Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) who will rid me of this meddlesome piece

Morning all. It being hot and dry I decided to paint the inside of the easy up roof and to facilitate this, removed it. I was shocked to discover how heavy it is. Having done the deed and left it to dry it then occured to me that I preferred the clean lines without it and so am intending to see how long I can go topless. Actually I can't remember when I last erected it . I had already made an everflex cover for the luggage compartment which simply attached to the header rail or to the inside of the bodywork and now am going to see if I can make a half tonneau cover.When I had my Plus Four
I found the tonneau cover to be a bit of faff and so quickly stopped using it . I imagine that there must be a Roadster half tonneau cover out there somewhere and I seem to remember a photo of a car so equipped but a simple cover properly attached with the right fixings must be doable. Has any one other than Dave done this ?

The half tonneau cover was at a time when I went out on winter Saturday mornings, when MrsW was at work. The one I made, blended into the hood cover at the rear, and I use a fibreglass tent pole which secures on the dash at the front, and under the head restraint at the rear. I prefer the symmetry of both head restraints, even with the half tonneau cover in place.

I used mohair and lined it with neoprene for strength because it billows quite a lot, and I was intending to devise something to stop that but never did. Without a hood and frame you would need a rear section, and the luggage cover I use on trips, connects to the rear ash frame using 4 lift-the-dots, and four attachments to the perspex wind break.

I have both factory hood and tonneau cover. The latter works well on dry days in the winter with centre zip undone without much billowing and of course heat can be felt. Both hook onto easy up hood rear catches but not at the same time.

I had been thinking about completely removing the easy up hood and the frame and getting some sort of half tonneau/parcel shelf cover made......... at least for the summer..... I prefer the clean lines....😁
I've been thinking about it for so long now that summer is nearly over......😎

I'm sure there is someone, probably on here, who's had a +8 for donkeys years, done 250k miles in it and never had the hood up....... or the sidescreens on........ (now that's propper Morganeering.........🤷🏻‍♂️😁).... so you don't really need a hood..........😁

🇬🇧🇬🇧

The most impressive Morgan, I ever saw was in Burford, maybe 15 years ago. A black very early Plus 8, an oily rag, parked on the main street, roof off, rubber mats inside, early rough cast alloys. It just had what all the later incarnations don't have, in every sense. It's absolute garden shed build, really is astonishing. If I was a lot younger, maybe I would have found one and kept it just like that, as a four speed rocket ride.

I had a tonneau cover on the Plus8. It was my first choice unless raining. I had to take the head restraint out on the passenger side and then driver side to fully fit. Everflex, same as the hood. It fitted on the rear hood press button fittings and lift the dot pins on the dash end. Single central zip.
If the hood was fitted due to weather then by folding it around the clear sections it could form a rear shelf cover and be a quick fit forward if needed. Almost an easy up hood.

I would post a photo if only it would let me.The first version has worked well enough now for a few years but now that I am going completely topless I need to improve it just a bit. I like the bare lines so much that I want to fit it so that it lies snug up to the inside of the tub.

meabh, if you send your pictures to rstramik@hotmail.com I'll post them for you.

p.s. The image gallery will not let me log in whilst my VPN is running - so I have to compromise my desktop whilst using the gallery but if I use flickr I can keep the VPN protection running so it is a weakness in the TM image system somewhere.

p.p.s. On my 1999 Plus 8 I am about to remove the screen and fit my Brooklands screens as I far prefer the lower squat look of our cars that way it always wears the half cockpit cover as Heather is not a wind in the hair girl.

Side exit exhausts are also in stock to fit as soon as full strength has returned after a small procedure which ended up being a ten day stay in hospital as they infected the wound and gave me a blood clot (now subject to an internal enquiry) and sent me home with a 2" unstitched cut in the ball sack which has taken 10 weeks and a load of self administered medical grade (sterile) Manuka honey to heal (This was the advise of a veterinarian friend of mine I go with her knowledge as they are paid to get it right and also an extra years training compared to NHS grade doctors) - so NHS not my first choice anymore and feeling thankful that we had family covered by BUPA whilst I was working.

I shall be looking into private health cover now for us both as it was a very close call and involving considerable pain during the 10 weeks.

Thank you all of you for those interesting replies. Rich, I will have another go but end them to you if I fail: I used to be able to post photo's without difficulty. My 89 Plus 4 was always on aeros and I too loved the look of it: my wife was a fan sometimes.... its a pity that the Roadster windscreen pillars are fixed - and side pipes are my thing and incidentally cured the exhaust fumes being drawn back into the cockpit. Your op sounds uncomfortable, bon courage.

Good luck, if not you have an alternative.

I bet the side pipes sound good on the Roadster.