allsports Automotive has been granted a full dealership by Morgan Motors UK.
The new premises are located at Unit 2, 20 Remisko Drive, Forrestdale.

I would like as many members as possible with their Morgans to attend and support David on this day.

Yes, this will benefit David but also gives us the chance to showcase our cars with a strong possibility of increasing our membership.
It’s a win win situation and deserves your support.

The plan for the day is:

Arrive at 8.30 am to assemble our cars
2 cars to be available to take potential buyers for a short ride (not drive)
We hope to Have Alex Forrest from the RAC to formally open the event
Talk to potential buyers about our experience as owners
Enjoy sausage sizzle

For those members coming on the day we ask that you:

Dress in whatever Morgan apparel you have
Wear name badges
Remove any loose items from your car
Be prepared to stay until about 3.00 pm
Take pride in your car and give it a polish. For some this is long overdue.

The plan is to finish up with the public around 2.00 pm after which David will turn on the refreshments and outline his plans for the future.

To assist with catering can you please RSVP to me by this Friday, 8th Feb.

Regards,

Len Taylor

So, they ARE kit cars?

Oh no! Next you will discover the cars DON’T have a wooden chassis!

Good news Gary I'll bet you have a good gathering there .

Let’s hope not....

The WA boys are pumped for this and keen to support David

I believe the Australian ones didgeridoo

Richard, it's going to make a Billy Graham crusade look like a side show.....

Aerial photo of the new Western Australian Morgan dealer in Perth on opening day together with some ground shots.

W.A. Morganeers turned out in force to show David McLaughlin and All Sports Automotive their support.

Club members are making their cars, old and new, available for potential purchasers so they can enjoy the complete Morgan experience and history whether at the show room or on a Club run.

Good luck with this venture David, the lads are behind you.

I guess that save you guys a long drive to a dealer & wish them well.

I hope more than just current Morgan owners turned up for the opening?

This looks like a big move for you guys out there and lots of nice cars to buy - even an M3W sans moustache

Quite right britmog.

Apparently there was a good flow of people throughout the day but whether that turns into sales is yet to be seen.

At the height of the mining boom I reckon a professional, well respected dealer could have sold 3 a month but things are very different now.....

I am pleased to advise that 15/50 is now safely tucked up in its garage on the NSW mid north coast...

Jealousy is all I can think of looking at that!!!!!

I suspect there may be some disquiet among the dealers having their orders cancelled if they don't keep up with the new monthly "Management" charges as recently announced...

Management Charges ? For the partners ?

On going charges and conditions imposed by Morgan on their Dealers. I am catching up with the London crew very soon so will have more then.

This is an interesting read about the history of Williams and why they changed from high volume to low volume manufacturers.

Sort of on topic.

https://www.am-online.com/news/2014/3/25...-morgans/34714/

It is a well written, but slightly out of date review.

Most of it is as valid as it was when I first bought a Morgan from them in 2012. Our local MB dealership tries to be a bit that way, but the pressures of corporate targets make it hard.

I do worry that the new owners will drive MMC to be somewhat more mainstream, but as I'm unlikely to change cars it doesn't matter.