Today I visited Christopher Neil's at Northwich. It was a sentimental journey on two counts. The route out was over Woodhead and Longdendale, a route familiar to my Grandfather as he took his goods trains over the pennines. Also a route I often used to visit an MG specialist in Stockport on Saturdays, years ago. I came back via Macclesfield over The Cat & Fiddle to Buxton, a route I often took in the Midget to and from Oulton Park. In those days it was a flat out blinder, but now it's heavily regulated with cameras and average speed sensors.
Anyway, Neil's are now Morgan dealers and have a clean and shiny showroom stuffed with Porsche, Lotus, and Morgans. They have quite a range of Morgans, including a 3.7 Roadster in Corsa red with a black interior. I wonder if MrsW would notice the red piping and different dash?
I had a solo test drive in their orange Elise demonstrator. Within half a mile of leaving the forecourt I had a knob in a Range Rover Sport six inches from the rear bumper, but this is Cheshire...........so probably a footballer. I pulled over and let him get on with it. This Elise was impressive, again very refined, with muted mechanical noise. A bit crashy over potholes but no structural shake like the Morgan has. The gearchange was also better defined, still slightly vague but better then my previous test drive. I also found that it would accelerate like a rocket..............
I ran through my checklist and all was well, so I've returned home to chew over what to do. There was no sense of a negotiable price, which is strange since they have had it for a year. The trouble is, that as a Yorkshireman I really don't like parting with money.
