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that's heated by engine coolant. There's also a vacuum operated fuel lock/filter
that keeps everything shut down when the engine isn't running. A single-barrel
Impco propane carburetor replaces the V-8's two SUs fitted at Malvern
Link and the propane system carries an automatic enrichment device for
cold starts. Bill fiddles with the Lucas Opus electronic ignition to optimize
the engine's propane compatibility: seems that propane wants more initial
ignition advance than gasoline, but not quite as much overall. He says
a turbo V-8 put out 200 bhp at the rear wheels during dyno development,
so we'd estimate 225 bhp (SAE net) as peak horsepower at 5000 rpm with
the Rajay wastegate set for 6-psi maximum boost. Some added guesswork
gives the estimate of 240 lb-ft of torque at 3000, but neither of these
figures suggests the beautiful driveability and responsiveness of this
engine. In fact, the total experience of driving the Morgan evokes memories that have improved with age. You clamber into the cockpit by folding your right knee under the scuttle, tucking that foot down to where the pedals lurk, sliding in and maneuvering your left leg to follow. Do all this in the correct order, and you find yourself facing a handsome wood-rimmed Nardi wheel. In fact, you do more than face it-you're up near this lovely example of Italian craftsmanship. But not to worry, because once you experience Morgan steering, you'll realize that laid-back straightarm driving is for sissies. This is steering that exercises shoulder muscles, not just biceps. The ignition switch is hidden beneath the dash, and the first few times it takes a couple tries to get the key in it. Evidently a Morgan concession to anti-theft considerations, and apparently the only one because with no outside door handles the locking latches inside seem awfully silly. All this can get reasonably complicated with the top and side curtains in place: Whether the car is locked or not, you slide a plastic panel of the side curtain open, reach in, fumble around a bit and unlatch the door. Speaking of top and side curtains, we can note that the Moggie's are exemplary of what English weather protection used to be. And honestly, it's not all that difficult to assemble or disassemble, roughly midway between the superb ease of a Fiat Spider's, say, and the Erector-Set fiddling of a Jeep C.1's. Having the top up is a mixed blessing, however. It does give some space behind the seats for storage, but anyone except for the shortest driver gets only crooked-head side glances at whatever might be happening to the  right or left. And the bowing-out, flapping and general lack of seal had our Engineering Editor calling his 90-mph sound level measurement of 98 dBA "the positive hinges of hell." No matter, chaps; the best course is to leave the top and side curtains at home in the garage anyway. Top up or down, the Morgan's cockpit is a nice snug one. Directly ahead of the driver is full instrumentation, including a speedometer calibrated to 170 mph, a Smiths unit evidently left over from the D-Type Jaguar or some such. You like to think Peter Morgan got a deal on the last batch of them. The steering column stalks are straight out of JRT right-hand-drive models, with the directionals /high beam /flasher/ horn on the right and wiper/washers on the left. The handbrake along the driveshaft tunnel is of the genuine fly-off variety: Its button locks it on; a quick pull rearward and release unlock it. And also down on the tunnel is a device resembling a foot-actuated dimmer switch. |
This is Morgan's One-Shot Auto-Lube control, the depression of
which causes a squirt of engine lube to pass onto the sliding pillar front
suspension. It's the only thing that's automatic about a Morgan's lubrication,
what with a total of 10 sites around the car profiting from grease every
3000 miles. But enough of these details. A twist of the key, and the V-8 throbs to life. Snick the stubby lever into 1st, ease out the clutch, and you're burbling away, looking down that long louvered bonnet at one of the classic views in motoring. Stomp the throttle (one of those little roller types many of us learned to heel-and-toe with), and gobs of torque at the bottom end turn into raspy turbo power as the revs build past 3000. Redundant though they may be with all this power, the gear ratios are nicely spaced and it's a gearbox you enjoy shifting for the sheer pleasure of it all. And if you get downright serious, you can go from 0 to 60 mph in 6.8 seconds and turn the standing quarter mile in 15.1 sec at 93.5 mph. As for ride and handling, you've got to remember that terms like oversteer, understeer and suspension compliance were coined long after key elements of the Morgan were already in place. Essentially, it's a car that likes to wash out its front end first, although there's enough power available to provoke the rear end too. From a relatively rearward seating position, you sense the road at all four corners and watch that lovely bonnet bob up and down, back and forth. All the while, you come to appreciate the close-to-the-wheel seating because the Moggie's cam-and-peg steering gear is extremely stiff and notchy, just about impossible to turn at rest and affected with that characteristic remembered by MG TC drivers of combining lots of center freeplay with very abrupt response once the slack is used up. At its lofty top speed, and this car will redline 4th fairly easily, things get busy indeed. Driven more sedately, though, the Morgan provides excellent input to the driver and it responds decently despite its heavy controls. It enjoyed a tight line through our slalom, for instance, with absolutely no lean and little squirts of power between pylons as it posted a commendably quick 6 1.1 mph. It bobbed its bonnet around our skidpad with a lateral acceleration of 0.791g. Not bad for Thirties suspension, eh? Yet both of these are smooth-surface evaluations in which the Morgan's ample tire patches, predictable understeer and quick steering fill the bill. No staff member felt it would be anything but a handful down a less than smooth twisty road at speed, and sure enough it was, exhibiting behavior that one staff member termed "St Malvern's Dance." The brakes reinforce this feeling of vintage motoring. Even though they're modern enough disc/drum combinations, they're free of vacuum assist and required a super-high 60-1b pedal pressure for our 0.5g stops. However, they pull the car down evenly with excellent control, and distances from 60 and 80 mph were quite short at 157 and 269 ft, respectively. On heavy braking. the front end chatters up and down as the sliding-pillar structure deflects in reaction to the most definitely post-vintage width of the Michelin XWX 195VR- 15s. Bill Fink. notes that he's experimented with added bracing of the front end that mitigates this hopping routine. But you can bet he's not going to change any of the essential features, because Bill is a believer. And after spending some time with this latest Morgan, we definitely understand its attraction. Modern machinery is easier to drive, but what's often traded away is the enjoyment of challenge and accomplishment. To drive a Morgan properly, you get to forget your daily concerns, you have to concentrate on the car and its operation. For awhile there, with the louvered bonnet leading the way, the transmission tunnel warming your right leg and the cold wind tousling your hair, you and the Morgan are very good friends indeed. |
