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Morgan Sports
Cars |
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Brief History : The Morgan Motor Company was founded by HFS Morgan in 1910 and
started building three wheeler cyclecars. Right
from the beginning Morgans excelled in hillclimbing and racing. In 1913 a Morgan cyclecar won the French Cyclecar
Grandprix. In 1924 Harold Beart cracked 100mph at the Brooklands, his Blackburne engined Beart Special did
104.63mph over the flying-kilometre. These cars were value for money compared to saloon cars, in 1924 Rover
8 cost £160, Austin Seven £165 and Morgan Popular £110. Morgans
continued to make three wheelers until 1951 these were powered by Ford E93A
engines. The fastest Morgan three wheeler was the 1100cc ohv
JAP Super Sports Aero, in 1930 Gwenda
Stewart recorded 115mph for the flying-kilometre. The Morgan Motor Company started manufacturing sports
cars the 4/4 four wheels and 4 cylinders in 1935. The car was powered by a
Coventry Climax engine and was called the Series I, this model was made until
1950 when it was powered by 1267cc Standard engine .
Three models of the Series I were manufactured 2 seater,
4 seater and Drophead
Coupe. When the Standard stopped manufacturing there 1267cc engine, Morgan
had to look elsewhere for a replacement engine. HFS did not want to use an
engine larger than 1500cc, but Peter Morgan his son convinced him to use the Vangard engine of 2,088cc. The engine was fitted to a
larger chassis than the 4/4 to accommodate the bulkier engine and mated to a
Moss 4 speed gearbox. Peter took his father for a ride in the prototype car
and he was so impressed that he agreed to the engine. In its Vangard TR form the Plus 4 as it was
called was made till 1969. Three models of the car were manufactured 2 seater, 4 seater,
and the Drophead Coupe. The last Plus 4 to be made
was a Drophead Coupe in September 1969. Like the
three wheelers the Plus 4 was very successful in competition. In 1962 Chris
Lawrence driving TOK258 a Super Sports Plus 4 won the 2 litre class at There was a break in Plus 4 production and in October 1985 it was
produced again this time powered by a Fiat 2 litre Twin-Cam 122bhp engine.
This was produced until 1988 and in May the M16 2 litre Rover engine was
used, this was replaced by the T16 engine in 1992. Morgan stopped making the
Plus 4 in 2000. When Triumph stopped making the TR engine in 1969 Peter Morgan was
looking for a replacement and Rover came to the rescue with the 3.5 litre V8 formly a Buick engine. This engine was an all alloy
engine and it was the same weight as the old TR engine. Maurice Owen was
commissioned to built the first prototype Plus 8
which used the existing Plus 4 chassis. This car was put together in 1967 but
it did not go into production until 1969 because Rover who had been taken
over by In 1999 Morgan started to build a prototype Aero 8 this was by far
the most radical Morgan ever to be made. The car has racing car suspension
and is powered by 4.4 litre V8 BMW engine, the gearbox is a six speed Gertag box. A new production plant was build at the
factory to build this model. The first production cars have now been built
and should be seen on the road this year. |
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