The FIRST engine ever to impress me on looks alone was that of the Jaguar XK, with it`s lovely polished alloy rocker covers and carbs and black enamelled exhaust manifold, impressive indeed for a young mechanically minded yoof..
Thus the Kougar with it`s Jag engine and strong space-frame construction aligned with race car looks has a built to last appearance that seems hard to ignore..? However on balance all those advantages are in some way undermined when practicality comes to the fore, either for day to day weather conditions in the UK where rain is no stranger, but even on too hot sunny days, regular Kougar usage seems to require quite a bit more..err.. determination than might ever be the case in a Trad Morgan..? That possibly being the case then the Kougar seems to be relegated to the imagined Sunday morning drive scenario, and perhaps existing as more of a garage queen than much else, which is more than enough to justify it`s existence for the fortunate few who might own one on that basis..?
I suspect we may all have our own priorities for the initial purchase of our first Morgan, and I suspect our first thought in the application of man maths to justify the purchase cost of our Morgans might not have been to enjoy the pleasures of owning a wonderful garage ornament, though as the years pass it seems possible that ones use of their Morgan may evolve somewhat..? In my case being usually a rather practical type of individual, I would have perhaps sold my Morgan and moved on, but the old thing still sits in my garage providing a degree of justification in terms of it`s continued existence therein, as our American cousins may say, "go figure".. (-:
Sospan, hope your patio tile choices worked out as you might hope, been there done that, but it took two visits in my 1.2 ton load capable truck to get the job done, my Morgan would have been of little use..(-:
STTom, I suspect but for the efforts of Bill Fink and some others, there would be far fewer Morgans in the US and perhaps Canada, than there currently are, given it was emissions and safety regs that had created a barrier to Morgans being imported all those years ago. Thus the chances of kit car and other small volume manufacturers like Kougar from outside the US entering your market ..err..legally, seems very unlikely...?
I suspect that may be the link I posted at the start of this thread...?
If there is any interest in Kougar vids then the following link to links may be of interest.. I note that in the Prescot vid there was no requirement for elf`n safety, reminds me of track days of old...
What appalling lines the blue car was taking! I had to keep watching the various runs until eventually they showed the post at Cattle Grid after the Finish line. Yup I was there not that you can really tell, but it is my MINI parked up just after the Cattle Grid hut. Health and Safety George? It wasn't a competition day, most posts have single marshal and we do have a medic crew available on these "Sunday drive" type events
Graham (G4FUJ)
Sold L44FOR 4/4 Giallo Fly '11 MINI Countryman Cooper D All4 '90 LR 90 SW
Graham, no criticism of the event location the driver or those assisting the running of the event on the day, I was merely commenting relative to the more casual look of the drivers ability to enjoy making use of such an iconic piece of motoring history...No ruffling of feathers intended...
The FIRST engine ever to impress me on looks alone was that of the Jaguar XK, with it`s lovely polished alloy rocker covers and carbs and black enamelled exhaust manifold, impressive indeed for a young mechanically minded yoof..
Thus the Kougar with it`s Jag engine and strong space-frame construction aligned with race car looks has a built to last appearance that seems hard to ignore..? However on balance all those advantages are in some way undermined when practicality comes to the fore, either for day to day weather conditions in the UK where rain is no stranger, but even on too hot sunny days, regular Kougar usage seems to require quite a bit more..err.. determination than might ever be the case in a Trad Morgan..? .... ........
STTom, I suspect but for the efforts of Bill Fink and some others, there would be far fewer Morgans in the US and perhaps Canada, than there currently are, given it was emissions and safety regs that had created a barrier to Morgans being imported all those years ago. Thus the chances of kit car and other small volume manufacturers like Kougar from outside the US entering your market ..err..legally, seems very unlikely...?
The Kougar has similar weather equipment to a trad Morgan i.e. windscreen, hood and tonneau. Admittedly the hood isn't user friendly, but as someone who almost never puts the hood up anyway, I didn't find it any less practical than a trad Morgan. Let's face it most of these cars, including trad Morgans, are predominantly fair weather cars these days anyway.
Although Kougar Cars still exist, the current owner has pretty much put them into hibernation while he concentrates on building toolroom replicas of D Type Jaguars. His first exposure to Kougar was many years ago as a panel beater working for Lynx Engineering - restoring genuine C and D Types. He was so impressed with his first drive of a Kougar which "cost less than a set of wheels for a D Type" and outperformed the real thing, that many years later he bought the company. Incidentally the car that he worked on all those years ago was owned by motoring journalist and commentator Simon Taylor and was regularly featured in Classic and Sportscar. I was fortunate to own it some years later and it was indecently quick.
There are several Kougars in the USA, both left and right hand drive. Surprising really given the low production numbers. Here's one.
