Thread drift and ramble alert...

OZ, thanks for posting the link to the sad old DHC, with a B power unit. Viewing the pictures caused me to cogitate a bit as to the likely future of such fine old cars that were the likely thought to be the ideal retirement projects for the downsized, delayred and pensioned off early baby boomer brigade..?

Such was my thinking at the time, which seemingly pushed up the value of Morgans perhaps more so than other Classics , as I suspect many who may not have thought they had the skills to take on a rusty old MGA and others of that ilk, may have thought a Morgan with it`s simple chassis, wooden frame and ubiquitous engine variations, as perhaps more in keeping with the skill set of the retiree at that time..? I suspect that Morgans were still in production, perhaps added confidence in the decision making process, in terms of a Morgan perhaps being the ideal choice of Classic in which to invest time and effort, both in the garage and beyond...?

Yeah, well although I was fortunate not to suffer being pensioned off in the mid 90`s, I had come to desire to be a Morgan owner as a substitute for a real vintage sports car with approaching 100mph performance capabilities, or thereabouts... I was in search of a Morgan in the approximate condition of the one you posted OZ, but not a DHC, it had to be a sports car for me..

As I saw it, the demand that the baby boomer retirees had created for not only that which might have been found under a tarp in a back garden, or just pushed into a corner gathering dust in a shed, or worse still, even a collection of parts that provided the basis to re-create a Morgan, had value placed upon them that to me just seemed well out of proportion for the likely end product, which of course was just my personal opinion at the time, and as such had me searching around for a unicorn for five or more years...!

During my searching I tripped over a Morgan engine that was gathering dust, in the garage of a TR enthusiast friend which he had acquired from a neighbour`s rotted out Morgan, and as is the way of things my friend thought to add it to his collection of TR bits and m/cycles, in his large garage, just in case.... Where have we heard of similar stories over the years.. Bangers and Cash perhaps..?

That TR engine with the ME designation as it`s I.D. which from a dull memory actually powered a DHC, thus a link to your BAT link OZ and thus triggering this ramble. The old Morgan engine sat in my garage for many years keeping company to my other treasures, till a time when I thought best to clear most of that kit out, as opposed to leaving it for my good lady to have to deal with at a time when I might be past capability of doing so.... I did not wish the engine to end up scrapped, thinking that there would be a Morgan out there somewhere in need of it, I joined this forum in the hope of advertising it and finding it a home, though having just found the forum, the mods rightly had rules prohibiting such actions from unknown sources... Sad to type that engine was along with a load of my old kit, given to a friend who was into eBay, though I think much of it still ended up finding it`s way into a scrap pile somewhere... Pity..!

Rather than end on a sad note... (-: At least during my unicorn search in times past, I was fortunate to find a friend in the GoMoG.com webmaster, who led me by the nose, to buy of all things.. a concours condition Morgan, which although not the kind of unicorn I had in mind was perhaps a variation on the unicorn theme... (-: Having been fortunate to now have owned my +8 for over 20 years, it has long since reached the stage where I feel it owes me nothing, thus the cost to benefit analysis of my Morgan has far exceeded anything ever could have hoped for way back in Y2K .... Good old Morgan... and Thanks to Lorne and the guys on the MSCC DG and eMog back then (-: