Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - Driving in the rain -- therapy needed

I understand that many Morgan owners regularly brave the elements and venture out in the rain, some even with hood down, with or without a tonneau cover (and some, such as DaveW, seem even to relish this!). My problem is that I'm a bit, well, terrified of the interior getting wet. What happens to the leather? Won't my "caramel" interior stain from the water? How about the wooden dash and all the electronics? Can Morgan interiors really take getting a good soaking? Wisdom and advice gratefully received as at this point I'm stuck being a bit of a nervous Nelly about going out if there's anything other than blue skies and fair winds!

Our car has an automated system which provides an audio alert if there is judged to be too much rain for the journey to continue without stopping to put the hood up. When the noise gets too much for me, I do stop and put the roof up. The automated system then reverts to its normal role of providing over-speed / cornering-speed warning alerts.

When I am alone in the car, then these automated systems are disabled and I have to use my own judgement as to roof, speed and cornering-speed.

There was one occasion when the automated system lost her voice soon after we started a trip down the Fosse Way to see friends in Somerset. Journey time was substantially reduced on that occasion.

We drive Morgans since 1996, nearly almost open. Our 1990 4/4 4-seater has a roof that's not easy to put on. And we have a very practical 3 zipper tonneau, many towels inside, and my wife and I were (are..) a trained couple. Once we had a holiday in Cornwall and literally every day was raining. We heard people in the Inn whispering: brave people from Holland, they drive Morgan, and open! And we loved it. Just once, on our way to Granchester from Malvern heading to the Orchard Tea Gardens (Tip from Craig!) we had such a torrential rain that I could literally see nothing despite soking up by my wife all the water at the inside of the windscreen, but we made it! Sometimes you cannot stop in time safely to put the hood on (Motorways).
So when we took delivery of our brand-new PlusFour at the end of March 2023 the dealer asked, open or hood down? Open ofcourse and after a 15 min drive there was rain, much rain, and I was stuck in a Motorway congestion, so no opportunities for getting out and puzzling how this easy up hood had to be erected. We bought towels in a nearby shop, dried the inside an did put the hood on. That evening I drove home with the hood on, a 200 kn stretch, and the first hood which was watertight, or almost....!
Now I must confess that we still drive both te 4/4 and PlusFour open, but....., as the hood on the PlusFour can be erected quickly, is leak free and snug, we do drive with the hood up more often..... Or is it the age???? I love the Morgans still most driving open, but maybe, we were a bit lazy too in earlier times to put on the Four Seater Roof, rearranging the holiday luggage and taking it off, store it when the rain stopped, without making the rest of the luggage wet... We ofter were waiting under an umbrella waiting for the rain to become less intense. Even in Freezing cold, we drive open. I remember a club tour in Northern Holland, in winter, minus several degrees bellow zero, wind, but sun, and a frozen IJsselmeer and a glorious frozen landscape. What a delight. Maybe in the PlusFour we had put on the heated seats!



Brandnew and within 1 hour inaugurated,,,,,,,

Thanks L, I'm partial to chasing a nice sunset in the Mog...this one's in Derbyshire

Having spent rather a lot of time under various of my old sports cars over a period of decades, I have become acquainted with many a little tears in underseal, cracks and crevices where crud can build up allowing the dreaded tin worm to make headway over time, and of course in the case of Morgan there are the issues related to the wooden aspects of construction, but unlike my previous sports cars there are no voluminous cavity sections to suffer the build up of condensation causing corrosion to work away quietly from the inside out.

Fortunately for me Kevin the chap who rebuilt my +8 to his personal spec, knew well where all the usual Morgan problem areas were to be found where they might have been exposed to all weathers over a long period of time, thus Kevin set about providing extra protection in those areas, which has paid dividends in my 20+ years of ownership, though truth be told I bought my Morgan to enjoy as Dave suggests, " At the right place and the right time", which for me these days, the right time, is in dry weather minus hood and side-screens.

My good lady ever preferred to run with side-screens, but these days as a solo performer, both the hood and side-screens have been retired.. The hood was only ever put to use in the past when touring on the occasion of wet weather, usually in the UK, I am struggling to remember any time the hood was put to use on any of our Southern European adventures.. though Dave`s comment caused me to remember running in the light rain on a balmy evening while staying in Tuscany in an agriturismo near Cortona, we had crossed into Umbria to a reasonably nearby lakeside restaurant, and on the drive back to our accommodation, it began to rain lightly causing the aromas to be released from both the earth and flowers, creating a memory to treasure...(-:

Re the idea of it perhaps thought of as being poor form to run with the hood up, I suspect that may be a hang over from the days gone by when many a Morgan may have been used as daily, and even pressed into service on occasion to act as a pick-up truck loaded with a Christmas tree, building materials or somesuch...(-: I suspect in the passage of time, Morgans have become more enjoyed as recreational vehicles ,as our American cousins describe hobby related machinery, or even garage queens and suchlike, thus living a somewhat more restricted existence....Which is perhaps just as well given the amount of bling to be found in the interior fit and finish, enjoyed in more modern Morgans than one from the mid 80`s such as mine..?

