But, first, for the benefit of, those who have inexplicably missed any Morgan mutterings in R&T over the years, here's a one-paragraph history.
In 1909, H.F.S. Morgan built his first car, a 3-wheeler. Trikes continued in production until 1952. In 1936, sensing that 4-wheel motoring might be more than a passing fad, Morgan introduced the 4/4, its name identifying the number of cylinders and wheels. Since then, engines from one source or another have defined the Plus 4 (whose four cylinders were more powerful than a 4/4's get it?) and Plus 8 (with a Rover V-8).
The only anomaly was when H.F.S.'s son, Peter, got caught up in the Madcap Sixties and brought out the Plus Four Plus, a streamlined fiberglass coupe, only 26 of which were produced. Which brings us to Charles, H.F.S.'s grandson and the company's Operations Manager, and our Road Test of Morgan's new Plus 8. In admiring our Plus 8's classic lines, you'd think that little has changed since 1936. And, in fact, the underslung Z-section steel ladder chassis is still there, albeit now galvanized. And still perched atop it is a framework of Cuprinol-treated ash wood to which body panels of aluminum and stainless steel are attached. With little nails and screws. Lots of them.
Just as cars used to be assembled.
But the aluminum front fenders, wings, our British pals call them-are no longer pounded out by hand; instead, they are made by an innovative vacuum-forming technique. It's not the first time this process has been used in the auto industry, but it's certainly the first time such technology reached as far as Malvern Link. And therein lies a tale: As fenders were previously handcut and formed to fit, Morgan had no drawings or patterns to offer its tooling supplier, Superform Aluminium. Instead, Superform digitized the fender shapes of three separate cars and used CATIA design software to produce a theoretical image of the typical Morgan front fender. From this, a one quarter-scale model was formed and used to devise the tooling.
