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

I quite understand running maintenance, I have run vintage Rolls-Royce motor cars for 19 years and rebuilt every part of them even to building new ash frames. My problem is lack of quality control on such a basic requirement as bonnet fit. I do have high expectations but I work hard for my money so want quality for quality money.
The whole Morgan ethos is "Hand Made Quality" to my mind each pannel is custom made to fit and as such should be able to be an even better fit than a mass produced box. The MX5 is a realy super car but you can buy 2 of them for the price of a 4/4. Not what i realy want but might get one for my wife to play with

I agree with Rocket Man and Mike. Its great that there are Morgan owners who want to, and can, fettle their cars. But this does not excuse Morgan from achieving the quality they have promised to deliver. And even if you are a skilled mechanic why should you have to do the jobs that you have already paid Morgan to do for you - its not a self build kit car.

Its frustrating that Morgan let themselves down in fairly small things, things which it should not be difficult for them to get right. How much money do they waste every year in warranty claims, I wonder - I have already had 4 warranty claims in as many months on my car.

Actually I would have thought that a mass produced car with CAD design and robotic assembly would by its very nature have better panel fit with smaller gaps and better sealing than anything hand made. However that provides no excuse for the sort of errors and asymmetry you describe. Mine was only a basic model but the fit and finish are pretty good. I visited the factory recently and one thing they didn't cover was QC and final inspection. Even when I visited land rover in 1990 this was a high profile part of the process.

Morgan say they have rigorous quality inspection. I have seen the QI bays with their fluorescent lighting and they look quite impressive, so it is all the more surprising that these errors are happening. Is the factory over-streched, I wonder ? Have they bitten of more than they can chew with all those pesky three wheelers clogging up the place ?

And I completely agree there is no excuse for the basic mechanical failures.

On my first fix at the factory my car had a new clutch, new gearbox, repair/replace drivers side seat squab, new opening blocks on side screen as they fell off, new dash heater valve switch then the work on the bonnet. All on a new car. The last straw was the inability to fix the bonnet so i sold the car in disgust after 3 visits

How old is your car? I only ask as Morgans do vibrate and twist about a bit causing things to loosen that we're once tight. Biggest part of a service I understand.

February 2013 - 4 months old.

OK - should not have vibrated that much (yet)

Quality control? One of the cars on the MMC stand at the Royal Three Counties Show at Malvern this weekend didn't have its front badge fitted...the cowl was not drilled for it. I know it's only a small thing and we laughed at it....and the quality of the badge enamel ....on the stand at the time, but if I was in charge of sales that car would not be allowed on the stand for public viewing.

Personally I think that the factory has over stretched itself recently with pushing out the three wheelers and the new glitzy QI facility may look good to visitors and press but is obviously not working in all cases.