Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) placement of the "Union Jack" on Bonnet sides

I 100% agree with Image, the Devil most definitely in the detail with these things.

I masked up to satisfy myself I was finding the right line, what that taught me was the upper line of the louvres is not parallel with the top of the bonnet, although the parallax effect ensures this changes with the angle you're viewing the car from, and even the viewing height.





However, I soon realised you can't actually achieve perfect placement using mathematical measurement and straight lines, the challenge reminded me of fitting shelves in a 350 year old Suffolk cottage I once lived in where nothing was straight or true. The ceiling angle was completely different to the angle of the floor, and the adjacent window frame was different again.

The discovery I made was that in such situations the human eye subconsciously follows multiple lines, so referencing my shelf angle to just one line in my line of sight always looked wrong. In the end I fitted the shelves at an angle that ensured items placed on them stayed put, but one that pleased the eye and simply looked right. A Morgan is a hand made car, as such they're all a little different, like those shelves in that old cottage I conceded the answer was more art than science, so while still respecting the bonnet top angle and top line of the louvres I ended up placing my Union Jack emblems where I simply felt they looked right.

The biggest help in this approach was a small amount of Blu Tack, the masking tape lines gave me a good starting point but after that it was a case of trying different positions and subtle angle changes of the emblem until it looked right and pleasing to my eye.



Once I'd found the spot I was happy with I got the masking tape out again to mark up the position before removing the Blu Tac mounted emblem, this allowed me to go back to the maths by measuring the position against various fixed datum points such as the trailing edge of the bonnet shut, the bonnet catch screws, and the very bottom screw that secures the windscreen frame.

With these series of measurements recorded I was able to accurately duplicate my emblem position on the other side of the car, obviously you never see both flanks of the vehicle and so the left and right emblems at the same time, but I knew it would bug me if both were not in exactly the same position either side of the car.

I freely admit I'm a bit OCD and you most certainly can overthink these things, however, as Image quite rightly points out such small details can make or break the aesthetic symmetry of a car, a Morgan is a beautiful shape that pleases the eye because they got the styling right from the beginning, and in my opinion such things are far more about art than science.

Ettore Bugatti made some of the most wonderful cars ever produced, but he never had a formal engineering education, instead he studied sculpture at the Fine Art Academy in Brea. Bugatti instinctively new what looked right and pleasing to the human eye, there is some science behind all this that can be taught such as the 'Rule of Thirds' as used by Aston Martin on all their modern VH platform cars, but the truth is a lot of it is pure art so needs an artist's mind to achieve true perfection.