Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Would you Part-Ex your Trad for a CX?

Hell will freeze over before George (Luddite) parts with his Plus 8

They may feel a bit 'ruff' on a longer journey.

Some people still embrace grease, creaks and rusty bits. On the cars as well.

I might miss a lot of it think he has two main points.

1, There are two types of Morgan owners, the first is the current owners who have grown up with old cars and happy to maintain them, they find a Morgan fun to work on and fettle. Others who owned company cars that were financed and serviced as part of a package and while they might have worked on a car at 17 have not touched a spanner for 30 years, these people think once I retire and not tied to the company's car plan I will get a Morgan and that has often been a life long dream. Many of these are rather disappointed in the fettling required to get a Morgan to what they want and maintain it plus after years of nice company cars find a Morgan a bit too basic and uncomfortable for their now old retired body. The reality is not living up to the life long dream they had.

2. Classic cars have gone up heaps over the years and the investors are trying to convince us they will keep doing so. However there are two things that will start dropping the price, the first being the changing demographic of collectors, I agree that the 20 year old's of today given the funds would probably rather buy a 1990's Nissan GTR R32 as a classic car than an E-type Jaguar. That is saying that given no change to legislation and petrol availability etc. there will be a change in what is desirable and a good Nissan GTR could be worth more than an E-type just based on the age of the collectors and what they want. Morgans could fall into the same boat, younger people more comfortable with modern cars might not like the Trad Morgans as much and eventually they might drop in popularity. The second being legislation changes and electric cars forcing ICE cars off the road which I agree could be possible in which case the price of the remaining Trad's will start to drop.

I agree with both points.

Regarding the first point. My view firstly is that Morgans have increased in cost significantly compared to other cars which doesn't help the newly retired person to decide it is still their dream.and they should go ahead and fulfill it.or not. Assuming the dream was created in 1980 using Australia as an example it was possible to buy a new Morgan for the price of a Ford Falcon. So at the age of 20 in the 1970's/1980's it would seem quite sensible to plan to order a Morgan 5 years before retirement and replace the boring family car with it as you will have paid off your house, kids moved out so not need 4 doors and seats etc. or to drive to work every day. Fast forward to 2020 and retirement age and the good news is you don't have to wait 5 years any more but the bad news is a new Morgan is over 4 times the cost of the boring family car and while the quality of the Morgan has improved the improvements and features in cheap cars has been amazing in comparison. My second thought is that in 1980 at 20 you thought a Morgan as a retirement car would be perfect but in 2020 at 60 with less flexibility and maybe a larger waist, driving automatics for 30 years (the average person,not me as I have always had manuals), more speed bumps and traffic on the road, old Parents who can't drive and need taking to specialists etc. Grandchildren on the way etc. maybe the Morgan is not such a perfect retirement purchase after all. Add that to the difference in cost to a standard car and it is not as easy to justify buying.

The second point is interesting, if you assume Luddite is correct and with time classic cars will start to drop in price probably bringing the Trad's down with them then there are two options, 1. Enjoy a car you like now and accept you could lose a lot of money, 2. sell any cars you have and buy the cheapest nearly new car that suits your needs to try have the least amount of capital tied up in motoring in this time of change.

I think that the new Plus 4 is a great car but whether it is any easier to justify as a retirement present to yourself is hard to tell. Yes it will be easier to live with but it also costs a lot more so even harder to justify with man maths.

I don't have a Trad to exchange so can't really comment but if the car was available in Australia and I had the funds I am more interested in the Plus four than the six. It looks more like a Trad in shape, can have wire wheels, can have a spare on the back which to me is part of the classic Morgan look and probably most important a manual gearbox. The six looks like some kind of cartoon car and I think it is mainly the wheels are just too big.

I hired a Morgan for a day years ago and part of the appeal to me was the fact it was not easy to drive, the brake and clutch pedals come from the floor but the accelerator from above, the fly off hand brake was different to anything I had used before and I really liked it, I think the flywheel lightened enough to make smooth driving difficult. But after 15 minutes or so I got used to it and by the end of the day my hill starts, gear changes, etc. where perfect. I really like the wooden centre to the Plus four and it reminds me of the last 4 seater which had the old fly off hand brake, I guess they are trying to appeal to a more normal customer but I wish they kept the handbrake. I assume the pedals are now all hinged from above and the car as easy to drive as any other new car.

