Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Trying to trace my Morgan's history

I am a new Morganeer!
Rightlyor wrongly I purchased a classic Morgan through the offices of Robin Lawton.
I know very little about Morgans but had a misspent youth messing about with cars, to the extent of rebuilding engines and gearboxes.
One aspect that nearly prevented the purchase was the colour. The original buff logbook shows the colour as Red, whereas the DVLA show it as Blue.
The car is definitely red with no trace whatever of blue.
As for the history, the last registered owner in the buff logbook was in 1967.
After that the record I have is when the previous owner to myself purchased it in 2015.
I know it is a long shot but can anyone help with the intervening 48 years?
The registration number is VOJ 904.

Ah, so you're the one who snapped it up! I remember the car on Robin's website for the brief time it was there, I was interested in it because it's the same age as me ... better condition though. It looks like a very nice car, I'm sure you have a good buy there.

Someone will be along shortly to help with your question, in the meantime welcome to TM.

In the current issue of Morgan Miscellany mag, someone is giving away copies of the mag from Jan 1977 - Dec 2018 and some from '73-'76. It'll take a while to thumb through all the pages, but if he still has them it's a great way to see if there are any pics of your car which would help with the history. Plus you'll learn a lot (I did excatly that when I bought my car). Then sell the rest on, or (sadly) recycle them.

First stop would be the factory archives to see what the spec was including the actual colour.

If you are lucky the records would have the name of the purchaser but most likely it will be the ordering dealer.

If the car has a V5, then you may be able to obtain details of former keepers by way of a fee paying enquiry on Form v888 but I understand the process has changed as a result of GDPR and may no longer be available.

You could also see if the local authority registration records still exist - if they do you might find the name of the first owner and subsequent owners until centralisation in 1983. VOJ is a Birmingham series I think and so you need to check with the Kithead Trust if the records exist and if they do, where they are located

Hope this helps

Arwyn

Thanks Arwyn,
I have the original buff registration book, so have a record of all the owners from 1957 to 1967 when the system changed. It is the history from then until 2015 when the last owner bought it that is missing. I expected to find some MOT history prior to 2005 but there isn't any. I suspect it has been hidden away for several years.

Perhaps it was subject to a long term restoration.

Unfortunately the DVLA won't share the previous owner history anymore

Google suggests
https://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=102367&country=uk

I think this is the same car .................................

Comments and questions to the seller:
from ivan savage, dated 18 june 2021
Hi - Is this car still in your possession? I was just looking through old family photos, came across my father in his Morgan, googled the number plate and this advert came up - my Father bought this car new (it was green). He's 88, still going strong and talks about the car often. If you still own it might it be possible for us to come and look at it and maybe for him to sit in it? He'd be incredibly pleased.
Ivan Savage 07929757285

from ivan savage, dated 17 june 2021
Hi - Is this car still in your possession? I was just looking through old family photos, came across my father in his Morgan, googled the number plate and this advert came up - my Father bought this car new (it was green). He's 88, still going strong and talks about the car often. If you still own it might it be possible for us to come and look at it and maybe for him to sit in it? He'd be incredibly pleased.
Ivan Savage 07929757285

Thanks Stephen,
Google didn't find that for me. I obviously din't use the right search criteria.
That info would tie in with the info I do have. The guy selling it is the one from whom my pre owner bought the car in 2015, through eBay.
Maybe the eBay ad didn't mention that the previous owner had the car for 40 years, as was unable to give me any info prior to his purchase.
Subsequent to his purchase he had the engine and gearbox rebuilt and carried out other work on the electrics and elsewhere.

As for the questions above asked in 2021, it is possible they do refer to this car as, although it was first registered red by Hunts in Birmingham, a Morgan dealer in 1957, it was bought by a gentleman by the name of Savage in Jan '58