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MORGAN'S LATEST model has no proper name and has yet to appear in the company's modest sales brochure. It was not launched but simply became available.
This wonderful word-of-mouth method of selling cars would be an instant disaster for any major car maker but it is what the fiercely loyal Morgan customers worldwide have come to expect from the people in Malvern. It all adds to the character of the wooden-framed cars that emerge from the factory at the steady rate of about nine a week. Peter Morgan, chairman and managing director and son of the founder, refers to the hugely powerful new car as the "Morgan Plus 8 with injected Rover V8 engine", Why no name? "I don't use the Super Sports name until a car has achieved something." he pronounces. "We don't want to put little numbers and badges on the back of a Morgan so we don't have a name for it - If only life were that straightforward for the industry giants! The development team at Malvern is just two strong, Peter Morgan himself and Maurice Owen, director, development and engineering. That they can keep up with the constantly changing legislation in countries ranging from Japan to America to Germany is a feat in itself. There was never any doubt that a fuel-injected V8 would find its way into the Plus 8. "We were always keen to have it because we always want extra performance," Owen explains. With disarming candour he describes the development of the new car as " just a question of getting all the bits under the bonnet". As the first Morgan to boast electronics, the car has become a fascinating blend of new and old technology. The electronic black box is hidden away behind the glove box and bolted to the ash frame while just ahead of the all-aluminium engine the front suspension remains largely unchanged from the first sliding pillar design of 19 13, Of the new engine Owen says, "It is very nice to have fuel injection where everything is monitored so that everything is working to the optimum". Though he adds quickly "I wouldn't want to put a talking voice in a Morgan - as long as electronics can do a useful job we will put them in " |
Electronics
Snail pace evolution at Morgan has been swept
aside as the fuel-injected Plus 8 boasts electronics,
rack and pinion steering and gas-filled dampers.
Daniel Ward reports on the quiet revolution in Malvern
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This highlights the fascinating aspect of how Morgan introduces new models and developments. Buy a Plus 8 in America -complete with impact-absorbing bumpers, door beams and a conversion to propane gas - and you get gas-filled rear dampers as standard Yet the ones on Peter Morgan's injected Plus 8 are still regarded as prototypes and not available to customers. Doubtless there are already a stream of customers ordering them in the hope that they will soon be available.
if you have any doubts about their desirability then Owen has the answer. "You used to hit the first bump in a Morgan, miss the second one and hit the third, now you touch the road in between," he explains with a grin. After that an in-depth discussion on the relative merits of gas filled dampers as opposed to conventional ones seemed, at best, inappropriate, Walking around the rolling chassis in the assembly area it is only natural to wonder how the live axle - it does at least have a limited slip differential - linked by semielliptical leaf springs to a frail looking Z-section rail chassis can cope with 190 bhp. But Owen is far from unhappy with the set-up which works ridiculously well on the road. "The first thing I did when I came to Morgan (18 years ago) was to lower the front of the springs," he explains. The car suffers from neither axle tramp nor marked squat under acceleration. We discussed better lateral location for the axle but Owen's tone of voice suggests this is a long way off even by Morgan standards. Given the choice he would opt for a Watts link a la SDII Rover, frowning with disapproval at the idea of just a Panhard rod. The injected car is fantastically fast and a fitting car to introduce in the company's 75th year. Peter Morgan says: ~ "Demand for the new car is very strong we like to build four Plus 8s a week and it' will probably be three injected cars to one carburetter one." Judging the interest in the model with no name is obviously not easy but the chairman adds: ~ "When you have made 100 of a new model then demand settles down." The car industry would be a duller, more serious place without the wonder of Morgan, it is just not like any other manufacturer ...thankfully. |
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