Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms If I were to buy a trad.............

Life is a short trip, it’s hard to grow old without a cause 😊 if you’re fortunate enough to still enjoy driving at 81 you should buy whatever you want quickly.
I’ll sell you mine if you want?

Howard,

Try a few first, they can vary considerably from car to car. Hopefully you find what you are looking for. When you go for a test drive pick the worst roads surfaces possible to get a feel for the ride.

Hire one of each and then decide what you like. Sounds like a great way to spend 3 days. They might even give you the additional day rate for the second two days.

https://bespokes.co.uk/marques/morgan-hire/

Howard, Having covered upwards of 80k miles behind the wheel of a 1.8 L Duratec 4/4 I can highly recommend it for reliability and ample fun for ANY age of the adventurous driver. Go for it and have some more enjoyment. (No point waiting for your mobility scooter)...

Howard after 17 years on this forum you still can't make your mind up ?

Took me five years, and a few forums to make up my mind, the forums were the fledgling MSCC DG which seemed to become too much of a hot potato for the club at the outset..? Morgans at Autox, NBC, and finally on to, and very grateful to find TM....While I have not the slightest intention of replacing my +8, I still look at 4/4`s with the sort of eye reserved for a pretty lady...Why not would seem to be the question.. ? (-:

I do love a good squirt in Joseph and Natalies 2009 4/4 Sport - you do need to try one sometime and of course I got Henrietta for 16k as she had 15,500mls on the clock from Jeremy so a known daily for him which has done it a lot of good.

She had a wings off respray before we got her and have put 3,000mls on her in the year and no signs of wear anywhere or yomping oil and the gear change is slick as can be.

In 1970 I was on Wolfe Island in Canada on my first contract had already me Heather but fell instantly in Love with the Plus 8 advert in the back of the Autocar magazine, so that was my journey.
It took many years including marriage and three children before it was viable for me as Heather was a proper full time Mum to them, and boy has that paid off

I had never driven a Plus 8 but I bought it off Richard and Helen Thorne - booked the train to Reading and Helen picked me up in a Fiat which she ragged competently all the way to the garage where we completed the paperwork and I headed for South Devon.

My first 4/4 Sport I was passing Ricard and Henrys dealership in Bristol and he had just pu the car in the showroom having driven it down from the factory on the release week so I bought it there and then for cash, Henry is such a dyed in the wool Morgan man I really like him, so I traded my Fiesta top of the range thing in, which Elles had off him and still has.

Quick call to Heather so she said yes and a week later I trained up to Brizzle to pick her up.


34 years of Plus eighting has brought me untold pleasure and met some lovely solid people on and off TM that are lifetime friends

8 years of 4/4 Sporting mingled in there too bring ing untold fun and chuckability.

I am a lucky boy to have an understanding wife, she is not keen on them and her POLO GTI is 150mph and 6 Secs to 60 so she's not impressed and likes her comforts driving swiftly with the roof back and Aircon on max .


howard and I difer in every imaginable way QED

It took me five years too. From 2003 to 2008 with a lot of research. I knew how much fun a classic Mini is, with no real power but incredible handling. That's the essence of 4/4 ownership. I knew what is was like behind a V8 Rover engine after 22 years in an MGV8. My logic was to go for a Plus 8, without really understanding how complex that decision would be, and only a long time after, did I realise this. And bought my Roadster anyway, even knowing about low ground clearance of the sump.

There are a couple of simple factors amongst all the detail. These are that the Roadsters have better weight distribution than the Plus 8. Simple physics. The Plus 8 goes on torque, the Roadster on revs. Second factor is that the Plus 4 engine in a 4/4 body gives increased power with agile handling. The Duratec is easier to live with than the GDI. The Duratec is a lot more tunable.

If you value a treated ash frame, a stainless bulkhead and galvanised chassis, then it has to be a long door, 1997 is the odd ball year when you could get any of the changes in one car, from mid year.

After that it depends on personal choice of colour. interior trim, dashboard style, and wheels. If you chose no spare wheel and no opening in the rear panel, then any issues with fuel tank and pump, or leaf springs becomes much more difficult to access. MMC should have used a removable cover on the rear panel but it was easier in build not to.

One morning in around 1998, I went to a meeting at what was then called the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in Malvern. They were trying to sell us their battlefield simulation software as a basis for developing a business competition/wargaming simulator.

After an interesting but essentially fruitless discussion I found myself at a loose end for the afternoon and so rather than head back to the office I decided to have a look at the Morgan factory. No guided tours in those days, they just let me wander round on my own so long as I kept to the safe side of the lines.

Half an hour later I'd fallen hook, line and sinker. Took me a couple of years to save up the necessary before I bought my 4/4 from Bill Wykeham on another afternoon when I'd skived off from the office early again.

Richard
Mirror Dinghes. Haven't heard of them for 50 years!