AGELESS CAR

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32394, 5 September 1970, Page 7

AGELESS CAR

(Neweweek F«atur« Service) The factory, such as it is, consists of a cluster of one-storey sheds nestled on six acres (including a cricket field) in the rolling Malvern Hills of western England. The workers are all craftsmen—carpenters, metalworkers, electricians, painters and seamstresses—who use hand tools. And every week from this bucolic cottage industry there emerge nine models—or 10, if the sewing ladies work on Saturday mornings—of one of the world’s most curious and most avidly sought motor-cars, the Morgan.

Dean Martin owns a Morgan. So does Brigitte Bardot. So do Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones and King Hassan of Morocco. And the sleek, low, wooden-frame sports car inspires almost fanatical loyalty among its owners.

When the Morgan was banned from the United States market two years ago because of stringent new safety ', regulations, one fan blew his proverbial gasket. “Our government edict scorns a quality of workmanship we rarely see any longer and celebrates instead the ideal of a machine-spewed plastic cocoon,” he wrote to a car magazine. "The classic Morgan . . . has suddenly been put beyond the pale for our colourless, antiseptic, spoon-fed citizens.” “A Bit Odd” To anyone attuned to massive, powerful, luxurious and fully automated American automobiles, the Morganowners’ devotion must seem a bit bizarre. True, the cars are meticulously handcrafted. True, there is something marvellous about gazing down the long, louvred, strapped-down bonnet and zooming from a dead stop to 100 m.p.h. in 19 seconds. But the cockpit is hot, cramped and redolent of oil. On bumpy roads, the car jolts kidneys and has a tendency to become airborne. The side curtains leak. (In fact, the best way to keep dry on a rainy day is to put the top down and maintain a speed of at least 50 m.p.h. so the water flies overhead.) The car doesn’t even have the cachet of expense. No one, no matter how elaborate he wants to be, can pay more than $5OOO for a Morgan. “I suppose they all are a bit odd,” says 50-year-old Peter Morgan, of his firm’s clients. The tweedy Mr Morgan, who resembles a schoolteacher more than a businessman, is the undisputed bead of the world’s oldest privately owned motor company. The company was founded

in 1910 by his father, Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan, who was the son of a country parson. Some of the 95 workmen have been with Morgan since World War I, and they are still doing essentially the same work they did then. Change comes slowly to Morgan.

‘I don't think father i realised that our production line runs opposite to the slope of the factory floor,” Peter Morgan observed recently. “We’ll have to do something about that one day.”

The only major change in the cars came more than 30 years ago, when the elder Mr Morgan, who died in 1959, finally agreed to add a fourth wheel to the Morgan’s traditional tricycle gear. Otherwise, the car has remained untouched —with its independent front suspension, sloping fenders and substantial running board. The ban from the United States was a serious blow to Peter Morgan. He cut back his annual orders by some 80 per cent, but that wasn’t what bothered him. Without spending a nickel on advertising, he still receives so many orders—from countries as far distant as Iceland and Argentina that customers must wait eight months for delivery. What troubled him was the thought of no-one in America being allowed to drive a Morgan. “I was determined.” he says, “not to let our American friends down.” So he simply designed a new car for the United States market. One Problem The Plus 8, as it is known, was developed for a total of $150,000. (By comparison. Ford spent $5O million to bring- out the Mustang). It looks like every other Morgan, but it has a new V 8 engine, a collapsible steering column and adjustable bucket seats.

The only problem with the new car has been emotional: Peter Morgan had to stage three test crashes. “It broke my heart,” he says, “but it had to be done.” The new car was then flown to Detroit where it easily passed muster with the United States Government. When it is introduced in November, the Plus 8 will sell for about $4BOO or $lOOO more than the old Plus 4. Despite the obvious enthusiasm from prospective owners, Morgan will limit production to 150 cars a year, and in no circumstances will he increase his present weekly rate of production. “I know I could flog the business half a dozen times over and become a millionaire,” he says. “Of course, we want to make money. Father used to get most sour if people suggested he was making motor-cars as a hobby. It has to be reasonably profitable to be fun. “But I’ve got a lovely house and a Ferrari, and everyone in the family has a Morgan. There’s some jolly good country-lane motoring around here. Besides, I adore making motor-cars. I suppose you’re damn lucky in this day and age if you can do what you like doing.”