Talk Morgan Forums Community Welcome Forum My first Morgan

My first Morgan,

I joined Talk Morgan last October and thought it was about time I introduced myself.

I bought my first Morgan about forty years ago, a 4/4, vintage 1968. I was 30 at the time. I kept it for five years but sold it to help finance a house move. It went to Australia.

Last year with three score and ten rapidly approaching and having hankered for another Morgan for some years I started to look round for a suitable car. We have a whippet and I do triathlon so would need some space for a dog kennel and a bike rack so a four seater would suit us best.

I started to look at adverts in the summer of last year and travelled to the home counties to look at cars. Obviously four seaters are rather more rare but I found one I liked. We went to a wedding in Surrey and had a look at it on the way home. Both my wife and I liked it but I did not make my mind up there and then and decided to sleep on it. The colour is not everyone's taste and it took me a while to come round to it. It is Pearlescent Amaranth.

By next morning I had decided I would go back and have another look so I called them to hear that someone else was "almost certain" to have it and was on his way there. I set out all the same as I wanted to look at a couple more. After I had looked at two cars, neither of which I liked I got a phone call. The "almost certain" buyer couldn't get his two Dalmatians in the back!

The car was 18 years old with only 3,100 miles on the clock. 500 miles in each of the first five years and 200 miles in the next three then retirement as the car was pushed to the back of the garage to make way for a +8. I agreed to buy it subject to a test drive (It needed new rear brake cylinders. I asked for all the fluids to be changed and whilst the tyres were legal they were hardly roadworthy. In the meantime we left for Lausanne, the triathlon age-group world championships, followed by a leisurely drive home through France in our motorhome.

By now it was early October and we made arrangements to pay for and collect the car. It was a dreadful day with heavy rain and that reminded me of my first Morgan and the water that came over the top of the header rail. This was even worse! My wife, Joanna, flashed me to stop. Not many of the lights were working. Back to the dealer who couldn't solve the problem and did not have any technical staff on hand so I drove home without lights.

I have used the car a little (bearing in mind the current shutdown) including the weekly shopping and have made a couple of modifications including a rack for transporting a bike. My racing wheels are deeper section so I will need to wire up a trailer board with a high level brake light attached to the bike frame. When it is finished I will add some more photos.

Welcome to TM and back to the world of Morgan ownership Richard.
Lovely colour, quite unusual but works well I think.

Thank you Gordon. It's been a long time! I found a contemporary factory leaflet and there was a photo of the cowl and grill in Amaranth ( or at least I think it is).

Welcome back to the magic, what a lovely colour, that works well for me and unique I'd say enjoy your miles and new adventures

Welcome to TM. That is a good looking car.

Thank you +8 Rich. Having owned a TVR in the past it might be one of the colours that TVR used on their Chimeras, Griffiths etc. It does look good when the sun shines on it.

Thank you also Paul F. My wife, or at least her cousins are very much into horses. I see that you and +8Rich are interested in aviation. My late wife's son owns the last remaining Series 5 Auster. I've got some photos.

Richard.....welcome .... lovely looking car ..... there's an Auster flyer on this forum ..... goes by the user name Auster oddly enough ....enjoy your car.

K

Richard

I do (or did) a lot of water safety work for Triathlons , so if you compete at Eton Dorney or the London at Victoria Docks you will almost certainly have swum past me in my kayak , keeping an eye out for swimmers in trouble. It is a job I enjoy very much (but anno domini doesn't make it any easier!) , and it is nice to give back something to another sport. I will be looking out for a Mog in the car park (but we tend to be out on the water well before the first event, so would probably we wouldn't meet) Alas I cannot transport my kayak on my +8 , so I use a Volvo estate which won't stand out like a Mog.

That is very low mileage for a trad, it needs to be used more and some of the troubles to be shaken out, just ask as many questions as you like here . There are no silly questions, but lots of stupid mistakes from not asking.

Enjoy your motoring, it will take about 6 months to re-learn how to drive it to get the best from it.

Richard Edwards... Welcome to TM...as was stated by another...ask whatever questions arise. I'm amazed at how much expertise/experience is available... readily available … here on TM. I like the color of yours, and frankly have not seen any color that does not look good on a Morgan....possible exception being school bus yellow...but then have not seen one of those ….yet.

I'll admit to being a bit (ok more than a bit) jealous as you have yours... while "an owner" I've yet to actually lay eyes on my 2019 +4 as it sits in Pennsylvania, in final assembly/awaiting parts at the dealer, while I sit in Seattle fantasizing about the first road adventure.

Tom

Richard, welcome to TM.
Good looking car. As Andy says, the car needs to be used. Good luck with sorting through the problems, nothing too complex from the sound of it. Lots of tech knowledge on here should you need to ask any questions.
Enjoy your return to Morgan driving!