Talk Morgan

Me being pretty new to the world of Morgan (Plus 4 on order) and being a bit remote my main contact with Morgan people has so far been with my dealer and what I have read at Talk Morgan. I have not even been able to test drive before purchase due to the winter season. When browsing this highly addictive site (thanks!) I started to reflect upon what is it that makes you all so heavily engaged in your Morgan’s? Is there really something special with owning a Morgan?

To my reflection then (remember when reading, I write in a foreign language with lots of strange words…and just might also be under some inspirational influence )

I have previously owned a lot of regular tin-tops but have always spiced my fleet with some more or less exotic machinery. An open mind and a wide technical interest has resulted in a span from 9,5 to close to 400hp vehicles and with a price range from just a couple of pounds up to figures never ever mentioned to (I have convinced her that sports cars are cheap…because they have less: material, seats, doors and limited comfort…).

But when reflecting upon the extra ordinary feeling/attachment/love I have developed to some of these vehicles it seems (now with some distance) to have very little to do with hp, kW, 0-100km/h, technical gizmos or even the gloss of the paint or the softness of the leather…It has to do with something else…but what and why?

Some of the cars has been emotionally harder to sell than others, why do I sometimes (even years after) think about to call the new owner and ask how she (the car) is?

OK, when buying a car there are lots of factors to consider: price, design, functionality, safety, comfort, service and environment…these priorities are of course different when buying your daily commuter compared to investing in your pride and joy. The priorities also vary over time. It is easy to laugh about integrated child seats or comfort…but when that time comes it might be an important factor to still be able to enjoy the hobby. All these factors are more or less easy to measure but the winning vehicle in this comparison is very seldom the car of our dreams? I once again ask myself – what is it then that creates that special connection?

I guess that is when it starts to be complicated…why do I fall in love with some impossible vehicles that other “normal” people never should consider buying, owning or driving? Could it have something to do with heritage, pedigree, life style, history, dreams, brand, commercial advertising or attention or the “envy from the neighbours”?

Well, I am still not sure! But when reading the interesting TM Three Wheeler topic: What is the “magic ingredient” I wandered slightly of topic…and found one ingredient that seems to be important to me. Could it have something to do with relationship?

First some background to understand my reflection…you might have heard of a global furniture company that sell furniture’s in flat packs? This idea results in some advantages for the company (and the customer) such as low price, environmental friendly and effective transports. But it also has one attribute that at first glance looks like a disadvantage: the customers have to do “half of the job” - the assembly, all by themselves. I guess that there has been some pretty enthusiastic swearing connected with Allen keys during the years... But, still this company is doing very well and the customers return time after time, despite all this hard work. How come?

So…is that assembly session not just an unpleasant experience? Does it add anything extra or just the feeling of having saved some money in the process?

Yes, I think it adds something important…by using the assembly instruction and slowly step by step building the furniture most people seems to succeed with the assembly (some might never ever have hold a tool in their hands before). This session then ends with a reward - the finished product ready to use. But also some positive feelings on top of that: I actually managed by myself, I have BUILT and maybe even a feeling of having constructed this piece of furniture. I bought something “half finished” and then brought it into perfection. I am proud over the result and maybe even benefit from a nice self confidence boost.

I am happy to find a lot of the same pride in some of the posts at TM.

I came to the conclusion that this is one of the keys to explain why I also have been more attached to some of my vehicles and not so much into others - the personalisation part and the bringing it into (my view) of perfection. The cars that have been already perfect from the beginning seem not to be the one I remember and miss today…

I think and hope that owning my Plus 4 will also give me this type of satisfaction. Or is it even a cunning part of the Morgan business idea? If you look close to a new Morgan you might find a small piece of surplus glue, a rubber strip that needs to be trimmed a millimetre or two, the original side mirrors are not that optimal and very often changed very soon after purchase. And there it all starts…you fix the small things, buy some goodies and assemble them, maybe add a badge bar and then hopefully get a sports exhaust for Christmas…then you throw yourself over the dampers. All this is part of the long term and highly inspiring project to bring your Morgan into perfection – again the “your half of the job”. All in all resulting in you creating that special and unique relationship with your Morgan.

