Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Hardtops?

I am aware that the factory had to adjust the fit of each hardtop to any Morgan they supplied with one - in other words, you cannot simply move a hardtop from one Morgan to another without fettling. Therefore, as an aftermarket part, they are not as simple as one size fits all!

With that said, does anyone know of a company or individual offering aftermarket hardtops for classic Morgans?

I can't exactly answer the question, but I can confirm that an awful lot of adjustment may be needed. When I acquired a hardtop for my 93 +8, all the profiles (eg around the windscreen, sidescreens etc) were correct, but the overall size was too big front-to-back by about 5 cm. The hardtop had previously been fitted to an earlier +8 which dimensionally appeared superficially to be similar to mine, and had the same 2-seater windscreen.

The good folks at Carosserie in Barnard Castle cut it into 5 separate pieces, made it fit pretty much perfectly, invented mounts for it and repainted it. This wasn't cheap, but was definitely worth it.

Dave

Thank you Dave - I did expect both the silence (lack of anyone offering an aftermarket hardtop) and to, perhaps, hear from horror stories about fitting issues.

The factory used to have an old hardtop tucked up in the rafters and during more than one visit with Steve Morris, I used to joke with him about fitting it to a Trad for me. Each time he would give me a pained look and tell me how challenging they were to get fitted properly; needless to say, the conversation always moved on and the dusty hardtop quite possibly still remains where it did for many many years.

I did a lot of research into hardtops several years ago. The best fit on mine was one that 'appeared' from the archives over at Ledgerwood Morgan, but in truth it fitted KevFitz's SS P4 so much better. He bought it & ran his car with it, and it was fine.

I made several calls until I had a hopeful lead on remanufacturing one, using either Kev's as a mould base, or using Cain's off the Cafe Racer. The original plan was to make five and Cain would make any individual fillets to ensure a good fit. The contact I had was a small outfit who produced the flowing hardtops of both genuine and kit Cobra V8's. In the end, the chap decided it was simply too much work for them as they had a years order book full, so it was either start again or forget the project.

The factory hardtops for the new Plus Six are a typical Morgan promise. Not many around, I hear..

As a project, it is a viable one. It needs someone with a friendly ear within the glass or carbon fibre industry. It's entirely feasible to have one digitally scanned, and produce one, but the hard part is making one size fit all. There's no doubt that the tolerances on the CX platform cars are tighter than the Trads, bit costs will have risen now, and for a simple 'one off' will be knocking on five figures I think.

On an individual basis, it's not beyond the realms of possibility. I'd suggest making contact with someone in the trade and simply starting the conversation.

I ordered from new my 4/4 (2011) with a hard top. Really pleased I did as I guess 7 months of a year it runs with hard top on. The car gets used virtually every day as it is my run about. But after the first 6 months the rear fixings had to be modified. The factory had used the same male fixings on the rear as the easy up hood. Trouble was their length was inadequate, only holding in by 2 to 3 threads. Hence the top would “pop” over really any bump.
Mod was to use threaded rods & nuts that are accessed via the rear spare wheel hole. Defeats the easy on easy off. However I only have to gain access twice a year.
Despite it being a factory hard top it also needed quite a bit of trial & error with rubber seals to stop it leaking.

This company may offer a solution?


Begorett

Black Phey used to make various Morgan body parts in GRP, wonder if they had a hardtop mould ?

On TM about four years ago there was a member working on a mould -from memory to fit a Plus 8 , Down South I believe -I corresponded with him for a bit but not sure if the project got finished.

GeoffR was the member but Dave Pugh was the composite builder I believe .....

I believe the Black phey one was sold to a chap in Germany