Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) Plus Four door fit

I send this to say that i am very happy that morgan is still alive , even with small imperfections.

Me too Thierry
HB

I have no problems with the imperfections so long as they fix the major ones — such as the many radiators which are now on backorder so cars can’t be used! This issue has been a problem for at least 18 months now and apart from putting two small rubber bits under the rad about 12 months ago, which haven’t solved the issue, now replacement rads are on backorder so cars are laid up(mines a daily driver so I’m on the bike- Greta would approve!!!!) Surely the 30 brains of the Morgan design centre(which Jon Wells says are hard working in each interview)can come up with something which actually works!

Rant over - I just want to enjoy my car, easily the best of the 4 Mogs I’ve owned

BUILD QUALITY..? Ramble alert..!

Surely by now it is common knowledge that fundamental to this discussion is a mix of EXPECTATIONS and evolution, both in culture and engineering..?

I have typed at length before on this subject but as one who is ever inclined to ramble on and on and on I am happy to type a bit more... (-:

It seems best to get involved in a bit of research prior paying out lumps of cash to buy into the idea that this, that or the other might turn out to be as you hope or worse still EXPECT it might be...?

As one who was ever of modest means and ambitions that ever exceeded those means, I tended to be careful when it came to spending my hard earned on machines from bicycles onwards, and generally ended up buying the cast off`s of others and bringing them back into rudimentary running order, and in the process learned a bit about basic mechanical engineering to the extent that in time I progressed from buying a Frog Eye Sprite with next to no floor and many mechanical issues just because it was a sports car and I wanted it, even though it had lain under a tarpaulin quietly rusting for years... At the time I lived with my parents in a council tenement (flat) with no garage. A big policeman arrived at the door telling me I could not work on my new car on the street, in fact it could not be kept on the street at all unless it was taxed and insured...Yeah, for sure I had a lot to learn. Against the odds having spent a great deal of time in a one car lock-up with no power a mile or so from home, I learned enough about glass fibre and pop rivets and rudimentary engineering to eventually drag the old thing through an MOT, though in truth I had spent three or four years rebuilding old m/cycles in my bedroom prior to my first foray on to four wheels, thus knew a modicum of the basics in terms of matters mechanical.

In time having the benefit of eventually acquiring a home with a brick built outbuilding capable of housing circa two cars and tools enough to fettle them, and having advanced a bit in my mechanical and electrical understanding and acquired basic bodywork skills from welding, through to spray painting, I had become pretty well self reliant on the automotive front, and had sampled much in the way of corrosion from rotted out body sections tand seized mechanical components to understand that cars of the sixties were not built to last in the way much older machinery could and in fact did last, relative to their design and the materials used in their construction...

As yet more time passed and having worked my way through a variety of machinery sporting or otherwise gaining ever more experience along the way, I spent approximately a decade of air cooled Porsche ownership, such was the degree of my appreciation of the marques manufacturing principles of continuous improvement, while keeping as close to simple elements of the initial design concept, and using high quality materials, to the extent that Porsche enjoyed unrivalled sporting success in the 70`s and 80`s in so many areas of motor sport....

By the time the mid to late 90`s arrived I was of an age where I was beginning to suffer a degree of frustration with the pace of change/evolution in engineering as the digital age took over from the analogue, which had in turn taken over from the mechanical, the latter being my personal comfort zone. All that being the case, I began to dig my heels in mentally, and became more appreciative of vintage ideals, to the extent that in terms of my personal automotive enjoyment, a vintage Bentely, Aston or Riley would seem to be ideal... though if you have been paying attention, you would know that my funding would not stretch that far and to cut an even longer story short.. A +8 Morgan was thought as a possibility to fit the bill..

Such were my financial priorities at the time that to acquire a Morgan would take up five years of saving, and research the latter paying dividends, thanks to the kind cyber folk I met originally on the MSCC DG and the efforts of Lorne in terms of the huge amount of effort he put into creating eMog and maintaining the wonderful Morgan resource that is GoMoG, not only that but Lorne sourced an almost perfect Morgan for me... in the form of a freshly and expertly restored alloy bodied carb fed 86 +8, all be it with electronic choke as opposed to a cable, and with similarly modern ignition components... Oh well I guess I could put up with that...

As has been noted on many forums, such platforms attracted a variation of folk from those who seem to wish or need to be faithful to some higher ideal, and might attach that to a particular marque or model with fundamentalist fervour, or those perhaps a bit less faithful and perhaps displaying the tendencies of a CARsonova with a wandering eye... Then of course there were those who joined in the hope of finding resolution to all sorts of mechanical and other vehicular issues, or those wishing to air a grievance and those of course who seem to like to create issues of a non mechanical nature.. For sure it did not take long to learn that the www was a potentially scary place, and never more so when the plug was eventually pulled on eMog at a time when I witnessed former cyber friends go at it hammer and tong..

