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Living on on
with Four Wheels
Saved by US Exports
For a while in the 1950s, the company went through a bad patch. The cars were outdated but not yet nostalgic, and sales in the UK
declined. It was only exports to North America that kept the marque alive. According to an article in Esquire:
...from a Harvard Business School point of view, the company has done almost nothing right in its 83 years of existence. It
has for the most part failed to automate or expand, failed to diversify, failed to change its product line, failed to turn to the
stock market for new capital... It has, in short failed to do everything but succeed.
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'Failed to automate' is an understatement. A tour of the factory is like a visit to Santa's workshop. The louvers in the bonnet are stamped
out by hand using a fly-press. The wings are beaten over what looks like a tree stump. The door panels are trimmed with tin snips until they
fit. Cars in various stages of completion, with a build ticket bearing the customer's name, are pushed from one shed to the next.
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Morgan Owners - a Special Breed
Owners become very attached to their cars and will go to great lengths to keep them. One owner, whose Morgan 4/4-4 (a four seater
version of the 4/4) rolled out of the last of the eight sheds in 1973, battled with the German motoring agencies for months to get it
registered. It then followed him to Canada as part of his 'chattels' (because it was more than 12 years old). There, all that was required was
an inspection by the Ministry of Agriculture (they check for mud on the chassis) and he was on his way.
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The engine is a Ford 1600 cross
flow - the same block that is in the Lotus 7. It breathes through a twin-choke Weber carburetor with a primitive filter, which, in the words of
an American enthusiast, 'keeps large bugs and small children' out of the engine.
Around the world there are Morgan Owner Groups with names like SMOG-MOG (London), JOCK-MOG (Scotland), SEX-MOG (Sussex and
Essex counties), and HOG-MOG (Toronto). The cars are often called 'Moggies'. With its very stiff rear suspension and high power-to-weight
ratio, it is a good car for slaloms, hill climbs and circuit racing. Morgan owners are usually active participants in one or more of these sports.
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Click for More History
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History Courtesy the BBC
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