I suspect Morgan`s survival was dependant on many factors over the years, and when interest in Morgans seemed to greatly reduce in the UK when the rest of the motor car industry had adopted modernisation, apparently Morgan became increasingly dependant on exports to the US as the home market diminished..?
Morgan had a go at modernising in the form of the Plus 4 Plus, which seems not to have worked out to well, so what to do.. carry on with that which they knew and hope to survive..? It seems JHJ had quite a job on his hands to try to convince Morgan to modernise long after the Plus 4 Plus had failed to grab the Morgan customer base, but I suspect it is possible that the memories of that adventure may have left a scar or two, thus Peter was perhaps less than keen to go modern even in terms of production techniques, Charles being of the next generation, perhaps less so..?
As for the survival of the trad in what can only be described as a hostile and increasingly legislative environment, I can only imagine that there were folk in high places who were keen that such an old established British motor manufacturing company should be supported by some means, and if turning a blind legislative eye in their direction might no longer work, then perhaps adjustments to the laws could the best way forward, and as such may have extended the life of the trad well into an era where dinosaurs had long since become extinct..?
It seems legislation elsewhere was catching up with the Trad and that Bill Fink in the US put a great deal of effort into matching compliance to evolving regs for new vehicles there.
By whatever mix of hard work, determination and good fortune the Trad survived for as long as it did matters not a jot, that it did is that which really matters, and I for one feel most fortunate to have been afforded the privilege to buy and enjoy my pseudo vintage mid 80`s + 8 Morgan back in 2002, and that I am still allowed to run it on the road today... As for tomorrow.. Who knows..?
As for alterations to legislation and the..err.. loopholes provided to ensure continuation of aspects of motor manufacture and re-manufacture, it seems there may be a rather large section of the economy of the UK and elsewhere reliant on a degree of flexibility in motor related legislation. Perhaps a recent example of that might be the mention of the name Alvis and new thinking relative to that marque recently posted on this forum, though the list of old marques and models being re-invented in a variety of ways seems endless, just that Morgan have managed to do it in-house, well at least to more of a degree than most..?
I have been interested in 911`s since the 60`s and recently returned to Porsche ownership after a couple of decades of owning my +8. During my non- Porsche ownership years I maintained a degree of contact with Porsche friends, a time when it seems there have been a few companies have set up to re-manufacture, upgrade and backdate 911 derivatives. In more recent times even Porsche themselves seem to have adopted a different ethos relative to supporting their cars which have long since been out of production, now having found interest in promoting and re-supplying parts for their older cars, perhaps as a means of growing or holding on to it`s customer base..? Apparently one third of Porsches ever produced are still around today... I wonder if Morgan could beat that statistic, it would be nice to think so...? (-:
I tripped over the vid in the link below which might be of interest to some (?) by way of observing a different evolutionary path from that of Morgan`s Trad, a path which was taken by a company who set out initially to improve upon the 911 and did so for many years before evolving into manufacturing a new iteration based upon the original 911 concept`s outline.... The end product is not a Porsche... BUT...?
