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WHEN, IN 1909, H.F.S. Morgan built the first Morgan Runabout threewheeler in his Malvern Link garage and service station he did so to find a use for a 7 hp Peugeot V-twin engine he had acquired.
People are too apt to regard the early Morgan threewheelers as somewhat crude devices, whereas in fact they were the most elegant creations of a man who, when at school, was undecided whether to become an artist or an engineer. His first 1909 chassis consisted of a central tube, with the engine mounted at the front and a propeller shaft running through it to a bevel box. That had sprockets of different sizes on each side, engaged by dog clutches. From these sprockets the drive was taken to a second pair, mounted on each side of the single rear wheel, so that a very simple two-speed transmission was obtained. Two further tubes ran parallel to the main central tube and, on early Morgans, doubled as exhaust pipes, which is why so few early Morgans have survived - internal corrosion from the exhaust gases ate away the tubes! At the front of the 1909 chassis was the coil spring and vertical pillar independent front suspension which has been a feature of all Morgans, right up to the latest V-8 engined Vitesse - again, a light and elegant solution to the problem posed by hanging a big V-twin engine on the very nose of the car. Throughout all subsequent Morgans, the preference of HFS for a light, simple solution to any problem - and, preferably, for a component which could fulfil a double purpose - was to be evident. From that first single-seater prototype sprang a line of the most famous threewheelers that continued until the early 1950's. Very soon, the line had divided into the fierce sporting models - with their V-twins out in the open and their short, compact streamlined two-seater bodies recalling the stubby radial-engined RAF fighters such as the Gamecock and the Siskin of the 1920s and '30s - and, on the other hand, the family models with their V-twins under a bonnet and square-cut bodies seating up to four. The two children in the back, though, learned early in life what hard times really meant, for their rear accommodation was spartan! |
H.F.S. Morgan's designs may have looked simple, but they were anything but crude, and his 1909 independent suspension has lasted through 75 years in production. Philip Turner traces the history of the Malvern marque in words and pictures
1909: the first Morgan, powered by the 7 hp Peugeot V-twin. Seated in the car is Stephenson Peach, the engineering master at Malvern College in whose workshops much of the machining work for the first car was carried out 1913: Family model - an early example 
In 1933, the Family line of threewheelers gave place to the F-series, powered by four-cylinder watercooled Ford engines of 8 hp and 10 hp. In addition to the central tube between the engine and the three-speed gearbox, there were now Z-section side members, with the top flange turned outwards and the bottom flange turned inwards to support the wood floor. From the F-series threewheelers came the first of the four-wheel car-type Morgans in 1936, the 4/4 - four cylinders and four wheels - powered by a Coventry-Climax engine with overhead inlet and side exhaust valves. The 4/4 line continues to the present day, with the Climax unit replaced by a 1,267 cc overhead valve Standard engine in 1939, but there was a gap from 1950 (when the Plus 4 was introduced) until 1955 when the 4/4 Series 2 was launched with Ford 1,172 cc side-valve engines and with the gearbox in unit with the engine for the first time in a Morgan. Various Ford overhead valve engines replaced the side-valve unit in succeeding years, and today the 4/4 is powered either by the Ford CVH engine or the Fiat twin overhead camshaft engine, both of 1,600 cc. The 4/4 was dropped in 1950 because Standard-Triumph ceased making its engine in order to concentrate all production on the Standard Vanguard, whose 2,138 cc engine powered the Plus 4 introduced that year. The Plus 4 underwent considerable development, receiving ever hotter engines which Standard-Triumph developed for their TR sports cars. The traditional Morgan appearance changed, too, in late 1953 when, as Lucas were no longer making the separate headlamps, the front was faired in and the headlamps built in to the front wings. In 1968, when Standard-Triumph went over to a six-cylinder engine which was too long to fit into the Morgan's engine bay, the Plus 8 was introduced, powered by the Rover V8 engine, to which has now been added the Vitesse version with the fuel-injected Rover V8. |
  1910: the first production Morgan was available with either a JAP V-twin or a single cylinder 4 hp JAP. The simple chassis with its central tube housing the propeller shaft had two side tubes which also acted as exhaust pipes, and the early form of the independent front suspension still used today  
1936: first of the four-wheeled Morgans, the 4/4 powered by a 1,267 overhead inlet, side exhaust valve Coventry Climax engine 
1950: the first Plus 4 was both longer and wider than the 4/4, but the increased torque and power output of its 2,138 cc Standard Vanguard engine more than took care of the increased dimensions.  The independent front suspension of the Plus 4 followed the same general layout as in previous Morgans, but the length of the springs had been increased by the swan neck shaped ends of the top tube
1967: by the end of its production, the front of the Plus 4 had undergone considerable re-styling 
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