1938
MORGAN 4/4 TT REPLICA
One of the rarest 4-wheelers from Malvern Link
BY TONY HOGG
PHOTOS AND PAINTING BY WM. A. MOTTA
| Ever
since World War II, Morgans have had a special place in the hearts of American
enthusiasts and, as 1980 is the 70th anniversary of the marque, it is fitting
that we should feature a Morgan as our Salon car for this month. While looking
for a suitable example, we came across the 1938 Morgan 4/4 TT Replica owned
by John Artley of New York City and quickly realized that its history and
accurate restoration qualified it as a Salon car. In the best tradition of buying weird and wonderful motorcars, John Artley bought his sight unseen. Three years ago Artley was looking for a car worthy of restoration and he had told his friend Robert Couch, who was in England on business, to keep an eye open for him. Couch called long distance one day to say that he had come across a 1938 Morgan 4/4 TT Replica. Not having the least idea what it was, Artley rushed to Gordon's Bookstore on East 55th St and picked up a copy of a book called More Morgan by Gregory Houston Bowden. On page 132, he found a picture of a TT Replica being driven by someone named Dixon Smith. The caption described the car as being one of the two rarest kinds of 4-wheeler Morgans, the other being the Le Mans Replica, so Artley was immediately interested. He could just make out the |
number
on the front license plate as CAB 652 and, knowing that in England the license
plate number stays the same for the life of the car, he called Couch back
to see if the car really was CAB 652. Couch confirmed that it was, so Artley
asked him to make an assessment of what would be needed to restore the car,
money changed hands and three months later the car arrived in the U.S. As it is today, Artley's 1938 TT Replica is typical of the long tradition of Morgan cars; remarkably similar in construction and with a strong family likeness to the latest model, which we have tested for this issue. Novelty has never been considered a virtue at Pickersleigh Road, Malvern Link, Worcestershire, where the Morgan factory is located, and neither apparently is it a necessity, because Morgan just goes on and on with some 400 cars a year coming out of a plant that at best could be described as quaint but profitable. How the Morgan traditions got started is interesting. Before the turn of the century, the bicycle was the common means of transportation in England, with a superb network of railways for longer journeys. In the early 1900's, the motorcycle started to appear and it primarily appealed to young men with mechanical minds, but as a form of sport rather than transportation. Many |
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