Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms If not a Morgan, what?

So a total betrayal of the 911 heritage and tradition, you have gone water cooled! Having had the very involving 930 911 Turbo, old age and experience has taught me that my reactions aren't what they were. So I don't explore the limits to the extent I used to.

Always fancied the Mercedes SLK/SLC55 (one of Clarkson's favourites) a real power rocket with a metal foldable roof more practical than a mohair hood..............

Similar here,
Had a 1983 911SC because the then new 964 was too civilised & not enough driver involvement.
Then went to a 1989 911 super sport as the then new 996 was ditto
Few years later I needed a bit more comfort & succumbed to a 964 - first porsche with working heating system!
A further gap & got a 997.2 Carrera 4, brilliant car, but boring. Phenomenal grip, loose your licence on the motorway without going above 2nd gear but just lacking in involvement until well into 3 figure speeds.
Had a new 991 turboS as a loan car for a month & absolutely hated it, was PDK & had two modes - foot down 7000rpm in first every where, or drive sensibly mode, which equated to everywhere at about 900rpm, again far too competent to be enjoyable.
The hate from other road users when out in the turbo was considerable.

I ended up with the Morgan to have an involving drive with a bit of character, I might have bitten off a bit more than I can chew, in that its too uncomfortable & too much like hard work to slog through central london which is limiting its usage. Hence thinking perhaps a Plus Four Auto, would give me most of the upsides of a Morgan without most of the compromises.

To be fair, I absolutely love just puttering about in the GTS. It's a VERY cozy and snug interior, you hear the intake at any speed and truth be told, I've only really given it the beans a handful of times. The Spyder for me won't be a keeper.Long story. I'll likely order another GTS in a year or so as this is the last of the petrol 718 as we know it. Have a look at the T. It's the 'base' engine but all the GTS go fast bits. It's worth a drive in any flavour.

OK Perry, I'll call into my local Porsche dealer in Exeter, next time I'm there and have a chat - thanks for the advice.

John, Andy, Many thanks for sharing your Porsche related thinking, much appreciated... Though betrayal of the tradition and heritage....? I wonder if identifying with fundamentalist ideals has quite the draw that it once held, though traders creating markets will ever capitalise on such natural tendencies..?

It seems there can be too many down sides to being of faith when it comes to cars, and I have ever admitted to being a bit of a CARsonova. As one of the hands-on practical type, I guess logic has been my guide to some extent in terms of my automotive choices.

Porsche were the simplest and yet best engineered sports car I came across, having spent years nailing my old Brit Iron machines back together. Prior to Porsche, I thought I had reached the pinnacle when immersed in Lotus culture, even when my old Lotus cars failed due to what seemed like a ha`p`orth worth of tar.

T`was not until I came across a badly corroded 912 that I thought to explore this quirky souped up VW.... I must have spent the best part of a year in my spare time nailing this rot box back together, and over that time I began to tune into the design concept and qualities built in to this sad old Porsche... History and Heritage..? There were some less than attractive aspects to that, but in terms of engineering and automotive achievements, it seemed the mix of selecting high quality materials and building them into good quality engineering practices, outweighed building in lightness, and perhaps more so for a road car..? If looking to history of the marque in sporting terms, the record of Porsche progress in competition is hard to beat given their success in events as varied as the LM 24 hrs or the Paris Dakar Rally..?

Once on the road the old rot box continued to impress, and in a very tactile way, so much so that I sought to improve on that which my 912 provided. A 911 the obvious next logical step, which provided performance gains built on the same well proven foundation, and following that onother 911 with more performance came better fuel economy..!!! Who ever heard of that..? Now having owned air cooled Porsches of 60`s, 70`s and 80`s vintage, equating to a decade or more of Porsche involvement, I had become pretty well immersed in Porsche.....until other of life`s priorities intervened.

I guess that ramble completes the reduced circle back to my day driving the new 993 at it`s UK press launch, and the impressions thereof gained on the day.. Lovely car, but more a GT than a real sports car.

Some years later I was back in the market for a fun car, the 993 was now circa a decade old, and in those intervening years my automotive desires had perhaps a bit like myself, matured somewhat, and my appreciation of older ladies, along with older cars seemed to be increasing exponentially, Bentley, Bugatti, Riley, and so many other pre war sports cars began to be of more interest than GT motoring of any sort.

Motoring fun for me had become the early morning drives on mostly deserted local B roads, GT comfort options were no consideration whatsoever, I wanted to be out there and feeling very much involved in everything, just as those Bentley drivers were in times past, and I found that at a price that I could afford thanks to Lorne Goldman and the guys who inhabited the MSCC DG when it first appeared in cyberspace...when I typed up a short resume of my experience and desires followed by the question "WHICH MORGAN." Now circa 20 years later that Morgan still sits in my garage, being the longest length of time I have owned any machine... Kinda says it all..?

I thought my bones were seizing up and unlikely to improve, feeling the cold ever more caused me to contemplate that my Morganeering days were fast coming to an end. Looking to extend my sports car driving enjoyment for a while longer if possible, it seems logic determined a tin top would be the next target, and that being the case, Porsche quickly came top of a very small pile.

