Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax Aero platform for all Morgans ?

But you have a modern set of underpinnings in your Trad. The engine, gearbox, electronics, instruments, seats not to mention the forming of the wings. Its already half way there.

Visit Morgan and then visit Lotus and you will immediately see the reason - overheads. Lotus have the facilities of a much bigger manufacturer and could produce 10000 cars a year. Like Morgan, Lotus have the problem that their market is saturated with second hands so new orders are scarce and volumes are silly low at 1500 / 2000 a year. Unlike Morgan they have the possibility of bringing out a new model to replace their base car and generate volume that way. Instead they have gone the Aero route for more expensive models and so far made a hash of it. MMC are far better managed financially than Lotus and are a far more sustainable operation.

Well that is good news...

There are some clues as to evolution if I stand back and speculate.
Front suspension.......
Suplex to keep the sliding pillar.
Mulfab style alternative.
Rear suspension.....
5-link replacing leafsprings.
These keep the current chassis style.
Emissions....
Electric/hybrid already under development with grants obtained. Use modern engines.
Pedestrian protection.....
Front of car is more critical so,
No signs yet of streamlining the front of the car towards Aero8 style. The headlamp cowls are a glaring pedestrian smasher and may need recessing.
Wingtop sidelights are already an aftermarket so one box ticked. Door handles recessed next?
Windscreen......
More rake needed. Do away with trad hood due to the studs protruding. How many pedestrians get thrown up to bonnet/windscreen when hit head on?
Underneath......
Lots of "sticky out "bits to carve up a pedestrian run over! Look at the rebound spring area! Little or no undertray. Lots of long bolts sticking out!
Occupant safety......
Make room for airbags.....how? Change dimensions somehow?
At some stage these factors will be legislated on. Morgan are in the area of not small enough to gain exemptions. Caterham? Similarly affected.
There have been speculative redesign concepts for Lotus 7 style bandied about the kit world for a while.
I feel the days of the current trad are limited both from a future legislative trend and the potential customer profile wanting hands off modern driving.

In my opinion a good part of the cost of current production is in the methods used.

To give a little history the demise of the British (and to a large degree the Italian) motorcycle industry was the failure to modernise production techniques. Take the crankcases for example: the crankcases for the Britsh bikes were line bored in pairs which then went on to the assembly of other components. It was impossible to take one half of a crankcase and assemble it with any other, it had to have its exact mate. The Japanese, on the other hand, had such a high degree of accuracy that any half could be matched with any other half. This is called repeatability.

Now we all know that no body part from one Morgan can be fitted to another. In this day and age, and even 40 years ago, this is ridiculous. Mudguards, doors, bonnets, etc should be pre-cut and on the shelf. The body should be jigged in the door openings and with the angles and and distances of the firewall to the chassis such that every car is exactly the same. Then instead of cutting the parts to fit by eye they are simply lifted off the shelf and fitted. Too many parts are cut and fitted by eye without even being measured.

A move to slightly more modern techniques would be a big move to reduce the coach building costs and compensate for the increased cost of moving to an aero type platform.

To my mind the way forward would be to move production to the Aero chassis, the extra space would be welcomed by those of the longer or larger persuasion. Ultimately, depending on legislation, the Aero mudguards (flush fitting lights) could be used on the trad (currently Plus 8) style cockpit.

It would not surprise me if the days of the current trad doors are numbered too. The future will be drophead coupes, or in other words Aero style doors.

The engines are more likely to be BMW I feel. The hints are already there. Probably a straight 6 will replace both the V8 and the V6.

For reasons I don't understand Morgan did not want to put the Ford V6 in the Aero tub. I suspect this relates to the cost of incorporating airbag and ABS systems with the Ford ECU and they did not want to simply fit the existing Roadster power plant and gearbox to the Aero tub.

True, but I totally get the point that Dave was making. What I wanted from my mog was the pleasure of owning a vintage car without any of the hassle. This it most certainly delivered, so the chassis and suspension give a vintage feel to the driving experience, while performance and braking are up to sniff for modern road conditions.

I agree. The retro style both in mechanics and looks are a big appeal.
The trouble is legislation will force changes to new cars. At some point MMC will have to update as there is unlikely to be big exemptions. This could lead to the demise of the present trad set-up unless they can be brought into line.
When?
How?
Emissions is the easier to comply with re known MMC developments and the fleet average emissions of Morgans currently complying easily.
Non emissions compliance is not as easy within the trad design without changes.
Timescale depends on the beaurocrats/politicians/safety organisations/eco experts.

The Morgan factory 'sales person' I spoke to did not mention emissions compliance if I remember correctly.
And he said that there would be "no more trads after 2018", by which he meant trad trads, i.e. the trad is dead, long live the (morphed) trad.

There is no problem with emissions compliance: all the current cars comply with Euro 6. The issues will be to do with occupant and pedestrian safety.

Exactly.
Morgan buy in the power plant so can get versions from mainstream manufacturers that will be compliant or allow their fleet average to comply.
The big challenge will be safety, hence the four seater demise.
The customer profile will also need to be looked at....how many of the old school owners will there be?
At TOTH we spoke to a factory person who told us they were closely looking at profiles of owners and what a Morgan needed to be to continue. What do they need to evolve to attract customers who are not old school traditionalists ( my words) who will eventually fade?
Resurrection of M3W seems to have been a success despite the underdevelopment, a fairly modern take on an old theme.