Originally Posted By Michael P

I have read a lot in TM regarding roll bars (recently e.g. this thread) and came to the conclusion I'd like to have one.


Yes, it did indeed look like a nasty accident - but it wasn't Morgan, and it was also a comparatively old car, so could well have been caused by a component failure - something to which a modern Morgan would not be exposed in the same way.

I'm not trying to pretend that a roll bar is useless in the event of an accident in which the car ends up inverted, but I am trying to point out that

a) Those kinds of accidents are incredibly rare

and

b) In the kinds of accidents that do occur much more frequently, especially side or three-quarter impacts where the car doesn't flip, it's possible that a roll bar will cause additional injuries to the head if you're not using a proper 4 or 5-point harness and/or wearing a helmet.

The last thing I would ever wish to do is to put anyone off the idea of driving a Morgan, and if you feel that you still want a roll bar then go for it, but I'd like you to be reassured that many thousands of Morgan owners drive millions of miles quite happily without feeling the need for one - and that certainly doesn't mean we bimble about like we were driving Miss Daisy!

In your situation, where you'd need to have full type approval for any modification to your car, I would seriously recommend that you review the benefits (enhanced survival risk in the case of an incident with a vanishingly small probability of occurrence) compared to the costs (inconvenience, greater risk of head injury in normal driving).


Tim H.
1986 4/4 VVTi Sport, 2002 LR Defender, 2022 Mini Cooper SE