This is my 3rd Morgan with a nearly 25 year break after my second, its interesting to relate the changes that have occurred in the intervening years to the build quality and materials used to help preserve the cars better and my own relative enjoyment of the different cars.
My first Morgan was a 1985 4/4 five years old when I acquired it with only 5k miles in immaculate condition with chrome wire wheels, heavily specified as it was the Times competition prize car. The days before galvanised chassis, I don't think the woodwork was treated and the wings were painted on the body leading to the wing beads being painted, it had aluminium wings with steel body. it was an immaculate car, that I spent more time cleaning than actually enjoying driving and every time I returned from a run, I would find the body flexing would crack the paint covering the bead and need touching up. It drove me too distraction and masked some of my enjoyment of the car. On a very wet trip across the west of Ireland, I had water rushing backwards and forwards over the floorboards as I accelerated or braked, water pouring in from everywhere, vo much so we wore wax cottons inside the car, it got so wet inside that when I got home I had to lift all the padding to dry it out as there was no wood preservative.....too much time and energy to keep it in pristine condition it outweighed the joy of ownership...so I quickly sold it to purchase my second Morgan a 1977 4/4 4 seater Molly which was only 15 years old and 50k miles clocked.
Molly was showing her age a bit, the paintwork was tidy but tired it had a few aluminium blisters on the bodywork and wings , the inner wings had corrosion (would need replacing) the chassis was tired and had corrosion, there was some driver door drop, so wood work questionable in places, it leaked exhaust fumes into the cabin on fast runs as only the 4 seaters of those days could...only slightly reduced by putting a exhaust tail pipe extension. I ran that as my everyday car for 3 years, in the snow and ice, travelled as far as Austria in it and loved ever minute of it. Only sold it because the chassis and inner wings were going to fail its next MOT and the guys that bought it with the intention of rebuilding it, I saw it after the rebuild and they did a great job
Now by contrast my current Morgan 2006 4/4 was 14 years old 26k miles in very good but not pristine condition, the important areas like the chassis, woodwork, inner wings, bulkhead are either galvanised, treated or in better materials like stainless steel than the previous Morgans and I believe will make it easier to maintain its condition over time. The first 4 months or so of ownership have been really enjoyable, not without some small incidences, but I feel the car will not be as demanding to maintain as the 85............and in much better condition than the similarly aged 1977 4 seater I thoroughly enjoyed owning as I could be less precious about it.........
regards