I like fettling but not fixing if that makes sense. I love putting stereos in cars, putting in reverse cameras, I have enjoyed adding in electric windows into older cars, replacing stock suspension with coil overs etc. I also enjoy doing oil changes myself every 5,000km. But I like to do these things when I want (apart from the oil changes) rather than fix things immediately because they are needed to be done just to drive the car because things keep going wrong, which was the case of my Honda S600. I think what appealed to me about Morgans in 1980 was it had a new engine so would not die like my Honda all the time but I could still fettle with it and make it mine with subtle changes, hopefully the Plus four can still have some subtle changes done by enthusiastic owners.

Ah, irony

SFG, I suspect the Irony may be that my initial contribution was a kinda synopsis...! (-:

My ramble was just an attempt at sharing and condensing (-: my personal observations over a period of circa 55 years of messing with machinery of many and varied types that included increasing interest in Morgans from the late 90`s on, to end up finally owning my Morgan, on which after circa five years of web based research I was finally coerced/convinced to spend my savings, by those who had inhabited the cyber Morgan forums at the MSCCDG, Morgans at Autox, and of course the wonderful eMog.

Over the years those who inhabited the forums very kindly provided insight to the actions, reactions and thinking of all sorts of Morganeers and would-be Morganeers of all types and from many corners of the world, the most influential in that process being the GoMoG webmaster, given he more than any other seems to have devoted enormous time, energy and perhaps finance into providing access to friendship and a knowledge-base second to none which he set up to assist folk in search of understanding in all areas Morgan related, and which is still available today with FREE access to anyone, and free of advertising... Hard to imagine anything better..? It seems eMog had a wider scope of input given the numbers of contributors from all over the planet whereas today it seems forums may have shrunk somewhat in a variety of areas..The natural ageing process may play a part in that...?

With access over many years to such a wide scope of Morgan related thinking relative to not only the priorities of individuals and their experiences shared, but to be able to observe the way their Morgan ideals evolved over those years which may logically(?) have caused the MMC`s designs for the trad and subsequent CX Morgans to evolve in parallel with the thinking of their www interconnected customer base...?

It seems unlike many, I lack confidence to make firm predictions for the future of much, but am happy to present my personal observations for discussion and hopefully to assist others in their search of widening their outlook relative to whatever of the many variables THEY think might affect their decision making relative to ownership and hopefully enjoyment of any Morgan..

Many thanks for taking the time to contemplate aspects of my synopsis (-: ChrisConvertable, I enjoyed your contribution greatly... more food for thought... (-:

I could go on at length... but I will stop there.... for now...(-:

A test drive will tell me. All my Morgan's have been a progression on previous models despite staying basically the same. The new Plus Four is a huge jump in performance, handling and refinement plus the Morgan dna.
Looking forward to it.

Luddite, glad you enjoyed my contribution.

I agree that I also lack the confidence to make firm predictions for the future. The 20 year old me was sure I would buy a Morgan at retirement age and drive it to the day I die, back then I never dreamed that motoring could be changing due to electric cars, self driving cars, cities being designed to discourage car ownership. So now the question is not how many years you will live but how many years you can drive and whether that is long enough to justify a purchase using man maths.

While I was thinking about man maths now after replacing a hail damaged Silvia with a cheap Skoda Rapid I have got my assets to 66% Superannuation, 32.4% house and only 1.6% for two pretty cheap cars. Some would say with the unknown future of cars that is right, others would say go and buy something special and enjoy it while you can, surely even with the future unknown man maths agrees that cars are allowed to be well over 1.6% of your total assets?

Luckily for me after recently meeting the Frontline MGB maker in Australia SWAMBO thinks he seems very genuine, would do a great job and it would suit me so I have permission to aim for that. It appears I can go well over the 1.6%