Morgan Motor Co of Malvern Link is a British automobile manufacturer.
1906/9 Henry Morgan produced a 24 h.p. shaft-drive model. [1]
1910 The company was founded by H. F. S. Morgan assisted by William John Stephenson Peach and was run by Peter Morgan , son of H.F.S., until his death in 2003. The early cars were two seat three-wheelers, and thus count as cyclecars. They were designed to avoid a British tax on cars by being classed as motorcycles. Competition from the likes of the Austin 7, with comparable economy and price and better comfort, made cyclecars less attractive. Morgan's first four-wheeler was the 4/4, for four-cylinder engine and four wheels.
1910 Private company.
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices see the 1917 Red Book.
1919 October 16th. Factory extension opened with additional 30,400 sq. ft. making a total of 50,000 sq. ft.
1919-30 Made around 18,000 of the three-wheel model
In spite of their traditional design, Morgans have modern sports car performance, due to their very low weight. The Morgan Plus 8, which for many years used the 3.5L (215ci) aluminium V8 licenced from GM (shared with Rover), though later versions of the engine were provided in 3.9L, 4.0L and 4.6L capacities. This was powered by a fuel-injected 196 hp Rover V8 in its final iteration and could accelerate from 0-60 mph in 5.6 seconds. Enthusiasts work on the engine, exhaust and electronic chip management to improve this figure.
1951 Exhibitor at the 1951 Motor Show in the Car Section.
1961 Manufacturers of the "Morgan" three and four wheeler sports cars. [2]
1963 Motor Show exhibitor. Showed 'Plus Four' models. [3]
For a few years in the 1980s, Plus 8s were imported into the United States after conversion to run on LPG (propane) as fuel to pass the U.S. emissions regulations. Modern Morgans are legally imported into the United States once more.
In 2000, the Morgan Aero 8 was introduced and, as always, the wooden body substructure was ash. (Contrary to popular myth, however, the chassis is metal; aluminium for the Aero 8). The Aero 8, with a BMW V8 engine in a car half the weight of the BMW, is even faster than the Plus 8, delivering what Autoweek magazine termed super car performance.
In 2004, the Morgan Roadster was launched to replace the Plus 8 which had to be withdrawn once the supply of suitable V8 engines was exhausted.
The factory is located in Malvern Link (an area of Malvern in Worcestershire) and has 155 employees. All the cars are assembled by hand. The waiting list can be up to a year. Production is nine cars a week and each car takes three months to build.
List of Models
- Morgan Motor Co: Runabout
- Morgan Motor Co: Plus Four 1950-68
- Morgan Motor Co: Plus Eight 1948-
- Morgan Motor Co: 4/4 1936-
- Morgan Motor Co: Aeromax
- F4/F-Super 3 wheeler 1936-51
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Automobile Vol. III. Edited by Paul N. Hasluck and published by Cassell in 1906.
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ 1963 Motor Show
- [1] Wikipedia
- British Motor Cars 1950/51