Originally Posted by DaveW
Back them Morgan was hard core. Remember the untreated wooden frame? Remember wings being fitted before spraying and so the beading was sprayed over?

When the Trad Morgan had those rivals listed above, most were built to a similar poor standard, but most were more, (coughs), sophisticated. Even wind-up windows.

I would not have chosen a Morgan in a new car market when the MGBV8, TVR, Lotus Elan and TR6 were rivals. I think that Morgans slow evolution made it what it became. The treated wood frame, alloy body panels, long doors, stainless bulkhead. Each one upped the game. Eventually of course, the Trad didn't have any rivals, and the vintage design, once spurned by the modernists (sound familiar?) became desirable because there was nothing else. Then the options list grew and you could pretty much have what you wanted.

Building a low volume niche car with no rivals must be a sound business plan, providing costs can be managed. But now, the CX cars are in a market with serious, competent sports cars (whatever your definition of this may be). With rivals and a recalibration of prices, AND the loss of predictable Trad sales, it becomes a different environment.



Remember it all too well, my 85 4/4 was the last year of the wings fitted and beading sprayed over, beading used to crack every time I went out in the car, least favourite job after a run out was touching up the bead paint cracks in a vain hope it would keep corrosion away from the wings and tub sheet work. Having to take the horsehair padding out of the side frame woodwork below the doors, so the wood could dry out after a run in the wet as it was untreated. My Kent 4/4 was on its second pair of inner wings at 12 years old when I acquired it and at 15 years old they too were on the way out.

It didn't cost that much more to improve the protection of structural components, but we do start see a step change in price as the legislative and regulatory burden grew. In reality with the increase in no, of cars produced we should have seen greater economies of scale come into play.


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Last edited by JohnHarris; 07/11/22 11:35 AM.

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