HELP
I am seriously considering the purchase of a Morgan 4/4 2 seater. I have visited the nearest dealer, had a test drive and very nearly departed with the £35,000 required to seal the deal. Only the fact that I have inherited that certain something, that people born in Yorkshire seem to have in abundance, stopped me from going ahead there and then. Call it caution, meanness, being careful or just plain awkwardness, something said ‘hang on a minute lad, this is a bit more than a fiver, further research is needed’
Having searched the pages on this website and many others on the internet, the one thing that keeps cropping up is the greasing of the front suspension/steering on the Morgan 4/4.
I have yet to find a 100% answer to this problem. The most common answer being “try it and see”. It seems that approximately every 1000 miles (the distance varies, depending whom you listen to) you have two options. You can either scramble about under the car with a hammer, screwdriver and greasegun, swear and curse a bit, swing the hammer and bob’s your uncle thirty minutes later you are ready for the next 1000 miles. The next option is to buy a “remote greasing kit” which enables you to grease the car from inside the engine bay. The only problem being you still need to lift a certain plate with the hammer and screwdriver to allow the grease to get where it is needed. Then you need to remove excess grease to stop it going onto the brakes, all of which seems to defeat the object of the kit in the first place as you still need to crawl underneath the car.
My problem is this:
I can drive cars but I do not know what makes them work, therefore I have to pay somebody to do the work for me. I estimate I would do 10,000 miles per year in the car. My nearest Morgan dealer is approximately 100 miles away which means a round trip of 200 miles every 1000 miles to get the suspension/steering greased. This means I have to do an extra 2000 miles per year just for this service. Mileage is now estimated at 12,000 miles (pay attention at the back of the class). Having just paid £35,000 for this car, I am now expected, once a month to travel 200 miles for servicing and pay £100? £150? £200? for the priviledge. On top of this the yearly service as required (quoted as £380.00 by Morgan dealer).
Is this something all Morgan owners are expected to do or am I being awkward?
I could take the car to a local Kwik Fit to do the necessary 1000 mile grease application but I have my doubts as to whether Mr. Morgan would honour the guarantee if something went wrong with the car!
I would be very grateful if somebody could come up with an answer to the problem as I would still like to buy the car. I asked the Morgan dealer who when pushed on the subject (he could see his £35000 dissappearing) said he would check with the factory and let me know. Still waiting!
