Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Marvelous Motors

Perhaps a little over restored, but then some really obsess over concours level 60's Minis, prices range from very scruffy £8k to £100k for ex Monte Carlo rally history / ex Beetles owner

Certainly looks nice in the photos and if they paid for a commercial resto could have cost £40k in bills

Thanks Jon, that is pretty stratospheric pricing there at the upper end.

I remember buying a new Mini Mayfair in 1985 for about £4k 2 weeks later it went back to the dealer as the rust was coming through on the roof. they were rubbish new and I wouldn't give one garage room now at any price.

That would have been Red Robbo time I think - shocking.

I did my thesis in 1967(?) about the British Motor Industry and the challenge from other countries veihicle industries eg Japan etc.
I read some of it recently, it should have started with Once Upon A Time………totally fairy story. ………conclusion utter boll***s. . But always been
interested in the industry .
MM
PS Luddite - Richard Murphy on LBC at 8.10 am this morning and I agreed with 99% of everything he said about RR ( not the car) but the chancellor. She has got it all wrong . Totally out of her depth etc etc.

M.M, as for the British/European/American, car industry, it seems likely to be comparable with that which is recorded in history relative to the British m/cycle industry... I once had a book that from a very dull memory listed as many as 800 manufacturers of m/cycles in Britain... I suspect most were working in sheds, much as it seems Morgan may have been for a while..?

I tend to listen to Richard Murphy most mornings as I am having my tea and toast. In general I find that which he preaches fits more with my general attempts to be reasonably fair minded while seeking to contemplate a possible non-partisan and supposedly ideal outcome for the general populace..?

It seems such are the vagaries of human nature that no one political system will ever provide that which the majority might consider to be reasonably fair overall... Shrug..! It is what it is, and seems to be somewhat cyclic, driven by the all important moneygoround, as it seems human history records...?

Though the bottom line for me is that those skilled enough to seemingly win most of their arguments, are often driven by their own selfish ideals and rarely for the common good.. Shrug.

As for what to believe in... It seems to be just a case of take your pick, make one`s arguments, divide and conquer, and hope you are on the winning side...at least for a while...?

I was in Detroit last week, massive Ford buildings almost silent. General feeling of lost souls. Hard to find a smile anywhere.

Jones supercharged two smoke..

Thinking of our own 'Marvelous Motors' ... you often hear the front suspension referred to a 'Sliding-Pillar' when it isn't ....it's 'Sliding Axle' ... a few manufacturers have used Sliding-Pillar (Lancia for one), but as far as I know Morgan is the only production car ever to have used the Sliding-Axle system.

Suddenly dawned on me (I'm not over-bright) where I'd seen it before ... it's the later (but once quite common) 'Plunger' rear suspension on motorcycles.... now long superceded by the Swing-Arm.

K





Here's one on a BSA .... interesting they've managed a telescoping spring cover top and bottom ... I'm surprised in all the intervening years someone hasn't made something similar for their Morgan

Following from the above .... as Morgan patented that system in 1910 ..... I wonder if the numerous motorcycle manufacturers here and worldwide who subsequently used the system on hundreds of thousands of bikes paid royalties to Morgan? 🙂


K