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Hi. I'm a second year BA (Hons) Transport Design student and as a current project we have a live brief from Morgan. As part of the brief we have to come up with a new concept that would have a theoretical production date of 5-10 years. My teammate and I are considering a 3 wheeler concept, taking morgan back to its roots, and we would very much like the opinions of people who love the cars such as yourselves.

I ask that you can please get back in touch as soon as possible as the timeframe for this project is very short and we need to get the research out of the way as soon as we can to start the development

Thank you very much

Adam

Hi Adam, take a look at this thread,it should help towards your research....

http://www.talkmorgan.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=23251#Post23251

Adam,

I would have said you had 2 choices an eco-car (already done by Morgan) or the 3 wheeler, so your spot on with the choice.

Now you challenge will come in keeping the traditional Morgan lines while giving it the power of an aero.

I'm sure if you pull together some ideas you'll get plenty of comments. Hope your not of a fragile disposition.

What ever you though don't let Boshly pick the colour scheme.

I would second what John has said.

I would also suggest avoiding a motorcycle engine as the characteristics do not suit the car. I am no expert but there are many modern small engines out there that would fit the eco/light/modern brief.

Oh yes, and it must be orange and black to really work

Nawww...the original three wheelers used bike engines I think.... so how about a nice modern big twin like that on the brand spanking new Ducati 1198...

"THE NEW 1198 TESTASTRETTA EVOLUZIONE ENGINE
The Testastretta Evoluzione engine is the crowning glory of Ducati's development and perfection of the L-Twin engine. World Superbike dominance for almost two decades is the result of continual commitment to their twin-cylinder configuration. Ducati now share the reward for that commitment as World Championship-winning technologies flow from the factory race team into production engines.

The incredible 1198 and 1198 S are powered by a liquid cooled, L-Twin, Desmodromic engine that produces 170hp (125kW) @ 9,750rpm and a class-beating 97lb-ft (13.4kgm) of torque @ 8,000rpm."

Come on it has to be a Moto Guzzi engine with those big Del Orto carbs.

Alternatively for Bolshy & his love of orange you could make a modern Bond Bug.

3/3

3 wheels, 3 cylinders

engine: ecological compressor/turbo-combination (look at 1.4 VW)

The original 3 wheelers were built to provide a low cost fast car for people who perhaps lusted after a bugatti, but had a more limited budget. They benefitted in terms of tax etc.

This could be a sound business model for a revised 3 wheeler, as said a low cost 'smart' engine 3 cyl turbo with low weight and low emissions would have minimal tax burden and still be fast and fun.

Whether there is a market for low cost 'toy' cars remains to be seen. The original 3 wheeler was still an expensive thing to an average man in the street and car ownership was still for the few in those days. Thee days a cheap fast car will be uninsurable for the young demographic, and would effectively be a 'toy' - e.g. a track machine. All exciting but would this really have a wide enough appeal to sell in the small numbers MOrgan would need. Track cars are a tough market to get into - anyone taking on caterham is going to have a tough job after all.

If you go the other way to the 'mass' market - or at least mass appeal market. You could look at a 3 wheeler as an envrironmentally sound, quality and traditional materials but reasonably priced 'citycar' for the citydweller with style (and a decent budget). This perhaps that has the best overlap of Morgan ethics and existing Morgan customer base along with the possiblity for a low volume high cost product built by craftsmen in the traditional Morgan way. How you make such a thing enclosed, practical, EU crash tested, 3 wheeled and recognisably a Morgan, I'm not sure - great challenge though.

Just thinking out loud so feel free to ignore me! Good luck

Admmmm

Just a thought, have a look at the Greenwood mini, in the 1960's ? Greenwood built a three wheel mini which he raced against sidecar bikes (even by then integrated platforms) this thing with a Cooper S motor up front blew the pants of the bikes, the Cooper engine was not all that powerful but it upset the sidecar boys.

In order to get the price down you need to use volume for the supply of units, a 3 cyl engine is very smooth, as a lapsed biker the BMW K75 750 3 cyl was very smooth but lacked grunt, the 4 cyl bikes could be quite rough, so try the beefy 3 cyl Triumph DOHC motor cycle unit, it is water cooled and can fit together with a radiator/Morgan grill also the arrangement allows shaft drive so the engineering is reduced, yes I like the Vee twin but it will need a lot of engineering because Ducati have a 90 degree vee and the forward cyl is over centre whilst the rear more upright, if looking for a vee twin the Moto Guzzi Griso motor at 1100 cc should do the job this too has an inline gearbox and shaft drive. Traditionally Guzzis are air cooled this is too.

Good luck

Christopher

Wow guys thanks so much. i'll definitely be taking on your advice. And you're right in saying it's gonna be a tough challenging project but i'm fairly sure me and my very capable team-mate can pull it off. One of the main reasons I wanted your opinion was that our tutor thinks that Morgan doesn't want to make a 3 wheeler, as they want to be seen as a forward moving company and not looking back to their past so much, but we think that a 3 wheeler would be brilliant so this research is going towards trying to convince them otherwise.

Also whilst i'm here, there are 2 other concepts we're considering alongside. one is an update for the 4 seater, because (i know i may be risking abuse here) i think its not great looking, the proportions are off and it could be better. We were thinking of something more along the lines of the Aston Martin Rapide concept, a long sporty 4 door model. you thoughts on this?
Our other idea is for a one seater sports model, either around the size of an aeromax but just a single seat, looking very racey, or a bit like an ariel atom, with some of the structure showing but obviously both of these would be styled to look distinctively like morgans

thanks again!