I suspect evolution may have played a part in terms of evaluating Morgans and market perceptions thereof..?
Me..? I bought into the idea of owning a Morgan directly relating to seeing a Bentley on the road Neilda... all be it a 30`s LM styled Bentley.. (-:
Public perceptions can affect how we are treated on the road, which can perhaps directly affect the ownership experience, and having moved on from owning a sports car that seemed to create a mix of Neanderthal reactions from the general public, part of my Morgan purchase decision was that to most folk I might be thought of as a daft old man in a daft old car as opposed to the potential hassle of driving an object of envy... My Morgan worked just great, in that the young blades did not seem me as a threat to their presumed status, thus all the usual areas of challenge from baseball cap wearing yoof disappeared, and even in heavy traffic folk would actually let you out at a junction when driving a Morgan, another example of acceptance might be that both kids in the street and their parents would smile on seeing a Morgan.... Quite the LAST thing I would desire would be the idea of loosing all that to be once again driving an object of envy in the minds of the man in the street.... sigh!
I guess the MMC are unlikely to think as do I, for I tend to agree with Howard`s observations in terms of altering the market perceptions of the product of the MMC... when the reality may differ somewhat..?
As I have typed previously I have read over many years of the sense of disappointment relative to expectations of the former new car buyers of a variety of marques and the evolution in customer focussed sales maintenance and repair processes, built on top of ever improving engineering quality that a small company would seem very unlikely to to get close to matching. I know not the cost of bringing a Nissan Micra equivalent to market but I can well imagine they are HUGE, and these days it seems that manufacturers mix and match components across the board, as I believe the Mini Diesel while built by BMW uses a Renault Engine, and I think Renault and Nissan have linkage too... How can MMC compete with that..? It seems the modus operandi was to raid the obsolete parts bin of large manufacturers..? I believe my 1985 +8 used rear brake plates from a Ford Zodiac a vehicle which ceased production many years previously to the time when my +8 was a new car..? I think that motor manufacturers are required to maintain parts supply for a period of years after the last of the model ceased to be produced, after which time they become obsolete...? Using such part resourcing skills for ME seemed to be perfect for a manufacturer operating on a small scale with a customer base who were more than happy to be buying into the idea of a vehicle equipped with other than the latest in technology...?
Evolution... I suspect much of that has been forced on the MMC by the advance in automotive technology driven by legislation and the "advantage" of digitisation, though I think the engines in early Aero 8`s were perhaps obsolete in terms of BMW usage at the time...?
Small manufacture has the potential to create a combination of quite the highest quality engineering, thinking Eagle E Type or perhaps the vintage Bentley re-creations discussed on this forum recently and many others, though I suspect the MMC was not in that market when my +8 was new... as for now... I have no real idea though reading on this forum of the issues some folk seem to be dealing with... hmm..? But then it seems those with issues will ever be quick to air them on the interweb..?
I bought into the idea of buying a Morgan in the full knowledge of just about every "foible" ever complained of over a number of years on the www, whereas others with a different level of expectation seem to have been somewhat disappointed relative to their own expectations, and if Morgan is now being promoted as a luxury item.... hmm..?
On the other hand while we might like some aspects relating to the imagined increase in value of our Morgans in the marketplace, I suspect they have some way to go relative to Porsche 911`s...? I may have typed previously a friend bought an air cooled 90`s 911 in 2009 for circa £16k, a very similar 90` Porsche with similar mileage is available from the same dealer today for circa £52k, I doubt Morgan residuals can match that.... I suspect air cooled 911`s are plentiful by comparison with Morgans or any of the real exotics, such as Lambo and the likes..?
BTW, I am not sure about the value of "look at me purchases", but some of those fortunate enough to be able to afford cars I can only drool over are REAL enthusiasts too.... even the ones who go for all the fluorescent colours and BIG aerofoils.. perhaps that they just have far more courage and conflict resolution skills than do I to drive around in such vehicles ...? I do have an acquaintance who has a couple of Lambos... he likes them...Nothing wrong with that.. ?
Many years ago a car salesman lived near the lock-up I had turned up with a beautiful white Miura, it was a recent import which had a bullet hole in the windscreen..!! Seems the Arab owner had become frustrated with reliability issues and shot it...Ouch! ... Perhaps just as well few have guns in the UK....not mentioning any particular vehicle manufacturer of course....!!!
Just thinking in type and going back to hiding under my chair..
