Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Assistance and sale

Dear Mog friends

I live in Lugano, south of Switzerland. Actually the closest Morgan dealer for me is the Italian one in Milano (the two Swiss ones being in Geneva and Basel). By the way, I bought my 2014 Plus4 in an Aston Martin Dealer (therefore with no particular link to any Mog one). Now the funny thing: the Milano dealer told me that they do operate only on cars they directly sold. Is this common practice for Morgan dealers? Do you think I can make it with another mechanical (e.g. Ford? being Ford the engine?) closer to me instead of taking 4 hour boring Swiss motorway to Geneva or Basel?

Many thanks for your view. And if the Milano dealer has something to better clarify here, I am more than happy...

Gordon, that is very unusual for a Morgan dealer to refuse working on a car he has not sold - I have never heard of it before.

There are certain Morgan specific things to be checked but the engine being Ford clearly they could take care of that. If they are an interested independent garage and have a read of your cars handbook there is no reason why they could not carry out a full service for you. A lot of these garages love working on Morgan's as they add variety from the Eurobox.

Good luck with your search.

Thank you Richard. I also found it quite absurd, actually ... if any Swiss Mog friends have suggestions on a good garage in Lugano or nearby they are more than welcome.

I understand the most "urgent" thing is the need to grease the shock absorbers (the manual says every 1,000 km, which would be very often actually).

It is well worth greasing the front suspension (king pins) to prevent premature wear Gordon. They are very exposed.

It is an easy job requiring a small grease gun, molybendum grease and a set of axle stands (for safety) there are two nipples per axle and you pump the grease in until you see it appearing around the lower spring, about 5 strokes of the gun. Just be careful to wipe any excess grease off so as not to contaminate the disc brake. Any local garage would carry this out for you on a ramp, a tightening of the nuts and bolts around the front suspension is also part of this routine but easily done.

I will look for a photo of this job.

Found a good picture and article to help explain the job - this is from the Gomog website which is a very useful reference for Morgan technical and maintenance issues.

http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/Greasing2008~2011etSeq.html

That does sound strange Gordon. I wouldn't worry too much though. I take my Mog for major issues to the dealer I bought it from but it is a relatively long and boring motorway drive (though not in the league you face). However a small local garage, actually an MOT testing centre, not five minutes from me does many little jobs for me like greasing the suspension changing brake shoes and cylinders etc. He does a good reliable job and it's reassuring to know he's there to help out if for any reason the Mog is imobilized. They also look after and service my Mini.

A bit far for you to travel but let's hope you can find something local.

All the best
Andy

Alot of local garages have the old school mechanics not technicians as they are called today by main dealerships.
As a orevious post says they love working on something traditional
I am not mechanically minded but the greasing offf front suspension is an easy job.I would use axles stands also.
There are plenty of pictures on the gomog site of where to grease .

find a good local garage. These are basic cars.

We would work on any car from any dealer.... Not heard of your problem before?!
Adsvice would be the same as others, a good small local garage will take more care than a big commercial enterprise.

Many thanks for your replies, I will keep you posted!
i really think MMC should guarantee thst all dealers do service cars wherever bought...

I doubt that MMC have the market power to demand that. Sure thats what they would want but imposing it is more difficult.

We cannot know whether the Italian garage concerned is fed up of parallel imports of Morgans or whether he has come to a comfortable agreement with the swiss guys not to take their business. Such agreements are a normal if illegal part of business