Every week, a small, rather old-fashioned-looking factory in this Worcester town produces 10 cars that look as though they haven’t seen a design change since the 1930s.
In fact, they haven’t. The Morgan sports car is one of the most unusual vehicles in the world and, to many car fanciers, a machine of unmatchable pizzazz.
It conveys an appearance of power, which is no illusion, as its engine compartment stretches about two-thirds the length of the car. And its graceful, flowing lines are unlike anything in modern cars.
The front fender curves gently back to taper into a running board; then its unbroken, majestic line soars up again to form the back fender. The headlights are not recessed, as in modern cars, but sit atop the chassis.
The low doors have a downward-curving line, and the driver sits in an open cockpit, almost terrifyingly close to the pavement, behind a windshield that when not lowered onto the hood rises only about 12 inches.
Beneath this marvel of design is a chassis constructed of ash wood enveloped in a tough, lightweight aluminum skin.
There is something else unusual about the Morgan. With the recent sale of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars to Germany’s Volkswagen, it is one of the last British car company still in British hands. And, dating to 1909, it is the world’s oldest privately owned motor company..
“There were about 50 British carmakers after World War II, but so many pursued the wrong strategy,” said Charles Morgan, 47, joint managing director of the firm with his father, Peter, 78. “It was not just a matter of being eaten up by Big Brother; a lot simply went out of business.”
Part of the secret of Morgan’s success is undoubtedly its resistance to change. A lot has changed under the chassis, said Charles Morgan, but one of its selling points is its 1930s look.
“For at least the next five years, we are committed to the shape very much as it is. It consistently comes up as one of the reasons people buy the car,” said Morgan.
Another reason for Morgan’s survival, he says, may be its stubborn refusal to increase production sufficiently to meet demand. There is a five-year waiting list for Morgans in Britain, and a few years ago leading industrialist Sir John Harvey-Jones, in a television program examining British industrial efficiency, criticized Morgan. He suggested doubling production.
“He didn’t predict the depth of the recession we were in at the time,” Morgan said. “If we had taken his suggestion, it would’ve been the death of the company.”
Morgan does plan to increase production this year, possibly to 600 from 500. Its target is to get the British waiting list down to two years. (The U.S. waiting list is a bit less than one year.)
“It would be unrealistic to have a bespoke product with no waiting list,” he said. “People must be prepared to wait a little bit.”
Half of Morgan’s production is sold in Britain. Germany is the next biggest market, taking about 70 a year, followed by the U.S., France, Italy, Spain and Japan, each accounting for 20 to 30 cars.
“It is the car of choice of Japanese dentists,” Morgan said. “I haven’t worked that one out yet.”
It may seem slightly daft that an American would pay $59,000 for a car that has only two dealers in the country–one in San Francisco, one in Purcellville, Va.–and almost no garages to deal with it.
But Peter Morgan contends that Morgan buyers do not need to worry about a breakdown in some remote spot where no parts are available. Generally speaking, Morgans do not break down, and their durability is phenomenal.
Charles Morgan estimates three-fourths of the four-wheel cars built since 1936 (the original was a three-wheeler) are on the road.
There are six Morgan clubs in the U.S., with members often getting together on weekends to show off and talk about their magnificent machines.
Ronald F. Sullivan of San Francisco, president of a worldwide engineering company, has owned a Morgan Plus 4 since 1958.
“I always wanted a Morgan,” he said on a recent factory visit with his family. “It has more panache than an MG. But in California we say that this is bugs-in-the-teeth motoring, especially when you have the windshield down.”
A collector who owns four other British cars–two Bentleys, a Rolls-Royce Phantom II and a Range Rover–Sullivan came to this town simply because he likes cars.
“Everyone in California who owns a Morgan is nuts,” said Sullivan’s wife, Martha. “They have a club called Mog West, and they meet on this scruffy little place called Pismo Beach.”
She said it was too dangerous to drive a Morgan on American freeways because the car sits so low truckers can’t see it properly.
“You can reach out and touch the pavement in a Morgan,” she said. “It’s scary. But it just feels great to be in it.”
Morgan expects to increase American sales this year, and Peter Morgan said that he would like to have at least a third dealer, in the Midwest, and possibly a fourth, in Florida.
The Morgan has had an unusual history in the U.S. In the 1960s, sales were flat in Britain and continental Europe, and “America almost saved our bacon,” