Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Perfectly imperfect? A philosophical question

Some of Morgan's flaws are kind of acceptable and others not. For me the variable build quality and eg instances of screws into wiring looms, looms routed in highly exposed areas. sensitive electrical components in exposed locations eg PCB, not only smacks of poor engineering standards and quality control, but may be indicative of lack of regard for the problems it will create the owner in years to come. It's not like its a surprise to Morgan after decades of making the same basic car as to where their cars leak and therefore where not to leave electrical components exposed, spark plug wells fill with water etc.. That's not character, that's IMHO just plain careless and sloppy. Thank goodness manufacturing build quality is being taken very seriously these days. Some of these problems are not unique to Morgan, other car manufacturers have their bad days, just seems Morgan has more than its fair share of such days.

I'm not taking away from the strides Morgan took over the years to improve manufacturing build techniques and materials used to improve longevity of the finished product eg wood frame being treated, wings being sprayed separately, replacement of mild steel being used for inner wings and bulk head, galvanising the chassis and so on, has dramatically reduced the almost inevitable, in times past, of the need to rebuild a Morgan due to corrosion and rot.

I sometimes feel we may be kidding ourselves as to what to expect, making allowances where they shouldn't be made, accepting less than the norm being achieved elsewhere, because of the much celebrated driving experience. Yet how many Morgans do you see with really low mileages for sale, leads one to assume it can't have been that great a driving experience for so many owners, so much so, they left the Morgan in the garage.

I've enjoyed driving my Morgans on those sunny glorious days, but also gritted my teeth and often cursed when rain pours through the gap created at speed between the windscreen frame and the front edge of the sidescreen. Sometimes it becomes a bit of a love hate affair.........tinged with a little bit of self justification for the buying decision...........as invariably often chooses its moment to shine and let you down at the same time.

It's always interesting to watch the path and direction of postings from new to Morgan owners as their journeys invariably go from joy and excitement eventually lead down to various reliability issues, before too long. You got to love them!