Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Caterham Super Sprint..

The 657 cc 3 cyl Suzuki turbo engine, to meet Japanese Kei regulations 660 cc limit, first came to the UK in the little Cappuccino sports car.
The engine is a gem and has to be driven to be appreciated.

I have the old twin carb Xflow super sprint, it really is an enjoyable drive, but I'd love to try the small modern turbo. Who's gearbox do they use?

I think the gearbox is the highly developed 5 speed box ...a Suzuki box evolved over many decades and used in the Alto and Jimmny.

And all in a package that weighs less than 500kg. The M3W weighs 525kg!!!

Consider the "standard" Caterham Seven 160 that costs from £17,495 if you really want to put the price of the M3W in perspective.

A Caterham has always been a car I have borrowed rather than owned. I suspect the fun factor would mean a visit to the cop-shop or a field if I bought a powerful one. The new lower price point the 160 is selling at is very impressive and a good sign of the team being well connected to their customer base.

Whilst Morgan have successfully developed a new customer base of people that have a little discretionary money to spend they are a long way from their popular origins.

In 1950 a Plus 4 was priced at £625, admittedly that was double the cost of Ford Anglia, the cheapest 4 wheeled car available, which cost £310. The Anglia was probably the equivalent of today's Ford Fiesta that is priced at around £13,000 to £14,000. The 1950 Plus 4 would be about £20,000 in today’s money.

This really shows how Caterham with the Seven 310 and the Seven 360 at starting prices of £22,995 and £24,995 respectively are much closer to the original market sector of Morgan. I chose those two models because they are probably the nearest equivalent of the Plus 4. Certainly the Caterham is much more "hard edged" than the Morgan and you would have to add a few £K to the price, to get hood, sidescreens etc., to bring it up to the equivalent base Morgan.

I can't find a 1950 price for the MG TD but the 1947 price of the TC was £527. No doubt my father paid very little more when he ordered a blue TC at the Earls Court show for delivery in Australia. He looked at the Morgan but was worried about the durability of the wood frame on the "rough Australian roads".

Only a guess but the man hours to construct a morgan are at least double that of a Caterham

The differential was still at the same order in the 1980's. A 1986 Ford Fiesta cost just over £4,000, my 4/4 cost £8700.

The chassis of the Caterham is much more complex and the Caterham has a fully independant suspension system. In general terms a Caterham is full of components that have a higher cost.

When it comes to labour costs Morgan are hopelessly living in the past and there is little or no off the shelf component fitting. Everything is cut and drilled to fit the major variable component which is the timber frame of the body tub. If it was done in reverse, ie. the timber frame made to fit pressed, or supeformed, precut and predrilled body components I would hazard that the labour cost would be significantly reduced. As it is nothing from one car fits another.

Last time I was at the factory I was astonished to see the shock absorber hoop being fitted by hand. The holes in the side of the chassis are elongated but the worker was drilling the holes in the top of the chassis by eye. This means that there could be as much as 10mm difference from one car (or even one side) to another. Further more he was fitting a washer under the front of the bracket to tilt the bar back. Apparently they had known for some time that the angle of the bracket to the hoop was not correct but had not got around to adjusting the jig to weld the bracket to the hoop!!!

I walked away shaking my head. I now understand why my car had it fitted at least 5mm further forward on the left than the right.

Interesting Peter but on the 1950 cost vs today

according to the FT We need a factor of 20.5 to get to today’s cost with inflation

So I would argue that The Ford Anglia being the cheapest car at the time is the now the equivalent to the Dacia Sandero which is now the cheapest car at just under £7K but it shows that all cars have gone up greater than inflation

In fact if the Ford Anglia is the equivalent to a Fiesta which I agree with then the Fiesta has more than doubled OVER the cost of inflation.