Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Advice please!

TGC.... what's the asking price! We can all have a better opinion when we know that. To be frank the car would have had to be totally rebuilt recently and in excellent fettle to reach the standard price for that car and year. Do you know the car? and have seen it for at least several years to formulate an honest opinion of it? Personally, and for what its worth I think without a lot more detail and fully inspecting the car it would be hard to price it on the information you have given us, I would put it in the bargain basement category and at a very cheap price too. A Morgan car with that mileage on it can really only go for a cheap price and realistically it would be a very hard car to shift other than to someone who see's it as a full rebuild option or wants to wet their feet in the world of Morgan and loves spanner-ing. And for all that's holy, take someone who knows what a Morgan is and should drive like and negotiate hard.....V...hard!
There are plenty of us who have been caught, The chap who strives to find the lowest milage Mog for his money only to find that when he starts to use it fault after fault happens from being under used, Tyres looked new but are stuffed through sitting in one spot for ages and are hard from age.

Do not part with the folding until you are absolutely certain of exactly what you are buying and why! Every one of us here has been charmed by the Morgan car and you will find yourself talking the car up despite it's faults because you want one so much. You are on the right site for help and advice .... listen to them and your knowledge will grow! If you haven't already, join the local MSCC branch and ask for help and advice!

Points all taken, particularly Peter's above! I think I need to find this at about this price and enjoy driving it https://www.carandclassic.com/auctions/2014-morgan-44-1600-sigma-ndr6O8

Always go see the car and drive it, pictures do not always tell the full story and often mask/mitigate areas like corrosion. I have seen the Morgan in your above link and walked away.

Whilst Morgan trad prices are soft at the moment, from experience there are Morgans available at what seem bargain prices, which may in the end finish up costing you more than you expect, beware of false economies. Morgans can prove to be very reliable, but they are maintenance intensive to keep them that way, and unless you are hands on it can get expensive. For example:-

I drove 350 miles in the last 2 days and back home when washing the car one of the 3 drivers side screen fixing screw and washer came off in my hand, checked them both sides I had lost one on the passenger side and the remaining 4 screws were all loose and about to fall off. Had they done so, my side screens would have detached themselves. Never had it happen before, but another thing for the regular check list. just like the wiper body securing screws, manage to unscrew themselves and the wiper takes a hike, even when not used.

TGC, Now your'e getting it! Cracking car that, clearly well looked after and guess what .... lots will discard it as too high a mileage! Now, would you think your tin everyday car had a high mileage at 32.000 mls say after 2-3 years, no of course not it would be a low mileage car. This example has done 3000 mls per year which is ok and has been used enough to keep it at the top of its game. A check on the MOT/service records would also show the consistency of use and help you confirm what you are buying. Even if you have to finance a little its a known payment and believe me when I say you will pay a lot more for a car that requires a shed load of work! This is a car you would be happy with and enjoy! Yes this one's gone but as I said don't be too hasty to part with the folding. When you see a car like this its often the case that the owner has been bid in the proverbial's by a dealer for it, has tried to sell it for what they think its worth and then auctioned it! Viola, There's you next car! If you buy like that, Go and see the car before bidding. You are totally within your rights to do just that and it will be time well spent. Have you joined your local MSSC branch yet? If you don't know who they are PM me and I will forward contact details to you. Ask them to put you in touch with someone who can help and advise you and the next thing you know is you'll be out in a properly fettled car so you will know exactly what you are looking for!

I do see what john means about walking away though. But we have to go back to the time of sale and that car was £8000 ish under priced. A previous owner /driver had worn a flying jacket hence the seat edge and B post trim and paint damage yet the rest of the upholstery was good...... Blo**y buckles! The front wing damage and corrosion under the door could be easily fixed and a good trimmers would sort the seat at not a great cost. Yes, there are tyres to sort but a bit of effort and a drive and fix attitude could get you in a much newer car and could be worth it if it was a long term keeper. Put it this way, if it was priced at £18-19000 there would have been a queue around the block! Again you could perhaps find an older car that needed less work but was closer to its true value and again its what you want to do with the car. John had seen it and would have advised you to probably walk away. I haven't seen it but we might have talked about sorting the various elements and likely costs. It might drive fantastically and that would swing it in its favour for you, on the other hand it might indicate that there were mechanical issues that needed looking into and that might take its price advantage away, only you can make a final decision when all the facts are known. Just take your time and remember Buy before you try is the wrong way around!