£60k for a REAL 911 of the air cooled variety, and of the type of which could and did rot requiring me to nail them back together thirty years ago, they had potential to be patchwork Porsches back then... Today...Hmmm..?

As for Porsches of the kettle variety, as forced upon the marque by ever increasing emission regulation..? It seems the priority engineers once enjoyed at Porsche may have been taken over by the bean counters, and to the extent that it is commonly reported that perhaps as many of 3% of their new water cooled engines could destroy themselves without any warning, with rather expensive consequences, and at rather low speeds and mileages....! Sure the www as gospel on anything is to be questioned, but that it seems Porsche around that time created an "extended guarantee" system at cost to the customer, and which required only original Porsche parts to be used in the maintenance and repair of the car.. Hmm..? I suspect the guarantee system may have paid for it`s self for Porsche, which was by then part of VAG and no doubt holding tight to the brand that Porsche had painstakingly built over many a year..? For motoring enthusiasts, at least Brand Porsche was still competing and winning enough to maintain a degree of interest despite the negatives associated with that rather large series of steps in their evolution..?

Porsche aside, it seemed my ever ageing body was becoming less suited to Morganeering as time passed, and I harboured no great desire for a watered down continuance of that which once enthralled me so, thus on an all to rare balmy day I can gird my loins and take to the road in my Morgan once again it feels somewhat of a privilege to be able to sample a few miles of roaring popping and banging my way around the countryside fully immersed in the experience.... even if I might suffer a bit later on....

Given the rarity of balmy days hereabouts, and with all the driver aids an old Luddite might resent, yet very much feel the benefit thereof, a degree of tin top modernity might in reality better suit..? An OLD 964, or even a 993 at today`s market value and likely condition, just does not sit well for the practical type I imagine myself to be..Hmm..?

So there you have it a couple of decisions made. Keep the old Mog, and buy into a degree of digital modernity that might better fit the automotive needs of an ageing auto-enthusiast, who while remembering and greatly valuing times when maximum involvement was not only desired but required in terms of automotive acquisition and enjoyment processes, today a PDK C4S is hoped to perform well enough as a more practical option for the old duffer I have become ... Time will tell.

There is NO SUBSTITUTE for a Morgan..... which in truth has performed admirably for me as a...err... substitute for the Vintage Bentley my Morgan was purchased as all those years ago.

Good luck in your choices Peter, it seems there can be rather too much to contemplate...

Betrayal maybe too strong a term, people tend to fail into one or the other camp air or water. Whilst the ' air 'cars trace their heritage back to the beetle, they represent a considerable investment these days, are seriously getting on in age and their performance envelope has been passed by very mundane cars these days. The 'water' cars are amazingly capable, a neighbour has a '08 Turbo Cabriolet and whilst only 20 years separate it from my '88 Turbo Cabriolet, they are leagues apart in terms of comfort, handling and performance, so much so I would have the '08 Turbo Cabriolet over my old car any day. You can live with the water car more easily on a day to day basis.

I've been looking for Turbo Cabriolet for some time, however only having a double garage and living very close to the sea with the salt air, in essence I can only have two cars (they need to be garaged to survive around here)...so something has to give. Either the wife gives up her Merc Cabriolet and is prepared to drive a Porsche, failing that it's the Morgan that has to go. I've had a bad experience from putting cars in storage, having had one stolen and sold abroad by the storage company that went into bankruptcy. But that's another tale. I'm sure when my knees eventually go and/or I struggle to get in and out the Morgan, a water Porsche Turbo Cabriolet will finish up in the garage.

I find my traditional Roadster great fun at reasonable speeds (cruising) but once you try to push the available performance, it is unbelievably noisy above 70-80mph, pulls exhaust fumes into the cabin and the 4 seater suffers massive axle tramp getting it off the line quickly in first and there is less opportunity to correct the suspension deficiencies being a 4 seater, which I enjoy with the greater space and convenience compared to the 2 seater......

Cheapish to buy, but a bit more expensive to fit unless you DIY......

4 seat Roadster Anti Tramp springs

The Roadster had been in long term storage and only done 4800 miles in 13 years, so I'm putting miles on it to see what other issues arise (which inevitably will) need to make sure its reliable, just had to replace the air conditioning radiator, the oil pressure sender unit may be next, the modified sump is necessary and planned for next service.

The car already had SSL front suspension and I've just replaced the standard rear shocks with specially made adjustable Avo's which have improved the ride compliance considerably but still give bump thud over slight irregularities. Anti Tramp rear springs are the next realistic option, not something I would feel happy with undertaking myself. Spoke with Matty at Life's and he has fitted these springs to 4 seater Roadsters and for the cost involved he did not discern that much of an improvement. As I most likely have a set of the cheap batch of springs fitted from new, when they start sagging, I'll replace with the anti tramp springs.

My first 4 seater from 1977 was a far better more compliant ride than my current car, mind you the intervening 30 years or so may have coloured my recollection.

Is there no room to fit a set of conventional anti-tramp bars alongside the existing springs? I'm sure SimonH could make you a set.

Matty, had a look to see if a set of antitramp bars could be fitted and it was very tight, but it may be something Simon can help with when I get around to it. Matty has already done some work on the rear flooring to reduce the level of bottoming I first experienced. Ah the joys of Morganeering.