Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Fibreglass wings?

I am brand new to Morgan ownership and to test my liking of the brand I have invested very little money in an old 1985 4/4 2 seats - with high mileage, but new MOT. The bodywork really has been neglected by the previous owner - and I would like to 'make it look much nicer - without spending loads of money'. I am not going to do a restoration - just a make-over of sorts with a view to trading up later to a younger model.

One of the main issues on the bodywork is the front wings and the area around both headlamps which have clearly been repaired before and are now showing filler lifted and additional rust. Some guidance please on the best way forward:-
1. Give to a body shop for another repair?
2. Obtain some 2nd hand wings and use the metal as a template to repair existing? Does anybody know if repair panels are available for the area around headlamps?
3. Buy new steel wings? I understand the cost is about £800 each plus paint/fitting?
4. This might be controversial - what is the view on fibreglass wings? I found someone making them for circa £500 each plus paint/fitting? Although if they are colour impregnated to match do they need painting?

I guess I am interested in what reaction the suggestion of fitting fibreglass wings on the car gets from the forum members. Await comments with trepidation ....

A long standing Mog owner fitted fibreglass front wings about six years ago to a red car. They looked very good and as I recall were not painted. In the end just cost it all out and go with what suits you.

Welcome tp the clan. Fibreglass wings are a great long time fix, probaly last for ever, but will drop the resale value. Saying that they are a lot better than rusty holes. If they are steel its straight forward to have fresh metal welded in, thats all they were when build new. Price both ways.

I have a 1986 4/4, and although it's not in terrible condition the steel wings are suffering. They were made of 5 individual pieces welded together, and were skimmed with filler to provide a final surface for paint.

Over the years the result is that the wings flex and shake, the filler cracks, and rust gets in.

Mine have got to the stage that something needs to be done - or at least I need to start saving up some money so that something can be done i the next year or so.

I wouldn't contemplate new steel wings, even if they are obtainable. I'm not a skilled welder, so repairing the old ones would probably turn out to be an expensive proposition in labour charges, and I'm not bothered about maintaining originality.

In an ideal world, I'd go for a full set of alloy wings - but they are very expensive, and can still suffer from corrosion problems.

I am tending towards going to fibreglass wings. The car is so non-standard that I doubt I could do any further damage to the resale value, and cars that I've seen with fibreglass wings look really good, from 10 feet away you couldn't tell the difference at all.

I was speaking to Sid Watson and he says they can do them in any solid colour, but he still recommends that they ar painted. I reckon I'd wait and see what the car looked like with them on before making that decision.

Probably easier to get them repaired. The metal is nice and thick and can be welded with little risk of distortion with either gas or MIG

Don't worry about filler, they loved the stuff in the paint shop in the factory! Not uncommon to find loads of it on an unrestored car.

I'm currently working up a pair of circa 1985 factory steel wings at moment. The welding on them is absolutely horrific and will need plenty of bog on them to get the levels right. Wings not made in factory at that tine but up in Manchester and I've a feeling that the better ones went on cars being assembled and the ones which needed more fettling than usual went to the Spares Dept

The other watch points are cracking from the sidelight mount and rust around the headlamp pods caused by flux being left on during the brazing process.

Arwyn

have fiber glass and have fiber glass , not all are the same

Sorry to show my ignorance, but who is Sid Watson?

Chester G
Are you recommending going with non metal wings then every time? Are there any suppliers that you know of that you would recommend? Any to avoid? PM me if this suits .. thanks

Sid Watson makes fibreglass wings for Morgans, he bought out Dave Rutherfords moulds.

Arwyn

As far as I'm aware, Sid is the only current manufacturer of fibreglass wings for Morgans, isn't he?

http://www.fibreglass-mouldings-cambs.co.uk/