Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) wide body? newbie question..

Sorry to hear your search was fruitless, I had that a few times. The right one will come along - fate will bring her to you !

Hi Lilo, I'm assuming, maybe wrongly, from the number of cars that you have seen that you are located in the 'Ile de France' region. Are you looking for a 4 Seater or a 2 seater? 4 Seaters are rare enough in UK, let alone 'LHD' cars in europe. Have you seen the 2 Seaters currently shown as being for sale on the MCF site ? All are either Depts 77 or 92. They certainly don't look too bad, but the price is something else; when compared to similar UK cars.

It depends when you start your 'Morgan' life as to what you expect from the car. Pennyless like me, the fact that it was a 'Morgan' was enough for me. Today I am a bit more particular about what I drive! A mid 90s' car is going to be showing its age and the fact that it has been used. like all Mogs should be. The 'Beauty' of a 'Moggie' apart from its looks, used to be that it was cheap and simple to maintain and eventually re - build when the time came.

Don't be put off a car by the 'obvious',they can usually be fixed. Certainly the symptoms you describe.

I have not had 'Dealings' with the French Agent, but if he is anything like the old established UK Dealers, he may be willing to advise you about specific points, or queries you may have. There is always "Talk Morgan" look what we did for Matthew! Aren't you glad you listened to us Matt?

Apart from in the factory which seemed to be 'brimming' with them on Monday.

They cannot make enough cars at present (of all types) to meet demand

As it always has been - Peter Morgan was very adamant about making sure they never outproduced demand. Some of us remember 2-5 year waiting times. Tony Crook of Bristol had the same rule.

Julf,

By the end of 2001 this was not the case. I ordered my 4/4 in November 2001. They started to built it one week later and after another two weeks it was completed. They produced on stock (connaught green) and the dealers sold the cars under with a discount. Btw, Colin bought one of these cars. Demand increased again when the Anniversary +8 was introduced and Morgan Motor Company announced that they intended to end the production of the +8s.

Rod

Morgan France has a 4 seater available, its a demo, I drove it, 10,000k, V6, demo, so sold as new with 4 years warranty.
big bucks though (euro)
Peter

Sales fell again after the Anniversary Plus 8 cars. The Roadster, as good as a car as it is, has never matched the percentage of the trad models sold that the Plus 8 did, and therefore revenues fell as sales shifted to the less costly (and less profitable) trad models.

Trads started selling REALLY well after the new styling changes brought in by Alan Garnett were presented around the March 2006 Geneva Show. Despite that, things are very rough for dealers in the UK (and of course the US).

Firstly, as Roderich indicates, the UK market was oversold and UK mog units dropped by 50%. Possibly in fear of that, this year the Company imposed a new system of allocating trads to UK dealers. For decades, Derek Day (the legendary former sales manager) allocated cars to dealers on the basis of real orders and the dealership circumstances. However, as of this year, the MMC imposed a totally new allocation system based on paid commitments that must be remitted by each dealer on the first of the year.

Of course, two of the newer dealers picked up on that and ordered the bulk of 2007 UK production. The company agreed and that left little for the other UK dealers. Sales of individual dealers have plummeted, even the most prominent.

I believe with careful management, UK sales must recover. Yet without a fair new-car allocation system, the strength and capabilities of the UK dealership network has to be damaged. As well, the Company will, of course, become vulnerable to these big-ordering dealers. That is something that Mr. P Morgan was VERY wary of after the collapse of the US market in the 1960/70s.

Lorne

In Germany the number of new registered Morgans is very high again: from January to September 2007 73 cars (=+35,2 %) were registered. Looks like a new record.

The total number of all new cars decreased by 8.0 % in the same period.

Too right Camelman ! I got invaluable advice from all, but particularly cerealsurfer, and it managed to stop me using my heart instead of my head. I saw mostly average cars, one that looked great initially, but on closer inspection was quite bad, a few good ones that were just too much for my budget (which was at the bottom end of low !). But all this helped me become more experienced in the subject and hence able to tell the difference between a car that was right in all the important areas, even if it needed a little bit of work to bring it completely up to scratch, from one that looked good on the surface, but was rotten underneath.

In the end though, sometimes fate lends a hand, as I think I've been really lucky to find an older car that fitted my budget, but was actually in way better condition than the money I paid for it should have bought. It also didn't take me years to find it - 5 months was long enough though !

I have always preferred my motors to look a little 'used' (both my Ducati's were certainly not concours condition!) as it gives the car some character and I'm then not afraid to drive it for fear of spoiling it.

My advice would be to not worry about cosmetics too much, just concentrate on the basics (chassis, wood frame, overall mechanics) and then enjoy doing her up over time at the same time as putting as many miles under the wheels as possible.

Good luck !

Matthew

Hi everybody

I'm now looking at a 1975 4/4, 4 seaters (family behind!) that is currently disregarded by his owner after - as I was told - huge expenses spent over it before he discovered that driving it was too "slow and windy".
OK, I may avoid him all the hassle to take pictures and arrange classified annoucements in exchange of some money he does not need: Porsches and Ferraris take more place in his garages.
Don't ask me his adress ;-)
Anyway I am decided to take my time to choose the one I want and will make you aware of the future developments
Cheers
Lilo