Taking a step back, to circa five years of learning as to the possible realities of Morgan ownership reading of the frustrations of those buying new Morgans and learning of the famous foibles of a shed built machine compared to that turned out by the latest in automated processes by large auto manufacturers, and the rather obvious frustrations new Morgan purchasers were bound to feel relative to their expectations, which were/are a whole lot different from my own having put in the time to educate myself to some degree...?

Yeah for sure, I too could be frustrated, but in the early days my frustrations were perhaps more related to my own thinking on the values of originality acquired from years of reading the "Classic Press," Thus my frustrations were with those owners mad to modify, modernise and "improve" on Morgan engineering standards, which given the ancient design and manufacturing processes would on the surface appear to be no huge task for anyone with a relatively basic engineering mindset ...?

For some years I watched on as these shed built cars, all be it keeping alive somewhat ancient hand crafted skills in wood leather aluminium and steel, while struggling with the very necessary and ever advancing regulatory requirements, and which required incorporation of advancing, complex and expensive electronic devices, which it seems obvious perhaps neither the MMC or the dealerships fully understood, when they first arrived on the scene, and adding to a growing foible list increasing frustration, a time when it seems there were still far more fundamental issues/foibles occasionally cropping up....?

If I fast forward a tad, having earned my coin in and around technology of Victorian design right up to leading edge, and up until my retirement having been in the workplace for 50 years, it came as no surprise to find reports of the worlds premiere commercial aircraft manufacturer turning out aircraft that fell out of the sky killing hundreds of people in the process and on more than one occasion, or Germany`s premier sports car manufacturer producing engines of which perhaps 1-3% of which might to self destruct those engines at car park speeds and seemingly continued to do so over a production period of more than ten years or so..? In my part of the world building hospitals where due to design and or construction, infection can be picked up due to lack of clean water supplies or poorly designed ventilation systems. The world famous river Clyde`s ship building history is devalued when it seems one of only a couple of ship yard left out of the tens if not hundreds that used to exist, struggles to build a ferry to service the islands, and in many parts of the UK building standards seem to have slipped to the degree that cladding high rise buildings with flammable materials seems to have slipped through not only design and construction but inspection too and so very much more...? It seems possible that since digitisation arrived and the appearance of ever increasing computing power applied to risk management assessments that cutting cost was seen as perhaps the simplest way to increase profits, and some folk allowed that priority to be taken just a bit too far..? When we accept lies as the new truth it seems we are at even more risk.. Consider the strategies of the financial services industry, re the 2008 crash and beyond, or the emission scandals of the automotive industry, etc. etc. etc.

How far is too far..Hmm..? Before the birth of the interweb it was so much simpler to get away with all sorts of ..err...behaviour, and the very day that news appeared on my TV screen that the most powerful man in the world had been entertained in his office by a young lady, I realised that BIG change was in the wind for everyone, and so it has been proven to be, right down to affect ME and every one of us with just about every penny we might spend and on what, recorded, or that which we might THINK about anything..with yet more to come...? Conspiracy theorist..? Not a bit of it, I care not a jot, it is what it is and no more than that, perhaps an evolution in my expectations.

For sure, I was and still am very pleased that Morgan had struggled on through thick and thin to still be manufacturing a Sports car that at least resembled something matching my vintage desires at the time I managed to buy mine. Did I expect a Morgan to be perfect..? Hard won experience and folk kind enough to share their experience over time, managed to create expectations that far better fitted the reality I might experience in ownership of my Morgan.

As for the German sports car... I have once again splashed the cash on one such, and despite the ..err..foibles It seems to have suffered, it had a rather larger budget than Morgan which seems may have helped them overcome class actions et all by way of marketing hype of all kinds to the extent it seems the automotive appreciating public may still be regarded as top of the pile, though as mentioned previously in terms of internet forums being the place where grievances seem likely to be more freely aired, I have read of coil spring breakage where the vehicle was stationary and it was reported the occurrence of which seemingly caused the hand brake to engage, all of which could be fake news, or not..

Yeah perhaps best to employ at least some degree of relativity when making judgements...? Of course I suspect our mood can have an effect on our thinking at any one time too, and as a grumpy old man, I have acquired a degree of experience in that too..

Soap box..? Nah, I ain`t complaining, just making observations, flawed or otherwise while thinking in type.

Enjoy that which you can and while you can, perhaps seems worthwhile...?

MMC should employ me as neoprene consultant.