I came from years of air cooled Porsche ownership then via a return to m/cycling to then have the good fortune to become the owner of a Trad Morgan when in search of a pseudo vintage driving experience without the cost of buying a true vintage sports car more than capable of keeping up with the then modern traffic ( mid 90`s) . Having spent a few decades of restoring repairing and maintaining my own machinery, I was quite well acquainted with the occasional spanner and hammer etc.
I knew little about Morgans other than they ever caught my eye.. (-: . Fortunately the MSCC had at the time created a discussion group which I joined in the hope of being educated by Morgan owners/enthusiasts as to the highs and possible lows in the variations available in the Morgan model range as might be available on my limited means..Very fortunately there were Mog bods a plenty who were more than happy to assist me to become acquainted with the reality of Morgan ownership, the mix of fun and foibles came as no real surprise, given my experience of Brit sports cars gained over many hands-on years, having in the past gone off in search of engineering improvement and finding that in my years as a Porsche fan.
I guess much of the frustration I have read over the years on the forums is down to the evolution in expectations, and to expect the MMC to get close to or even match the output of the car industry as it rapidly modernised it`s assembly lines... well..err.. seems a tad misguided..?
I was most fortunate to be put on to an Morgan enthusiast who was selling a +8 he had taken apart and rebuilt to his own ideal specification, which was gained from his years in the motor trade as a Morgan enthusiast, thus he ironed out the usual foibles creating a fine Morgan using stainless fixings while maintaining the original concept of design.
My good lady and I enjoyed a few years touring and covering quite a few thousand miles in Southern Europe, in high temperatures without overheating or much in the way of the usual foibles and none that I could not handle, replacement fan belt, and a cracked rubber elbow that had hardened after a few years ( My bad), all of which were sorted out in jig time and we were then on our way., such was the simplicity of the Trad which greatly appealed to my usual self reliant personality. That my mid 80`s +8 proved to be reliable, watertight enough, other than one little drip, and comfortable in the vintage sense for a couple in their fifties seeking a bit of adventure while touring, seems to suggest that the MMC knew what they were about in filling a niche in the market for a "special" type of customer with a different set of priorities from those with mass market expectations..?
Apparently time and tide wait for no man, no matter how Luddite the tendencies..(-: Modern Morgans have evolved as indeed they had to, with ever more of their vintage simplicity being sacrificed to better match modern-day expectations, even Trads evolved in time to loose some aspects of their hand crafted metalwork, engine emissions evolved to be cleaned up using EFI in place of carburettors, bling enough to suit even those who had been died in the wool Morgan buyers for decades, and who`s priorities too had also evolved in the passage of time.
As ever each to their own, and it seems even robotic production of mundanemobiles and supercars can get it wrong given the examples of manufacturers recalls... And my relatively modern 991 Porsche is not without occasional maintenance issues and at a cost far in excess of anything ever spent on my air cooled 911`s over the years... The old Mog...? Still as reliable as ever though seldom used due to my aging frame, while it`s frame seems as good as it was when I bought it...Last time I had it out the experience of being back in it, exceed the level of enjoyment/involvement in the short drive found in my also seldom used 991 on the same day....! Perhaps from that recent experience, it seems that I may not have been far off the mark when in the mid 90`s I thought a Morgan might provide more of a degree of driver involvement at road legal speeds, than the then new Porsche which had evolved to become far more comfortable and performant to be enjoyed at anything near it`s max performance on the then Queens highway..?
Each to their own works for me, choosing to go Morgan is perhaps best done with just a bit of investigation beforehand, from other than those gifted sales types who have a totally different set of priorities...?
Fortunately there exists TM and GoMoG .com to assist those in search of real world education on matters Morgan...And to help refresh and correct old codgers such as I who tend to forget that which we once thought we knew... (-:
