Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms S/H Market in Morgans

Following my earlier points on Morgan, Just did a bit of Sunday afternoon browsing to see what other small volume manufacturers exist that make a similar product.

Most of the small British car manufacturers that focus on sports cars tend to be along similar lines to the Aero and Aeromax, i.e real high-end nudging supercars with associated price tags and goals which are far in excess of the Morgan classic range, I am excluding the Aero in my searching here,

I found the following which are similar (vaguely in some ways) to Morgan:

Nostalgia Cars LTD

Offering XK120, XK140 and C-type replicas as fully built cars, completed to your specification.

The XK120, new factory-built car standard specification: £62,679.15 + VAT

Suffolk Sportscars

Suffolk Sportscars is dedicated to the visually exact reproduction of the legendary Jaguar SS100.

No pricing mentioned even on used, I take it if you have to ask you cannot afford one?

Atlanta Motors

By combining carefully selected materials with reliable modern engineering, and working closely with only the best British craftsmen in their field, we will build you a traditional sports car to a quality that will patinate gracefully and can be appreciated for a life time.

The New Atalanta is from £160,000 ex works.

Alvis Car Company (I thought they had become defunct in 1967, apparently not!)

The Alvis Car Company are manufacturing to special order a limited number of famous Alvis models. They are faithful to the original design and by using our Works Drawings from the period they retain all their traditional character and quality, yet are emission compliant. They have been designated the Continuation Series.

Currently have a range of 5 vehicles, almost all bar one limited to 25 each. Price? Who knows? One mention of the Vanden Plas Tourer being under £250k.

Summary (as I see it)

The £40k starting price point for a 2018 4/4 a Morgan is a steal (in some ways compared to the above companies), however the cars are very basically equipped at this price, as we know, once the car is equipped to the standard I would expect at this price, £50k is easily achievable.

No other manufacturer I found makes as many cars as Morgan does, only small production runs or individual commissions. Yet my over nagging thought is would these companies have the same issues with quality of finishing and fitment? They cannot get away with poor quality and lack of proper development, and neither should Morgan be able to in my opinion,

Morgan in comparison to low volume manufacturers, is an old school company making an old school car, and doing very well at it, but sadly without the same attitude towards the customers, maybe those mentioned above are better, maybe they are worse? I am never to know!

However, I would have one of the Alvis Vanden Plas Tourer’s in a shot, but I would have to sell a kidney and a leg on top of the Morgan and still not be able to have one, so Morgan it will be, maybe I will become more accepting of the gripes in time?

Just my 2p

Yes, I think that many purchasers expect a Morgan to be a modern car but with 1930's looks. They expect the reliability, build quality, durability and ease of maintenance equivalent to a £50k robot-built sports car like those you get from a mainstream manufacturer.

But of course a Morgan isn't that. It's a 1930's sports car with Edwardian suspension, built like they used to, with 1930's levels of maintenance requirements. Even the modern engines are a bit of a compromise, they were never designed for use in a Morgan and many bodges modifications have to be made for them to work at all.

I was at the Classic Motor Hub this morning, loads of extraordinarily desirable 1930's classics, and up against them the Morgan stacks up extremely well. High performance, good brakes, comparatively excellent handling, and good durability.

A 1930's MG PB is a beautiful little car, and the one we were admiring is probably worth in the region of £50k, but compared to a current +4 or Roadster it would be completely outclassed in just about every respect. And the Aston Martins, although absolutely gorgeous, are just ludicrously valued.

As an alternative to a 1930's sports car, a Morgan is a blistering performer and fantastically good value for money.

“It's a 1930's sports car with Edwardian suspension, built like they used to, with 1930's levels of maintenance requirements”,
That’s unfair, with the scuttle and rear shock hoops the Factory jumped straight into the 1950s, albeit the early 1950s.

But isn't that compensated for by the fact that they persisted with 1920's style underslung chassis, long after every other manufacturer realised what a daft design it is?

I saw a photo of a TR2 rolling at a racetrack in the media a few days ago....I was surprised to see the rear chassis was underslung! For some strange reason I emediately thought of Gambalunga! 🤓

I’ve always thought there’s something very similar between the TR2/3 and Morgan....chassis, engines and cutaway doors. Not sure if there’s any ash in the body of the TR though.

Rust , water and maybe mice droppings!

There is a complete range of opinions in this thread and I can relate to all of them. People want something different, thats fun to own and can be tinkered with. But tinkering isnt dealing with unreliability or things like water leaks. They want to be able to keep up with modern traffic and even have a bit of more vigorous fun on an empty road, but we all know that maximum speeds of 180 mph are pointless. And they want a car that gives pride of ownership at a reasonable running cost.And I cant think of one car that fills all those requirements.

The nearest I ever got was the Lotus but thats a bit cramped and hard core in my dotage.

The increase of newish cars for sale might just be the way of the
( developed) world these days. It’s easier than ever to change partners, houses, jobs, cars and even silly things like watches.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing from Morgan’s point of view, I’m a big fan, but it’s going to be difficult to sell someone like me more than one car, I’ll own mine until either it or me is dead.

Bet you wont. You'll get bored first - its just a question of how long it takes.

Not necessarily. I have a track record of keeping cars for over twenty years.
So now at 65......ahem!

Yep, especially with a Morgan, they only really make sense once you've lived with them for a good few years.

I've had mine for 18 years now, can't see any point in changing.