Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms MSSC, 100days at (nearly) the top. What has improved

Here are my random thoughts on this thread:

Like many on this forum, I started my motoring life with a car, a few spanners and no money. I learnt the hard way how to do everything from servicing, brake overhauls, engine rebuilds and panel changes. As our horse obsession became more time consuming I had less and less time for this. One thing that wound me up was starting a job on Friday evening knowing that somehow the thing had to be back on the road in order for me to get to work on Monday morning (e.g. big ends, new pistons and rings in a S III 88" Land Rover and a 4 day bank holiday bulkhead swap in the same Land Rover). As my career progressed and company cars came along we swapped from towing trailers to 7.5T Horse Boxes for the horses. Thoughts of DIY on a Bedford TL were quickly put to one side - I could barely lift the silencer box when it came adrift in the Lake District. A nice man at a local garage took over all the lorry maintenance and we drifted into servicing by credit card and telephone. Having now left the Corporate minefield and started my own business, we have gone back to towing a trailer - but you need double jointed fingers that are infinitely strong and 8" long to work on a Disco 4 - so that will keep going to the dealer for servicing.

When we bought our first Morgan in 2003 I was driving 38-40k miles a year and working silly hours. The Morgan was about relaxation. One of the attractions was that I could buy what was then an 18 year old car and still get it serviced by a main dealer - Mike Duncan is brilliant. However, as it had a carburettor and no electronics I could still tinker and do the jobs I felt like doing. That car went back to Mike every year for a service and MOT which kept the fat history file going.

In 10 years I always failed to get SWMBO to consider a European touring holiday in the Morgan - she argued that the same man who persuaded her to update her car to keep it modern and safe could not have it both ways and take what was then a 29 year old car across the channel - even though many people do this all the time.

The opportunity to update the Morgan came with a legacy which, initially, we considered using for some extensive work on the old car but then the lure of a new Morgan took over. And now my tinkering is limited to greasing the front end and a quick spanner check - especially as SWMBO gets impatient when I spend too long fettling and polishing - she would rather be out in the car - and who am I to disagree.

So there is my journey from oily rag to modern Morgan and more touring than tinkering.

We get a great deal of value from the club and have made many good friends through the MSCC. A small group of us recently toured the Alps driving the Grand Route des Alps - something that we could have done on our own but was really nice doing as a small group.

I understand that going to a Noggin and facing a group of people who have all known each other for years is not for everyone. A big factor for us though was that the MSCC is a wife friendly club. We dallied with other clubs over the years and were put off by men only groups that sat and discussed nothing but the oily bits. DonMog (and other centres) has a thriving ladies group which goes out mid week on a monthly basis which means that SWMBO looks forward to gossiping at noggins and I get to talk oil, grease and tinkering with the men.

The only really bad news is that at the DonMog Car Trial last year she beat me!