Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) new car delivery, what to look for?

Soon to be picking up a new factory built car, i read on the forums that one should check it over for defects/faults which seems slightly odd. What do i need to look for? Or what on delivery faults am i possibily going to find in others experience? Thankyou.

The list would be endless. All trad. Morgans are a work-in-progress from the moment they leave the factory. (Experience based on 6 Morgans in the last 8 years).

The thing to look for is the ignition key. Then the ignition switch...Then your hat, coat and maybe gloves, followed by a empty country road.....

If there's no smile on your face when you get back, it could be one of the following:

- You've found the 'thing(s)'
- You lost your best hat in a crosswind
- You got a speeding ticket

I'm willing to bet you will have a smile that won't come off !

Enjoy !

I would give the car a thorough visual check first making sure for example that the bonnets line up with the cowl and the doors fit properly, both problems on my car that resulted in bare metal being exposed within a thousand miles.
Then check all the electrics work, mine didn't. Check the speedometer is accurate using the gps function on a sat nav, my speedometer was way off and was illegal. Drive it in the dark so you can make sure all the lights work and drive it in the rain to check there are no leaks, well not too many anyway.
Drive it for the first 1000 miles and make a note of all the faults, you will have some, and these should be rectified at the 1st service. Then put some miles on it and drive it properly, that is hard, so that any other faults come to light. The worst thing in my view is not to use the car much because the faults won't appear until it's out of warranty.
Expect to have your observations treated with incredulity by your dealer, unless you are very lucky, but persist.
I made the mistake of believing the marketing hype about craftsmen built quality and was not impressed. If someone had explained that the cars are hand made and are likely to vary but any faults will be put right I would have been better prepared.
When the car is at Morgan, mine has been back to the factory twice and is likely to be back again soon, they are great but you can't contact them directly and have to go through the dealer which post sale is not always a positive experience.
This is my first new Morgan, my previous two were used and had been sorted by previous owners, but is by far the best even with the problems I have had and it's almost sorted now. You may be lucky and not have any issues but don't be surprised if you do.

Well, there's two answers for you.......one sort of glass half empty and one glass half full!

Go for the latter.....get in your car and enjoy it.

Your Morgan dealer should do the job for you , and if your new to Morgans as I was ,give a comprehensive handover .

Gosh, I seem to have been very lucky with mine. Only one problem in first 3000 miles.. The dimmer switch rotated and pulled a wire off. Easy fix.

I've checked it over as much as I can and things line up well, it's quiet, doesn't leak, everything works.. Even my badge paint hasn't come off!

So don't think you will automatically have problems, just drive it and enjoy it but in the knowledge that these cars need looking after.. They aren't fragile but a walk around with a spanner type approach is necessary.

'Your Morgan Dealer should do the job for you'
They should but ......
Not only did I identify problems that had been missed by the supplying dealer in their so called PDI before I even started the car up but on the way home the car horn fell off within 30 minutes, not the best of starts after spending well over £40,000. When I made my feelings clear the response was that they couldn't check everything. Understandable when you think about it but Morgan's are not built by robots and so standards are not what you may be used to from mass produced cars and unless the dealers rebuild them before handing them over some faults will still be there when you take delivery.

One characteristic I was not aware when I picked up my new Morgan was an occasional bouncing from the front suspension.
A call to my dealer got the explanation that this will clear after about 1000 miles.

That proved to be the case. I understand that it is caused by stiction of the kingpins which clears as they wear in.

Would I buy new again, you bet.

Just enjoy.

Gosh some of the replies must make you wish you hadn't bothered! Keeping everything crossed and touching wood I have to say that after almost 10k miles I've had very little problems. Any small issue I've had my dealer was only to happy to resolve.

Enjoy.

Andy