Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Modern Classic Cars Frontline Abingdon Edition

Good man. The Coupe hit 36,000 today. Only 3,600 per year overall but that's probably more than most of the Pagani or Bugatti's sitting in collections.

Much the same in English " all things come to he who waits".

I guess what I failed to mention when I described my run up an unmade road in what was a concours condition car that Kevin had put so much effort into creating his idea of a perfect +8, was that I had not set out to buy a perfect Morgan, in fact I spent a few years trying to find one in need of restoration at a time when in the UK it seemed downsizing and de-layering had created a mass of early retirees many of who were looking for a simple project to keep them occupied, and which equated to seemingly creating a situation of supply and demand that to me appeared out of proportion on a cost benefit analysis...?

T`was Lorne who found that Kevin was thinking of selling his Morgan and informed me that I MUST buy it...(-: I have to admit that I did feel very guilty as I drove towards the unmade road, knowing just how much effort that Kevin had put into what had been his +8, I had pics of the restoration process with Kevin`s good lady scraping the paint off the fuel tank for it to be re-coated in two pack gloss enamel..! So heading towards that unmade road, yeah I was feeling guilty indeed, but I was determined not to be restricted in my enjoyment of what was now MY Morgan, so a blast up the road got it over and done with in no more than half a mile or so..

All the above over and done with, some months later my +8 won a concours Trophy at The Lakes weekend, and now circa 21 years later I have to say I think it still looks pretty smart, even though it has travelled on a few unmade roads since, all of which indicates the degree of Morgan knowledge and craftsmanship that Kevin put into recreating his vision of an ideal Morgan at that time... I suspect had I been in a similar situation to Chris in terms of seeking to have a machine restored to perfection, then there is no way I could have headed up that unmade road at speed...However in my situation I just wanted a Morgan to drive and enjoy in my own way, and not to feel it came with restrictions built in...Been there done that with sports cars I have restored myself, and know well that there are many out there who enjoy being on the verge of OCD about their cars, but the idea of my day being spoiled by a stone chip just did not appeal at that stage in life.

Enjoying our machines in which ever way we can and do, and sharing tales and pics of that enjoyment works well for me..
https://www.tm-img.com/image/zFrnQ
https://www.tm-img.com/image/zFakC
https://www.tm-img.com/image/zFuTg

While I want my car to look as perfect as possible I want to drive it and I don't want to get upset when it gets damaged so I have done things to make it easier to look after.


For example my car has carpet on the sills so if passengers mark it with their feet it is not as bad as scratching leather, however I have gone for leather for the centre console as it looks a lot nicer than leather and I feel it is less likely to get damaged by shoes etc.than the sills are.


This car like others done in that workshop has leather


My car is matt Black underneath, so if it does get damaged from a gravel road it can be touched up without hassles of perfectly matching the colour as matt black is pretty easy to match. I will not go out of my way to drive on a gravel road, but often driving around here you will find a section of road being repaired that is gravel for a fe km's and I would rather drive slowly over it than turn around.


This car is fully painted in body colour underneath


I am thinking about paint protection film to stop stone chips, door dings etc. But I am also thinking if I don't drive it for shopping and when I do park it ty get spots near the end of the carpark and walk further hopefully I will not get any damage that cars typically get in carparks..

Your "B`s" underside looks as clean as a whistle and a credit to the time and effort it`s restorers have put into it, a car that deserves to be cherished indeed, as did my Morgan at the time I took over ownership of it.

As I typed earlier Kevin stripped and painted just about everything metal in two-pack gloss black enamel, rad, bulkheads, chassis, axle etc, and reassembled it taking care to seal all the interfaces between panels where corrosion was a known Morgan weak spot, and using stainless steel fixings and parts wherever he could, all of which he no doubt learned from his time spent in the trade repairing corrosion damage on all sorts of cars..

I suspect only someone who has laboured to remove corrosion, dents and to lay a perfect coat of paint on to any or all panels on an old car knows well enough the frustration that can come when all it can take is one stone thrown up off the road to spoil all that effort to create perfection. As best I know Kevin drove his then +8 to France on holiday and perhaps displayed it as an example of his business` attention to detail in terms of repair and restoration (?) The possibility of damage in it`s use may be why Kevin decided in time to let his +8 go in time..?

On the other hand I guess those who pay others to create some degree of perfection must also wish to preserve that perfection in varying degrees dependant on a balance between available budget for repair and maintenance and the desire to enjoy the machine in whichever way it`s owner might derive maximum pleasure..?

