Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) bonnet belt

How is the hood strap mounted on the CX ?

I looked last night, but I couldn't find a simple anchor point.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a better photo in my collection. My PlusFour is still in storage for the winter.

Clemens, if you have a more detailed photo of the seatbelt mounting bracket, I'd be interested

Also, I found a local craftsman who could make me a custom hood belt. He's offering a 40mm wide belt :

https://resiliencecuir.fr/

Here are the mounting brackets used by Morgan Belgium :

I took my Red Baron out of storage today, Nestor.

The mounts in your picture are the same as the ones at Morgan Park.

The vexed issue. To bonnet strap or not to bonnet strap? A bit marmite these? Each to our own is surely the rule of the road, but I am firmly in the "no" camp particularly with regard to a CX. They (bonnet straps) are, are they not, purely a cosmetic adornment, and for me that offends the lightweight, functional, unmolested unembellished purity that is part of what makes a Morgan a Morgan. Not a car to be burdened with the unnecessary. A minimalist car where everything has a function, stripped of the superfluous. I get it, that some trad owners, given a car with the engineering architecture and style of the post war era want to sprinkle their cars with some cosmetic ambiguity as to the true age of the vehicle, and some even extend the theatre with wardrobe choices evoking a bygone motoring era. But hey, surely us CX owners want to strike a contrast and point the way to our cars being a break with the past, rather than the living embodiment of it. Given the CX underpinnings are so far removed from the "trad" past, I actually think it is a little disappointing that Morgan were not a little more radical with the exterior styling - by retaining the traditional styling cues but thoroughly updating the detailing to produce a car that looks similar but is clearly different to the "trad" and more of the moment - as they have subsequently done with the Supersport. Meanwhile, I relish seeing CX's specified away from the "trad" colour ways and eschewing the options with trad connotations. I want my CX Plus Four to be distinct from a trad Plus 4 and wear its modernity with pride.

Now, how do we feel about wooden steering wheels?

It’s nice to see such a variety of opinions. I chose the PlusFour precisely because, in my view, it looks like a classic car on the outside but is actually a modern car underneath. That’s exactly what makes this car so fascinating to me. That’s why my PlusFour also has a wooden steering wheel and a wooden dashboard 😎… oh, and of course a bonnet belt 🤩

Hi Clemens,

"Jeder wie er mag" as you may say in the Black Forest! I guess the context may be different here in the UK. I suspect knowledge of the Morgan marque, what the cars are, and what they represent is more widespread than it would be in Germany. Also the actual age of a car here in the UK can generally be determined through the vehicle number/registration plate, so it is not so easy to try and suggest that the car is some sort of vintage "Q" car. Even outside of the car enthusiast fraternity here in the UK there is widespread affection and knowledge of Morgan which extends to knowing that if you see one, it is more or less a contemporary car that simply looks like something from a bygone era, rather than a car actually from a bygone era. So I guess part of my motivation in wanting my car to be recognisably contemporary is that it is more difficult here to carry off the vintage illusion, and perhaps even a little pretentious to try to do so.

Anyway you hail from a delightful part of Germany, and I envy your freedom to enjoy the twisting roads and landscapes of the Black Forest. I live around 4 miles from the Morgan Works in Malvern. During my working life, my principal employer was BMW AG, and I look back very fondly on my many many visits to the 4 Cylinder in Munich, and various trips throughout Germany in connection with my work. And as for matters of taste I must revert to French - "Vive la difference".

Best

Peter

I neither want nor have a bonnet belt on my Morgan, though I can see they have a potential purpose other than looking a bit racy in the vintage sense. I can often arrive home after a good run over less than perfect roads hereabouts to find at least one of my bonnet catches unlatched due to chassis flex on my trad, and just to add, my +8`s chassis has no obvious corrosion issues.

Another thought. On the increased safety of bonnet belts is that on my Mog and I suspect many others, the piano hinge holding both halves of the bonnet together is fixed to the wooden frame at the back by a couple of rather small wood screws, and at the front held by a couple of equally small diameter set screws &nuts. I suspect given the age and condition of the frames woodwork etc on the average older Morgan, it might not be unusual in a front end collision for the bonnet fixings to be potentially dislodged sending the bonnet rearward.... If your Mog has a full windscreen perhaps less of an issue, but if running with Brooklands screens....Hmm..?

As for the vintage illusion.... I am right into that... T`was following a circa 20`s open top Bentley down the Loch Tay road on my m/cycle, watching the pilot`s inputs required to keep it under control as it hopped and skipped over the road surface, taking a fair bit of steering correction in the process and thinking "I want some of that," but a vintage Bentley or in fact any vintage machine capable of sporting performance, was outside my pay grade... Shrug. However having read and collected the classic press for a decade or so , I was reasonably acquainted with the Morgan marque, which seemed likely to provide a reasonable degree of a vintage driving experience, without the initial expense of buying a true vintage car that was capable of circa 100MPH performance +. The other attractions were related to Morgans truly vintage suspension systems, hand built craftsmanship, heritage and history relating to Morgan, also disc brakes seemed to add a bit of a justifiable performance extra, all that, but minus the maintenance costs related to true vintage engines and drive trains...Thus it was to be a Morgan for me.

I did have thoughts that a really nice engined turned alloy dash would look the business in my Mog, but never got round to that, Oh, and in terms of looks, I also bought into getting rid of the of the C prefix on it`s number plate, by replacing it with a three letter three digit plate.... So what that says about my personality flaws...? Shrug.. (-:

As ever, each to their own..

No vintage illusion or pretentiousness sought here… although I don’t live near the factory.

Everywhere I have been throughout the UK, just about everyone who I’ve encountered that has commented on the car says how nice the car looks and how great the condition is… it’s only when I tell them it’s only a few years old they genuinely seem surprised, to date no one has commented on it being a CX contemporary car made to look vintage.

I bought mine because it put a smile on my face, not because I was steeped in Morgan’s history and motoring past, certainly not for the luggage space, simply because it looked like a nice fun car that didn’t fit the usual and rather bland modern soft top cars in a similar price range. The added benefit of the BMW engine and reliability is what sealed it for me. Why not have a trad with the modern reliability?

Once I bought it, I got rid of the leather & plastic steering wheel for a good old Moto Lita, got the bonnet strap to match the leather suitcase, it already had a walnut dash, now I can’t wait to swap out the horrendous looking bmw auto gear selector for one from Morgan park or the like. I even like the replacement metal indicator stalks.

I’ve also swapped out the reg plate for a shorter version, not to hide the year but why not?!


Agreed… as ever, to their own

Cheers