Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms New +8 or a 3.7 Roadster.

Interesting stuff so here is my 2 pence worth.

Ok so what we have is a few left over areo engines and Morgans quest to produce 3 new models every week or what ever it is and a desire at the moment to fill a gap in the line up.

So a trad or not?

My conclusion is..... I am going to go for a trad. Why?

OK

How many people said when the Areo was first launched.."I wish they did that in a trad body"?

You also have to look at the past.. Lets use Triumph as an example, in my opinion a car maker very closely linked to Morgan going back to the engine in the first trad being the Triumph made coventry climax engine.

So I am going to use the TR series on which to base my argument.

TR1 errr there really wasnt one (OK for those in the know there is but I would challenge any one to say they have either seen it or driven it)
So the TR2 was the first that morphed into the TR3 with little changes and then the TR3a, and TR3b..... but who has heard of the TR3b. Its actually a run out model using up all the TR3a bodies but using the TR4 running gear.

But in Triumph land its still a TR3......

Ok moving on. TR4 then TR4a and then TR4b aka TR5. Again the TR5 was using up the old TR4 bodies but with the TR6 running gear. (IMHO the best of the TR series). Again woe betide anyone who would call a TR5 a TR6.

I am going to ignore the TR7/8.

So before I start going round in circles how do I apply this to Morgan and more importantly does anyone care at this point!

What you have here is Morgan doing things arse about face.

The Areo chassis was clad in a Trad body for testing, unlike Triumph, Morgan did the testing themselves rather than letting the customer do it, (hang on maybe on reflection maybe that isnt the case ). And produced the Areo right from the start without marketing the new running gear in the previous body style.

But now however they realise there is a demand for that running gear in the old body style albeit 10 years to late!

So if we take Triumph as an precedent, if the Areo chassis and running gear was clad in a Trad body from the start,it would have been considered a trad from the start. Just a development of the existing +8.

Thus..Its a trad.

AND
re reading that you could say that the Areo was the test bed for the chassis and running gear so the new Plus 8 is a new model and can be called anything that Morgan like... so if they say its a Trad its a Trad.

(all information about Triumphs has been totally distorted of course )

Fantastic reasoning

I remember the TR5.
Pal of mine wrote one off in the front of a pub in S.Gloucestershire. Took most of the bay window and associated wall out of the pub at the same time...

And they called a TR7 a TR.........

Fantastic objectivity

In essence the TR7 was more of a successor to the GT6 than the TR6, although there was no carry-over of parts, and was to be called the Bullet or some such. Apparently US dealers insisted on the TR name, hoping to sprinkle a bit of fairy dust on a rather uninspiring car, and thereby devalued the TR brand for ever.

Which was a shame - I have fond memories of my TR6, but never lusted after its successors.

Fjemog

I actually ran a new "T" Plate TR7 for a year. Maybe not a worthy successor to the TR2/3/4/5 and 6, but if you had a sorted one, it was a decent car. The problem from memory was that they were built at Speke and not Canley and not a great deal of attention was paid to quality!!
I replaced it with an SD1 Rover 3500 auto, again a good car spoiled by dreadful detail quality. I can remember the front door casings flopping loose within 500 miles. But the engine matched to the auto was brilliant.
Memories!!!!


Bud

ps Going back to the original thread; my choice would be a Roadster, and I would be happy to own the current model, especially the Anniversary Model

I couldn't have put it more complexly myself, but good reasoning and for that reason I'm in. I vote Trad.
What really swung it for me was I asked the wife, "what else could that old looking thing be". She has further confirmed I'm stupid for even asking this question.