Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Bob70's Bahamian project

Now some of us service and repair and modify our cars when we can and then there is the Button's, Arwyn's and Images that really get into the whole rebuild thing and command a whole new level of respect, well Bob is very much a member of that club.

Some of you may recall Bob asking for information about a very early Plus 8 a while back and I pointed him to the Morganville site and others had other suggestions to help out. I am starting this off for Bob as he hasn't got into the image side of things as he has his hands full right now.

This is an amazing project and I'm in awe of his courage taking this on, they had to make good temporarily some of the car prior to shipping from the Bahamas to UK as you can see. The termites had seen off most of the wood other than the saddle board and inner rear wing marine ply, Bob will be along to put this right if I've forgotten anything.

Hi Richard well as you know we are all in lockdown , but our Morgan plus 8 is now over here we did find out the chassis number
Which is R**** which has been in the Bahamas all its life , the Morgan has not run for 38 years because l got a letter of him
Which he asked Morgan how to change the wooden cill .and ran the car for a few more years then park it up.













All ready for shipping to UK.

Brave man to take that on!

+1. That will keep him very busy.

Looks to me like a Moss Box car , therefore well worth saving, and favoured by many as the "classic" +8 looks. From 1977 onwards they got wider and the beautiful proportions got diluted (but many other features do compensate of course to some extent.)

Certainly lots of work, and few short cuts available if to is to be done properly. It would only be viable as a self build job, commercial rates would render it financially non-viable. Tell Bob to ask as many questions as he needs to get the data necessary. There are no stupid questions, but there are many stupid mistakes as a result of not asking.

It is a Moss box an HR in fact it turns out, the car is going to be a treasure as it was first registered on 13/01/70 so a real narrow body similar to Brian's and it was originally orange and black and went straight to the Bahamas from the factory. Bob has been to the factory to help establish some of the history a few months back.

We communicate on Whatsapp and one question he has is what is the gauge of the metal on the car ? obviously this vintage on an untampered with car such as this it's all steel.

I'll pass that on but Bob is definitely a question asker he wants to get it right but is stalled with the lockdown right now.

The clutch was seized as were all the brakes, reading between the lines they had a hell of a game getting the car ready for shipping. The engine is coming out for a total rebuild not having run for 38 years.

Bob is aware of the usefulness of Gomog so has some good references.

Great , I think all +8s had the HR Moss Box , (as did most of the last of the +4s) Others might know of the changeover date?

As regards the metal gauge I assume you are talking about the chassis rather than the body panels?
If so I am not sure I have the figure off the top of my head (others might?) but THE expert here is Terry Foxen at GEE. He can supply "new" chassis of good quality and finished really nicely.

In the days when I raced , some folk rebuilt their Mogs onto a lighter gauge chassis in order to save weight (flexing is not too much of an issue on a track car) David Rutherford was the best known proponent of this way of thinking. Some owners who competed in the Lands End trials type of events went the opposite way and built them up on a chassis that was one gauge thicker, and were prepared to accept the weight penalty.

That's really interesting information on the chassis there for Bob, it was actually the panel thickness that he was after so he can effect repairs or create new from like material.

I am right in thinking Billy Bellinger is the Moss Box rebuild man, if so Bob may want this service at some stage.

JB Sports Engineering

Billy and his Dad were a massive help with my axle. Can't fault them.

Thanks good to know, none of us know when we might need to call on their services.

What an amazing project, I am with Andy G in that a call to Terry Foxen would be wise to start from good and build upon it.