Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Has the bubble burst?

It is no surprise that the Morgans are their least expensive in the home market. And ex-UK dealers set their own prices, often including packages of add-ons and/or warranty coverage that goes beyond the UK standard, though I have stopped tracking these things as closely as I once did some time ago. I do know that the MMC used to charge dealers premiums on parts, as much as 50%, depending on where in the world they were sent. The Morgan market outside the UK is also more robust..or at least for Most of the last 30 years. So it would seem from the figures that there are more LHDs made than RHDs. And an otherwise identical LHD used to normally cost more to the dealer. The residuals outside the UK are also higher..though languishing a bit as well from the fast progression upward we saw until 2010ish. Of course, 2020/1 would reflect the regulatory transition for the CX cars and sales are never great during a prolonged no-drive recall period.

Here is their latest declared world sales allocation. Europe has been buying more Morgans than the UK for quite some time, mitigating the loss of the once mighty American 4-wheel market from 2006 on. However, you can get more details on Companies House. Remember, the MMC stopped being the MMC in 2011 and became MT for a long while. A good rule of thumb is that 35-40% of sales are RHDs. However, I think that might change.

L.

One of my new Morgan, a Roadster Sports, I had bought in 2010 from Melvin Rutter. The Euro was very strong, UK was in the EU, so no customs etc. I saved about 10.000€ compared to buying from a German dealer for exactly the same car with the same equipment. Only 5% extra cost because it was a LHD Roadster. But these times are very long gone and probably forever. All my other Morgans I bought from G.Flaving and he was not annoyed that I bought one of the cars from M.Rutter, because Gregory had me still as a good client for all services and the next car was a P4SS which I bought from Gregory again.

Now there’s a good buy… lots of money spent..

https://www.brightwells.com/timed-sale/5375/lot/656247?returnUrl=%2ftimed-sale%2f5375%3fkeyword%3dMorgan%26lotno%3d%26s_Year_min%3d%26s_Year_max%3d%26s_Estimate_min%3d%26s_Estimate_max%3d

Will, if you edit your link to all that is required i.e. remove the "?" onwards giving this:
https://www.brightwells.com/timed-sale/5375/lot/656247
your link probably won't be truncated.
Someone (no doubt a dealer) got a bargain there!

The bonnet/wing gaps look too big to me (evident in the video). The sales blurb says: "HPI report shows that it was recorded as a Cat D insurance loss (damaged; repairable) in July 2013, at which point the MOT history online records the mileage as c.37,200. It seems that the car was then repaired before being put back on the road in 2019". That will have depressed the value.......

When I see the price of this Plus 8, apart from the unreconstructable accident, and when I see at what price the cars are offered on the auction Clipper posted, the price tags in the UK are quite low. Is this a UK specific or is it a harbinger of price trends here in Germany as well? I wouldn't be surprised if our prices of vintage cars (and Morgans) go down, the industry is moving away because of the highest energy costs in the world and because ordinary people are struggling with inflation and the highest private energy prices in the world as well. Not many people think of a fun car anymore...except the very wealthy.

Heinz, as I typed earlier in this thread, we baby boomers, created a market for the cars of our times, which I doubt those a couple of generations behind show little interest in, and those who do show a degree of interest, may have expectations of robotic construction processes which differ somewhat from those employed in the Morgan factory...?

You may be right about that, George. Despite the preservation of the history of automobiles, the market is as transitory as we are.

I don't know. A few teenagers I have spoken with are somewhat envious of our teenage lifestyle, with relatively simple fun to drive cars, no mobile phones, etc. Maybe they will be just as keen to keep our classics going. After all it will be almost impossible to keep our modern cars on the road for many years. Most modern cars are linked to the manufacturer's database which prevents unauthorised changing of modules etc, apart from the fact that they are software dependent and we all know what that means.

In another thread on here (Re: Old documentation about the Morgan Motor Company) Ian Wegg posted an excellent video clip from BBC's 'Nationwide' in 1975. Early on in the clip, the narrator says "Morgans are not frantically expensive. And they are so much in demand, that people have been known to pay more for them second-hand".  Times have changed (and I don't have a solution), but let's face it, therein lays the answer to so many of the concerns about sales volume and the current bubble bursting.