TGC, That car was at Richard Thorne's dealership and I'll bet it wasn't up for £22000 I have had a good look at the pictures again and I'd go with a veiw to buy if it drove as expected. One tyre to sort straight away then sort the rest over the next year whilst driving it and having some fun. Richard Thorne is probably one of the fairest dealers on pricing and I'll bet it was up at about £28000 on his front! With a view to sorting some of the issues. Yep that's a 2014 car and its still worth £28000 And I'll bet less work and cost than the one you are considering.

Yes it was at RT, there wasn't a panel that didn't need either some paint or in some areas corrosion dealing with. It was a series of little things eg the crack in the veneer on the dash board etc. which when all added together gave a picture to me of a car that may have had a harder life at some point.

It's all a question of how precious you are about your Morgan and how it presents, with certain areas addressed it was the makings of a good run around daily driver, but never a concourse car, unless you wanted to spend lots of money, which then didn't make sense to me. The mileage wasn't an issue. it drove quite well, the 1.6 was a bit gutless, but having had a Kent and CVH 4/4's, outright power isn't everything when enjoying a 4/4.

I finished up by a pretty immaculate very low mileage Plus 4 sport with good history up to being stored for 6 years and within 2 weeks of my ownership it had someone slightly tap the nearside wing and scuff the rear wings in separate incidences whilst parked outside the house. So at some point its going to need some touching up, but it taught me to be less precious about my Morgans as life may have other ideas, so just enjoy it for what it is. It was frustrating at the time and angst, but not worth worrying about in the grand scheme of things.

For the kind of money being talked about there are plenty of Morgans about which will meet the posters needs, just take your time, understand the cars and their particular weaknesses and foibles and the right one will come along, especially if we finish up with a world wide recession and people need to off load.in the coming months.

Personal message sent (look for the flashing envelope icon when you log-in).

Yes I would only consider it as a good to enjoy Morgan as well but you had eyes on it and that makes so much sense if buying, you saw all the defects. For a 14 plate I thought, probably a seaside car with the corrosion on the alloy or perhaps bad cleaning with the wrong product/ put away wet on a regular basis. What the hell was the big bolt head near the drivers side Tenex fitting? I too ended up with a plus 4 and again like you it had only done under 1000 mls in its first six years and everything that would suffer with lack of use needed sorting. After the first 2/3 months of ownership I realised just how much servicing needed to be done so I gave up and drove it into the workshop and just went through everything. After all that I got carparked as well, rear edge of the offside front wing right on the area of the stay, no real damage just a bit of paint really. Again like you it taught me to be less precious about the car. I might get around to sorting it one day. Worst thing is people who stand on the wings to look inside! I certainly wouldn't want the wing treads again, seems to invite them on! Yes, I had intended this to be a car I'd keep until my Mog days come to an end but as you say the recession may well see the market flooded with cars and who knows? I'd love an ARP4 with the Cosworth engine and that I really wouldn't part with so who knows. But I'm quite happy with the plus 4! I don't drive mine hard either and I don't want the Cosworth for that but during my time with Ford I worked with the Cosworth sierra introduction and I was so impressed with just how much attention to detail they put into their engines. They never change anything without assessing what else it will alter and addressing that as well. When the car was finally launched in 87 and I got to drive one around for a few weeks it truly was the best car I had ever driven and I'm not sure that it still isn't!

I've always appreciated the engineering of Ford. I was supplied with a Ford Sierra test car with the new 5 speed gearbox, to evaluate before release Being the highest mileage covering company car driver I covered over 30k miles in it, in a matter of months before it being returned back to Ford.