Morgan will perform their “half of the job” on my Plus 4 in week 12-14 then I will for sure look forward to my part

Have a great weekend/Tony

You have the right attitude!

Well Tony......you will do well with your Morgan if you accept what you put in your final paragraph! It's all part of the charm of a hand built Morgan and something that I think perhaps people might find hard to get their mind around in the very beginning as they are so use to mass assembled by robot cars with no flaws. (Well apparent flaws!) I know that coming from a number of BMWs and Audis I had that view when I first got my Morgan and it took a little time to come to terms with it.

You cannot beat getting hands on with the car and getting dirty hands as well, as a bonding method with your car.

I started to reflect upon what is it that makes you all so heavily engaged in your Morgan’s? Is there really something special with owning a Morgan?

Answer - Masochism! (only joking)

Er, Max... are you Max Moseley by any chance ?

Your post has made me reflect on my own ownership.
My love of Morgan is more of the beauty of the car, the shape, the vintage look, the driving sensations, rather than the relationship you mention. I have fettled and put mirrors, indicator covers, door openers and many other cosmetic parts on her but I don't think this work on the car was the fun bit. The moment the item or work gets serious it goes to the specialist. My wife might think I am having a relationship when I clean it after every run and keep it looking its best but this is not me indulging with the car, it is making sure it's ready for viewing by others. As the owner of a late Morgan I am clearly different from the "real classic" owner "the man actually in the arena whose face is marred with dust and sweat and blood". I am fooling the masses who might think I have actually got my fingernails dirty in presenting such a mechanical wonder. I would like to be that type but I'm not and I want that car to start and stop at the turn of a key and the shove of a pedal.
When the car goes on the road, which is frequent, it is not random, the journey has a purpose. Perhaps to place the car in a particular beautiful setting, for my benefit and for that of others to admire. Perhaps to take it through the villages to be heard and hear the sound of the engine.
Somehow the Morgan fits all these needs, oh and another thing, it goes like dermot off a shovel.

My first thought on reading your piece was, yes people do all of that buying of extras and spending lots of money and then , they sell it with little usage. But I guess we are all different, people used to sell houses in the same way.
When I bought my first Morgan I thought that I had made a dreadful mistake and if it wasn't for being seduced by the shape, the various close shaves I had had but walked away from for something that wasn't made of wood, I probably still wouldn't have one. But, and there it is, but: the thing gets under ones skin. One lives with it, rebuilds it perhaps, drives it in all weathers because sometimes there is no choice in the matter, catches sight of it and feels something akin to affection for it,drives other stuff and find that they just don't cut it. If I had my time again I might well still have UBW825P, uprated, rebuilt, bigger engine, small and beautiful and like a well worn glove to slip in to and drive slow and drive fast. Being in the landscape in an open car is to connect with a set of sensations that does not compare with the cinematic experience of a saloon. Connecting with all the various and subtle senses of driving a Morgan is,for me, and maybe will be for you, something quite other. During those eighteen years with my first Morgan I came close to selling it when times were hard but my wife counselled me against it because she knew I would regret it. I finally sold it because Tim Packer offered me twice what I paid for it against my current Plus Four and here I am into another long-term relationship. I tell myself that nothing is for ever and that it's only a car after all. Only a car, metal, wood, rubber-isn't that right?

Being in the landscape in a open car...
Always makes me hungry - the ever increasing proliferation of roadside/layby food stalls/burger vans etc. wafting their smells across the carriageway can be distracting

There is only one car that ever came close to the "relationship" I have with my 4/4 and that was 25 years ago, with. . . . . . . . . . . . . . wait for it. . . . . . my beloved Citroen 2CV Dolly.

While you stop yourself laughing, let me explain. That 2CV took us on some of the happiest holidays ever; young children strapped in the back; ferry to Brittany and then a welcome that even exceeds that you get when driving the Morgan.

Happy days then and happy days now

Bud

Two years ago we were camped next to a contingent of the Citroen 2CV club at Coober Pedy in the heart of Australia. They were returning home the long way after a 2CV rally. I had not realised there were so many variations. We met them again a few days later at Mataranka Hot Springs.