Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Bonnet fit

Mine has 16 bars - I thought they all did, (well most).......

I just checket the bonnet fit on my +4. It is even on both sides and the gaps above the wings are just big enough to let my fingers in. Otherwise it would be hard to open the bonnet

I am happy with the build quality of my car. However, some parts are below the expected quality. There should be no need to change brake pads and dampers on a new sports car, and how is it possible to fit leaking indicator lamps after several decades of production?

Harald

I will supplement my earlier post with another failure of Morgan quality control that I experienced today which is the total failure of my clutch - the car violently juddered and then the clutch pedal went limp. Fortunately I was only a mile from home. The AA came out and towed me back. The clutch fluid is nearly all gone - apparently caused by two washers not being sufficiently tightened on the junction with the master cylinder. I will have to get my dealer out to sort it. Is it really to much to expect from Morgan that basic things like this are sorted out at the factory - poor quality control again.

Allied to this I have a very bad “scritching" sound which the dealer now thinks is caused by the hood frame but seem unable to repair. I would like the car to go back to the factory for them to investigate.

I love Morgans but I am really not impressed with their quality control. My car has just had too many issues. Morgan can’t rely on customers saying “oh, its a Morgan” indefinitely - there comes a point at which even fans of the marque can be alienated.

That's pretty poor really, isn't it? It makes you wonder what else hasn't been done properly. It certainly seems that MMC is not recognising that as its product and target buyer moves up market, so will their need to focus on quality.

The 'traditional' Morgan owner (the 'flat cappers' as CM calls them) bought Morgans because they were cheap sports cars. They tended to do a lot of work themselves, and would fix stuff themselves as they found to - the monthly spanner check and lubrication ritual was second nature to them. There was no way I could have afforded a new Mog when I bought mine - the only option was to buy an old one and do it up.

By contrast, I get the impression that most modern Morgan buyers don't tend to work on their cars themselves, maybe - with the result that MMC and their agents have to do far more desnagging than they ever used to?

It seems a shame that they still don't seem to have embraced Kaizen principles, more than half a century after the rest of the world realised that it's always quicker and cheaper to do things right first time rather than doing them twice.

Right first time is the only way (and the most cost effective if you view the total sales process)to manage a manufacturing process.

Failing this, for every warranty claim you get, you take the fault back to into design/manufacturing and ensure route cause is found and amend the process to ensure its not repeated.

When I took my car back for warranty work in March, my feeling after some effort with the seniors was that manufacturing and the service department operate as separate organisation. If it was my business, manufacturing and design would feel the pain of all customer complaints

I have always loved cars and particularly Morgans - but I am mechanically illiterate. I could perhaps fix this myself but I would prefer to get the dealer to do the job so I can be sure it's done properly as I do not trust my skills. But you are right. Previously the cars were cheaper, expectations were lower and most Morgan customers were probably confident in their mechanical skills. I think the power units were a lot simpler then as well. Morgans current range of power units are more sophisticated and present a greater challenge to the home mechanic.

There was talk that 30+k for a hand made car was not bad, that is a third the price of a Bentley for a car that is a third of the size. You want hand made quality with a car of that price.
There was talk of the morgan owners being older and perhaps less fussy. It is the older people that remember what quality realy is, what put Great into Great Britain as for people having gaps in the region of 17-19 mm is just not right. What i want to know is what is the official measurement and the tollerance figures. If it were 1/4 inch(6mm) that would be so nice, i would order my new car and stop whinging. That is not too big an ask to keep customers happy.
To me 37k for a weekend sunny day car is a lot of money, especialy with this weather we are having.
Quality monney wants quality products, that is how it should be

If I remember, Mike, your clutch was violently kangerooing ?

There's a very simple answer to that - drive the thing every day and get your money's worth out of it :-)

A trad Morgan is not and never will be as well built and reliable "out of the box" as an MX5 for example - but Mazda spend 100s of millions on development, have a robotic production line which both requires and results in the closest tolerances and zero defects, and minimal owner and dealer input after delivery. One difference with Morgan is that the dealers are (mostly) great enthusiasts and understand the cars uniqueness and foibles. This is why you need to both involve yourself as owner with little things, and find a good dealer or specialist for the bigger things. I found one dealer (now gone) to be poor, but another absolutely brilliant. But owing to the simple design, many things apart from power train can be dealt with by the owner. I've done many small tasks and upgrades myself such as changing the battery, fitting shock absorbers and a new fuel hose, changing lights, mirrors etc - things I would not do on the family's cars (Volvo, Ford, VW).
Perhaps the expectations are unrealistic when someone who might buy a BMW Z4 for example buys a Roadster. This is not a criticism of anyone - more a matter of understanding what one is buying and managing expectations accordingly. A trad Morgan is capable of reliable daily use but how many owners really understand the need for 1000 mile greasing?
All part of the charm and experience. To me it's a way of owning a classic sports car with the wind in the hair experience, but with much less pain. As I've owned it, it has developed with me and become personal. And unlike the mass produced sports cars, despite its shortcomings and peculiarities, it has not depreciated.
Nigel