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

|Maybe, it was at a rime in my life some 30 odd years ago the thought and commitment necessary, in spending hours detailing a car was not my most important priority in my life at the time. I had better things to do with what little leisure time I had. Even today with no other commitment than to keep myself busy, whilst I enjoy owning a clean immaculate car, I still wouldn't spend the hours necessary to keep the car completely pristine, Fortunately Morgans are generally better made these days making it easier to maintain their condition long term compared to a 70s/89s cars.I first enjoyed.

Some people thoroughly enjoy cleaning and maintaining their cars, for them its part and parcel of the ownership experience as they say each to their own, I was just reflecting on what works for me as part of the Morgan ownership experience which may not for others.

This is exactly the point, isn't it? What for some of us might be a highly enjoyable afternoon spent in the garage keeping our cars in showroom condition might be seen by others as 4 hours that could be better spent playing guitar, drinking beer, socialising with friends or whatever.

Ultimately, each of us have a 'Miles per hour' preference - not in speed, but in cleaning/polishing. Some rarely drive their car but like to spend a long time tending to it (low miles per hour), some just crack on and use the thing, giving it an occasional bit of pampering when the mood takes them (high miles per hour). Some, like Dave, are quite happy to maximise both. Mine seems to be around 500 miles per hour, maybe a bit more when the weather's nice, less in winter.

There's no correct approach, just whatever floats our particular boat.

When I first thought that a Morgan might be the ideal next sports car to own, I thought to find one in need of a bit of restoration, not having managed to find a suitable candidate in five years, I ended up quite by accident buying a concours condition car....That was in 2002, and I still own it today. I have never been one for pampering my cars, and my Morgan has seen the sort of usage which seems well outside the norms for a machine that received a 1st placing in the concours at the Fellmog lakes weekend in 2003... It has seen occasional use in snow, and traversed a few rough back roads in France, Spain and Italy, yet today still presents it`s self well enough to provide me with the greatest of pleasure despite a small bubble or two on the paintwork. I much prefer a reasonable degree of patina relative to age/mileage as opposed to panicking trying to preserve perfection.

Truth be told on the second day of ownership I blasted my newly purchased concours condition +8 up an unmade road with stones flying, which was no fun, but I wanted to get it over with as opposed to the feeling of dying by a thousand cuts every time I might hear a stone ping of what was it`s perfect paintwork....Such was the care and quality of Kevin`s restoration prior to my purchase of it, that even after my circa 23 years ownership, all be it only covering circa 30k miles over those years, I think it still looks rather smart.









A pic taken just a few days back, during an interesting drive, all be it brake dust evident on the front wheel.... (-:

My 'hands on' apprenticeship was founded in absolute need, based on little money, and no facilities. So as a 17 year old, working on the front lawn, I had to learn fast. My grandfather, who would have supported my efforts, (except on a Sunday), when he wasn't driving steam locomotives, spent time on his motorbike in the shed, sadly had died ten years earlier.

Of course, Concours has plenty of critics. and I never intended to get sucked in, but by 1980, my daily driver MGB was better than most entrants at the time, and so it became inevitable. What you learn from twenty years of regular Concoursing, is how to drive, up to 200 miles to an event, and have one hour to prepare. That mentality never leaves and so mixing long distance use along with keeping standards high is just my way. I do understand that I'm in a minority, and that's fine.

Most owners these days either don't have spannering skills or don't want to get dirty. So far I've dodged that.

Dave, the most polished Morgan I have ever seen over the years belongs to Lorne Goldman, I also expect that given the very high mileages he has covered in his Morgans in Canada the US, UK and Europe combined, is quite amazing. Such was the mileages Lorne covered, that there would seem to be little chance of avoiding damage...but the Winters are long in Canada, thus plenty of time to bring it back up to being immaculate as ever..(-:

I take my hat off to you and others who can enjoy their Morgans by driving them and putting time and a great deal of effort into maintaining perfection.

It matters not a jot to me where or quite how one enjoys one`s good fortune to own a Morgan, be it getting into crevices with a tooth brush, or thundering up a muddy hillside. Being able to enjoy the many variations on the theme which a Morgan can provide, would seem to be one of life`s great escapes...? (-:

Luddite thank you for telling me what I wanted to hear! I get the sense that in 2002 you were in an analogous situation to the one I find myself in now -- owning quite a "perfect" car but not being one with the time, inclination and, in my case, skill and garage to relish keeping it that way (your tale of the early-days gravel road sojourn, though a bit nails-on-chalkboard, is one whose motivation I fully understand). It's a perspective that I confess I wanted to hear, so I reckon I will cherry-pick that one and keep my Toad and allow it to age gracefully, if imperfectly.

I must say I do so enjoy hearing the different ways people have and hold their Morgans. Hamwich's miles-per-hour analogy is brilliant, and thank goodness for DaveW's deep engagement, without which we wouldn't have the benefit of his absolutely splendid book.

Coming back from a trip we had a memorable night time drive through Switzerland in light rain. We Had the top down and encountered the rain on the E13 some kilometres before the San Bernardino tunnel, we were keen to get home so we did not stop. At the speed we were doing and with the weight of the rain all the drops passed over the top without coming back on the inside of the windscreen. I have to say that the few heavy vehicles on the road gave us opportunities to pass; we wondered if they were in contact on CB radios? The rain stopped when we got to Lugano and we managed to find a pizzeria near Como that still managed to serve us a pizza after 11pm. 😋 😋

Top down at all times if at all possible...!......!.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!👍🏼

This should be the default position for all Morgan's, it is possibly a law.........somewhere......🤷🏻‍♂️

I almost never take the side screens off...... it's easier to say never the amount of times they're off........ I like them on.
I actually don't mind driving with the roof on...... for some reason it seems even more ........vintage...... to me anyway......🤷🏻‍♂️ perhaps I'm....odd.... BUT see point 1 if in doubt....!!!!!!

It's your car, enjoy it as you see fit..... it's all fixable or cleanable, the most important thing is that you enjoy it.
It doesn't matter if you do 20 miles a year and polish it every weekend or you do 20,000 miles a year and never wash it, as long as you're having fun with it.

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