Lorne had/has (?) one of the most polished Morgans I ever saw, yet he covered more miles in his Morgans than most will ever do, and as far as I know, just repaired and re-polished, repainted, as and when necessary at the end of a season, preferring stainless steel to painted surfaces as they were more robust and easier to restore to their original shine than stripping back and repairing damaged paint..?

At the time I became the owner of Kevin`s Morgan I was still happy to weld and bash a bit of metal, fill dents spray paint around the place and swing on spanners as and when required. While the idea of damaging any car has the potential to be frustrating, if one can effect repairs one`s self and at minimum cost, the sense of disappointment associated with picking up a scratch or ding may be much less of a pain in the pocket than it could be otherwise.. Though I have to admit repairing self inflicted dings was ever a tad frustrating..These days even though I have built the garage I always wanted, I am less than keen to spend much time out there, especially in Winter, to the stage where I too pay others to maintain my machinery, a situation I never really considered when I bought my Morgan a couple of decades back..Though in the case of my Morgan given it`s simplicity, I have yet to think of paying others to work on it, and I can still be found rolling around the garage floor greasing suspension and changing oils etc, etc. As for my tin top sports car it`s level of sophistication frustrates me no end and is dealership maintained...

Today I find that I seem to have adopted a more precious attitude to my Morgan`s condition for a combination of all the reasons stated above, it does wear a degree of..err.. patina, which to my mind seems fitting for an old thing that has served us well on a few adventures over the years, and I have no desire or intention to recreate the degree of perfection that it once was.. I remember well many years back when I attended a car show and saw a fine old vintage machine that was what I can only describe as over restored with the use of modern finishes of all types that seemed to rob it of whatever history it might have had...But then we are back to wherever the owner/custodian of the machine might derive the most pleasure from his time with it... as ever each to their own. All of which seems to be a subject that may be bound to attract all sorts of followers preferring originality down to the last nut and bolt, or those desirous of polished to perfection....

If you have watched any of the rally vids I have posted where fine old Vintage Bentley`s and others are taking on the rough and tumble of an adventure, I take my hat off to those folk and their wonderful cars. I ever enjoy viewing old cars that wear their history to some degree, but on the other hand I still admire polished to perfection too. I think I have swung to both sides of such preferences over the many years I have been immersed in most things automotive... I wonder does that make me some sort of autopervert..!!!

Car park dings etc.... Yeah well observing human nature has taught me that trying to park as near as possible to the entrance to the "shop" is ..err..natural behaviour..? With that in mind obviously if I park as far away from the entrance to the shop in an area where there are no other cars, the risk of damage by carelessly driven shopping trolleys or swinging car doors will be negated.... Not so, for I can guarantee by the time I return to the car there will be a croup of cars gathered around mine, it having created an isolated cluster of cars distant from all the others... The only time that might not happen is if it is pouring with rain..... Yeah been there done that more than once...

Chris the build quality looks amazing, but the oil filter looks a bit susceptible to a whack for a speed bump ? unless it's the angle of the photo ?

Cooperman, I agree, the other thing about that photo is the drain plug looks like it is so close to the exhaust it would be impossible to get off without making a mess. However that is the other car and maybe it is fitted slightly different

In these two photos of my car you can see that the filter looks higher and more out of the way, plus in the second photo you can see a reasonable space between the drain plug and the exhaust.




The one thing I noticed and asked about is the sump plug not at the bottom. I was told the engine in the MX5 is fitted on a slope so the bottom of the sump is flat, where to fit in the MGB it is 100% vertical so the sump is angled and the drain plug not at the bottom, my plan is to jack the car up when changing oil to get as much as possible.

The front steering/supension subframe looks like it's taken a fair few whacks already?

Apart from that, she looks absolutely stunning.

I agree, I guess that is issue with a 50 year old donor car and I expect the front cross member is very solid and hard to fix. They do cut the top out and lower it to fit the engine. I was told that as it is modified they test the cross member to ensure no deflection with a 12 tonne load and and engineer has to see the test performed to sign it off. Not sure how they do the test but the workshop said they expect it is stronger than an original MGB front crossmember.

When an MGB is jacked under the crossmember, it can dent slightly and to get that out is almost mission impossible. It's also hopelessly over engineered, so really heavy, even when stripped. But they rarely rot through!