Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Why buy these vehicles and never drive them?

Talked to the dealer a 2 years ago about one they had for sale with very few miles on it. The guy fell in love with the look and did get in and drive one, but figured he'd lose 30 or 40 pounds from the time he ordered until it was delivered to make it more comfortable for him. Apparently he might have even gained weight in that time, so he had to sell it. It literally wasn't a good fit.

When I was a teenager, Aston Martin Sales had a showroom opposite my Aunt & Uncle's flat in Sloane Street. I remember a beautiful and very nearly new V8 they had for sale with less than 500 miles on the clock. Talking to the salesman, he told me that a customer had bought it without consulting his wife. After a couple of months of driving the car around London, he decided he just couldn't face owning up to his that he'd spent all that money on such a thing, so had brought it back to be sold.

I have seen the same in the motorcycle world..... bought a Gold wing.... put 1-2k on it per year. Parked in the garage and so a "low mileage" 40 year motorcycle.... and the ad says, it ran when I parked it

On the up side, these kinds of people are a good source of bikes for the rest of us.

I've recently bought a 1977 Triumph Bonneville. 7k miles on the clock, it seems it left the factory without the bridge plate that links the centre barrel studs. Without the plate the studs vibrate and fracture the copper head gasket. They fixed the problem in 1978 by switching to composite gaskets, but when I took the head off mine it still had the original copper gasket, broken across between the two studs, textbook stuff.

I think somebody bought it, rode it around for a while until the head gasket blew, and then parked it in a shed for 40 years. At least they kept it dry and protected, it's in great condition.

Have you sorted it yet, Tim..?

I think my old three wheeler is salted away somewhere, too. Never seen hide nor hair of it these last four years, and yet DVLA shows it as still being around..

Yep, the photo above was taken after I'd wheeled it out of the shed to start it up after the head gasket change. I was in a hurry so I hadn't bothered to route the fuel lines inboard of the carbs.

There's still a fair amount of fettling to be done, but no rush, I don't think there will be any decent biking weather until the Spring.

a few years ago I rebuilt a 1979 gold wing barn find.... under the layers of dirt it was a clean bike.... cost me $200 and I sold off the saddlebags for $200

Not driving your car is like no sleeping with your girlfriend to save her for the next guy ... You're doing it all wrong :-)

The big difference between buying a stored M3W and a stored Gold Wing, or similar, is that the bike was probably a fairly well sorted machine when it went into storage, from a design point. The early M3W was not very well designed at all and any stored car will still have those built in problems to sort before it can be used reliably. That is in addition to all the other issues that may have occurred due to the lack of use. I know of one owner who parked his new M3W in his garage after its second rectifier failure (remember them?) in 2013 and it didn't move again until this summer. Now he is looking at a long list of work.

I have spoken to a few people that thought they were buying a bargain low mileage early car only to find they have quite a large "upgrade" bill, the bargain doesn't look quite such a good buy then. If you are "hands on" owner then the bargain can be just that, although information on the M3W is difficult with no manual available for reference. There are some real bargain early cars that have been used and upgraded, if you know what to look for.

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