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It was in 1936 that the first 4-wheel Morgan 4/4s were available; indeed the first production 4/4 was entered by H.F.S himself in the London-Exeter Trial on December 27, 1935. The designation 4/4 has nothing to do with the number of seats, but refers to the number of wheels and the number of cylinders. Morgan 4/4s were offered in either 2- or 4-seater form. At the time, the company was producing a 3-wheeler model using a 4-cylinder 933-cc flathead Ford Eight engine, which was much more civilized than the V-Twin models. It didn't take very much work to redesign this car incorporating two wheels at the rear and a conventional driveshaft, and this was the prototype for the 4/4 series. However, for the production models it was decided to use the Coventry Climax 1122-cc engine, which had overhead intake and side exhaust valves. When tested by The Light Car, the maximum speed was slightly over 70 mph. In 2-seater form the car was offered at $1200 at the rate of exchange of the period, which meant that, in the Morgan tradition, it was aimed at the middle class income group and the car was in competition with the lower end of the MG range. Its success is proven by the fact that a total of 883 4/4s were built before World War II stopped production in 1939. As usual, the cars were simply constructed using readily available components so they could be maintained easily by the owner. Although John Artley's car was actually built in 1937, in its original form it was a normal 4/4 and wasn't converted to TT Replica specifications until 1938. Apart from TT Replicas, there were also some Le Mans Replicas and, as far as anyone can tell, there were about six of each built by the factory. A major feature of the Replica cars is that they had Coventry Climax engines of 1098 cc to bring the car within the 1100-cc competition class. Incidentally, this engine was quite different from the 1100-cc Climax racing engine of the Fifties, which was a single-overhead-camshaft unit of very lightweight construction designed to power portable fire pumps, and which was adapted by Colin Chapman and John cooper, among others, for use as a racing engine. The 1098-cc unit used by Morgan was not a linered down 1122-cc engine, but it was underbored at the factory when it was built. However, other engines were linered down and various 1098-cc engines found their way into Morgan 4/4s. The true 1098-cc competition engines, as supplied by the Climax factory, had carefully balanced crankshafts and flywheels and various configurations of manifolding and carburetion were available. |
The first 4/4s were supplied with Moss gearboxes. Artley's car has a Moss, which may or may not be original, but even if it isn't it is perfectly legitimate and anyway the Moss was the better of the two. The transmission is driven through a short shaft from the single-plate clutch. Artley's car had had three different factory engines. The first was the 1122-cc Climax used when the car was built and this was followed by a 1098-cc when the car was converted to TT Replica specs, and then late in the Forties this engine was blown up by Jim Goodall and replaced with a 1267-cc Standard Special engine, which is in the car today. Due to lack of availability of Climax engines, the Standard engine had by then become original equipment in the cars and it had a special overhead valve conversion, developed for Morgan, with a single downdraft SU carburetor. However, Artley has an original 1098 Climax in a box, and his next project is to install it. Apart from the engine, the main difference between a normal 4/4 and the TT and Le Mans Replica cars is that in the latter, speed was the primary objective and it was not compromised by driver comfort. The most apparent differences are the cycle-type front fenders, the external exhaust system with its straight-through muffler and the aero screen for the driver. Actually, the car had a full-width screen when it was acquired by Artley and he has retained it so that it can be reinstalled at a later date if necessary. In addition, the Replicas came with 17-in. wheels instead of 16 in., to give taller gearing throughout, and the method of mounting the spare wheel and the general configuration in the back are different. The actual Le Mans race cars were equipped with 26-gal. tanks instead of the 9-gal. standard tanks. As with a number of similar sports cars of the day, which tended to be pretty stark and free of creature comforts, it was not too difficult to convert a standard Morgan into a racing car. Although a TT Replica, Artley's car is pretty much normal Morgan practice of the era, and it is also nearly all original. The car has a wheelbase of 92.0 in. and an overall length of 140.0 in. The width is 54.0 in. and the curb weight is about 1400 lb. The chassis frame is Z-section steel pressings, underslung, with inverted U-section crossmembers. |
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