Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Damaged Plus6

It could come in handy as a training aid for the Morgan resellers. Here is one I broke earlier, now put it back together.

I still find it intriguing that the Aero 8 Series 1-4 etc with a V8@300-380hp and the older suspension design has so many cars out there and such a good reputation and yet the Plus Six has had quite a few bangs as quickly as this. If it was an engineer from a dealer then that is even more worrying. As for the seller, we will see where the market stands in these odd times.

There were a number of early Aero8 involved in RTCs. One comment was that they tended to disappear backwards into hedges. Can't remember where I read that now though.

I remember that too Graham, in fact I know someone who told me he went backwards off an elevated roundabout about a Mway, Fortunately the brambles stopped the car falling to the road.

But the Plus six seems to be more prone to this, but I have no data though.

Hypothesis: Aeros came out 20 years ago and sold mainly to existing Morgan owners who were less familiar with complex driver assistance systems (because cars of the time didn't have so much of them). Plus Sixes are selling to new entry owners who are coming from other modern cars which are loaded with driver assistance?

Also, maybe the comparatively high cost of Plus Sixes mean that the only people who can afford them tend to be older and forget that reactions times decline quite sharply with age, making it much harder to catch a breakaway when it happens?

I think I’m the originator of that comment...
Something approaching half of the S1 production were either crashed or written off I believe

In this case the driver could have been a highly experienced Morgan technician who may not fit the 'normal' Plus Six profile. I am also aware that a Plus Four demonstrator at KH was also written off but this doesnt seem a regular occurrence like the Plus Six.

The fun in driving my 110bhp 4/4 is that I can drive the car and use all the available power in most road conditions, with a high power car like the Plus Six you can only use a fraction of the available power in most road conditions.

If there was a high percentage of S1 Aeros written off, rather than blame the drivers, maybe there's a point where there chassis just has too much power to be usable in normal driving?

As I posted a while back. Still think it is a tyre (grip) & gear box problem (quick change down by 2 gears on occasion) Basically the car is not "balanced" hence it is more useable in "manual" mode.

I doubt that its a matter of modern electronics - they dont change the laws of physics and in any case I doubt that many or even any drivers really try to hang the back end out on the public roads. The Aero cars that I have driven have had a modern chassis but none of them are in the same class for roadholding (IMO ) as a sports car from a big builder. You cant blame MMC simply because they dont have the resources to refine a design to the same extent as say Porsche. I suspect the Plus 6 will be similar and combined with a BMW engine designed for a much heavier saloon. So foot on the accelerator, engine spools up fast throwing out torque and the rear suspension cant cope.. You saw the same sort of issues with TVR.

Thats not to say that they arent lovely cars. They are lovely! I would like one. But they clearly arent a fault free design. As Almond asked " where is the Lotus magic"?

I wonder if the car is repairable. As I understand it the glued and rivetted ally chassis needs the glue curing at temperature, and ally cant be bashed back to shape in the way that steel can. Certainly the same crash in a Lotus would not be repairable without a compete new chassis.

That's precisely why I love my car so much. Who wants to be afraid to use all the available performance?

Good to see no injuries Mike. There's a lot of body damage to the car. Hopefully the body will have absorbed a lot of the energy before it reached the chassis. All 4 corners suggests a spin so possibly reduced energy as each corner impacted and less chance of chassis deformation. The engine/drive train may be a problem though?
They are nice cars and I am hoping to test the Plus6 and Plus4 to see how they feel.
£40k seems high to buy that unless there has been comprehensive checking of the chassis and other mechanicals. A risky project!