Talk Morgan Forums Community Welcome Forum Driving in the rain -- therapy needed

To you who have dabbled with the "press on regardless" philosophy -- does that mean that a Morgan interior really can survive a truly Biblical drenching? Or are we talking more "a few drops of rain now and then won't hurt it" kind of thing?

It's all about spinning the plates. For the first five years, mostly solo, I never had the top up. In that time I never faced a deluge, buit when the rain starts, then, as has been said, it's a balance of speed, traffic density and road safety. Eventually the rain will come over the windscreen, and drip off the visors, and will leave a wet stripe across your thighs. My black leather interior has never suffered from wet, it stays "as is".

I think MrsW's first experience was coming back from the Canterbury Mog on the M20. It was very busy. Stopping on a Motorway is dangerous, and could get you killed. As it happened it never got much above a steady shower, so we were Ok. I also think that my perspex wind break does help. If you have to slow down, the rain will eddy into the cockpit, and that's when it is worse for covering the inside of the screen and your spectacles.

On one occasion on the M42, the heavens really opened, and there was no choice other than to take the next exit, find a safe place to stop, and get the hood up. Be in no doubt that the easy-up hood is not easy in the pouring rain. Inside of the car gets soaked, you will get soaked, and when you resume your journey, the whole of the inside will steam up like a sauna.

My best wet drive was over the Grampians, which I've shared before. We were heading North-ish, on The Lecht, A939, so high up! In the distance about three miles away there was a solid grey curtain of heavy rain. The road in front was empty. I looked at MrsW, and we agreed to carry on. When it hit us, I was able to keep the speed, and hardly any wet came in because there was nothing coming the other way to cause eddys. We had one encounter coming up behind a people carrier, driven in the style of a Sunday outing - garden centre enthusiast, and that wasn't anywhere near fast enough, so we passed him and vanished into the rain......I always wondered what he thought. That was the only car we saw and a few minutes later it was blue sky again.

Showery weather is never a problem, nor is driving in situations where you can keep going, the insides never really get wet at all.

But crawling through a town centre at 5mph in the pissing rain is nobody's idea of fun. I prefer to stop and put the hood up just before it starts, sharing the cockpit with a soaking tonneau cover is also no fun.


If you can get it thoroughly dried out quickly then no real problem. So going for a drive one day and getting caught in a shower is nothing to worry about. But if you're on a two-week tour and it's raining every day and you can't get it into a garage every night to dry out then get ready for issues. This is where older Morgans really shine. In the days of rubber mats and PVC upholstery it was a doddle, but nowadays it's all expensive leather and carpet and not nearly so easy to dry. This is when you need a warm garage with a dehumidifier.

By far the easiest solution is to understand that there's absolutely nothing wrong with driving a Morgan with the hood up. Much better to do that than to leave the poor thing at home because you don't want to get wet.

Hood up doesn't guarantee dryness....
On one of my first journeys in my first mog it was raining. I had the hood up. It was a 1986 4 seater. Country lane. A BMW (I remember it well) came the other way, fast. As it passed me a complete wall of water came upwards, between the sidescreen and the door and through the gap where the front and rear screens met. It hit me harder than a bucket of water. More like a jet wash. I was soaked as was the inside of the car. I started to laugh and that was when I knew Morgans were for me. That was many years ago and, as mentioned above, the mats were rubber, the floor had several gaps around the edges so the car dried easily.
Loved 'em ever since, though the later ones became more difficult to enjoy in bad conditions so eventually I went back to an eighties car.
Wonderful transport.

I lost my hood and side screens in a fire in 1987, fortunately not the +8.
Driven it since then over 220k miles/ 350k kmh in all weather over Europe and USA. Got wet a few times, just wipe down the leather and feed it.

When we bought our first Morgan we did a tour of France, first day a few miles from our hotel the heavens opened. Like DaveW I asked Mrs A do we stop or carry on - we carried on, she baled out at the hotel whilst I unloaded, the concierge just looked at me in bewilderment and didn’t offer an umbrella!

Later in the trip we were caught in a minor shower in town, even at 30mph we weren’t getting too wet until we came to a red light: by this time I’d acquired an umbrella which I unfurled causing a passing Frenchman to lose control of his pushbike.

To answer the question posed I avoid driving in anything more than a shower, where possible. I don’t think that the car has suffered from the occasional soaking but there’s no prizes for being the wettest driver and as others have said there are safety implications if like me you need glasses.

I understand that few things in life are more horses for courses than Morgans (to each their own!), but I can't help but wonder if the somewhat "posh" interior of my 2019 +4 110 edition (brown leather, beige basket weave carpet with matching leather piping, lovely wooden dash, a radio (which is completely impossible to hear by the way), matching carpe floor mats) isn't entirely in keeping with a certain type of rugged, minimalistic Morganesque ethos: perhaps black leather, rubber mats, painted dash, drain holes in the floor, and an older carburated engine captures that sensibility the most. Still, I find myself falling further in love with my car every day I own it (which is now a grand total of 27 days!).

I've had more cars than I dare mention and yet the one I remember with most affection was my first- a Hillman Avenger. Why? Because I really enjoyed driving it and working on it and using it- sitting on the bonnet with my girlfriend, getting stuck in mud etc. Some cars however- because they are perfect and expensive become too much of both to be enjoyed- you worry about scuffing the wheels, or marking the paintwork- or yes- geting the interior wet. We worry about reducing their value and yet- when you go to a car show I for one am more drawn to the worn, clearly enjoyed cars than the concours. Oh and leather enjoys getting wet- it is dryness that destroys it.
I suppose what I am saying is just get out and enjoy your car. Roof up or roof down- just use the car. If something wears out, replace it.

My different ones survived biblical downpours but I suggest you avoid if you can

I've never been one for naming my cars but if I did I'd call my Roadster Prudence. Not because of any famous Morgan driver but because, like most Morgan owners I can always find a 'prudent' reason for not using it i.e. too wet, too cold, too salty - you name it Sadly now I've lost my 'rev limiter' I do drive whatever the circumstances permit as she was generally the arbiter of hood up or down.