Referring again back to Dave`s typing of rides around dusk, and the possible increased in pleasure to be found at both ends of the day, I was most fortunate to be able to enjoy a circa 80 miles of mostly "B" road driving a few nights past and posted a pic in another part of the forum, and thought to try to post it again here, in the hope of again sharing just a little bit of dusk driving pleasures..(-:

I like an evening run out, this is driving through Sherwood Forest

I went out today for an little ride with my 3 years old son. Yep, at the beginning we got some spray, and he got still asleep . ;Who else? Uses his Moggie to put the kids to sleep.

But as heaven opened his gates, i did put the hood up. Sometimes the better, even for your passengers. I do try it with hood down, when the rain is moderate, but safety first.

Luddite thank you for telling me what I wanted to hear! I get the sense that in 2002 you were in an analogous situation to the one I find myself in now -- owning quite a "perfect" car but not being one with the time, inclination and, in my case, skill and garage to relish keeping it that way (your tale of the early-days gravel road sojourn, though a bit nails-on-chalkboard, is one whose motivation I fully understand). It's a perspective that I confess I wanted to hear, so I reckon I will cherry-pick that one and keep my Toad and allow it to age gracefully, if imperfectly.

I must say I do so enjoy hearing the different ways people have and hold their Morgans. Hamwich's miles-per-hour analogy is brilliant, and thank goodness for DaveW's deep engagement, without which we wouldn't have the benefit of his absolutely splendid book.

There used to be a bit of a tradition amongst Morgan owners that one never drove with the roof up, even if the foulest of weathers. When I bought my 4/4 in 2000 I quickly realised that if one insisted on so doing, all that would happen would be that one would drive the car less often, Driving without a roof in bad weather is an extremely unpleasant experience.

I was further disillusioned one November night early in my ownership when I went to my local centre's Noggin evening. It was cold and damp, so I put the hood up and was a bit expecting to be made fun of for having the hood up even though it wasn't actually raining. When I got there however, I saw that mine was the only Morgan in the car park, everyone else had come in their tin tops.

Ever since then I have put the hood up whenever and wherever I want, and enjoy driving in both configurations.

Only if they have been out sun bathing and got a good tan.

Such wonderful, heartfelt stories and reminiscences. As a new owner I can only look forward to gathering my own experiences. However, below is a picture of the Mrs. picking poppies in a field in southern Sweden on our first drive together the day I bought the car and drove it home from Gothenburg. I already feel nostalgic for that evening.

My best ride ever was in the snow. It's been more than 15 years, but I'll never forget this.
I was visiting my oldest sister about 30 Km from home. Must have been in late February or early March. The day started fresh but sunny, dry and no more salt on the road, so the 4/4 was taken out of the stable.
In the late afternoon, dark clouds arrived. My brother-in-law asked, do you have the hood with you. Why? Take a look outside. It started to snow lightly. And, no, no hood or side-screens.
So I left immediately for safety. After a few Km it started to snow seriously, really thick flakes. The snow doesn't bother me at all in the cockpit, flies completely over the Morgan. only the view through the windshield was limited to what the 3 wipers could clear. It was a wonderful ride, especially when you saw those looks from passers-by. They were indescribable.

Adam, welcome and a very good question.

In 20 years of driving these glorious cars I have very rarely put the side screens on or roof up, I don't set off in the rain but if I get caught just carry on.

I once got caught in an absolute deluge around 100mls from home on an afternoon jaunt and with no options carried on and got fairly well soaked and the only way to dissipate the 2" of water in my footwell was to lift the carpets out and drill a couple of 1/2" holes in the marine ply (plugging after) with removable plugs.

I always treat the leather with a good coating of dubbin and mop the dash as you go, wearing glasses is not an asset with rain but well worth the fun of it all.

There are as many methods of using these cars as there are options on a Morgan, chose yours and drive

Coming back from a trip we had a memorable night time drive through Switzerland in light rain. We Had the top down and encountered the rain on the E13 some kilometres before the San Bernardino tunnel, we were keen to get home so we did not stop. At the speed we were doing and with the weight of the rain all the drops passed over the top without coming back on the inside of the windscreen. I have to say that the few heavy vehicles on the road gave us opportunities to pass; we wondered if they were in contact on CB radios? The rain stopped when we got to Lugano and we managed to find a pizzeria near Como that still managed to serve us a pizza after 11pm. 😋 😋

Top down at all times if at all possible...!......!.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!👍🏼

This should be the default position for all Morgan's, it is possibly a law.........somewhere......🤷🏻‍♂️

I almost never take the side screens off...... it's easier to say never the amount of times they're off........ I like them on.
I actually don't mind driving with the roof on...... for some reason it seems even more ........vintage...... to me anyway......🤷🏻‍♂️ perhaps I'm....odd.... BUT see point 1 if in doubt....!!!!!!

It's your car, enjoy it as you see fit..... it's all fixable or cleanable, the most important thing is that you enjoy it.
It doesn't matter if you do 20 miles a year and polish it every weekend or you do 20,000 miles a year and never wash it, as long as you're having fun with it.

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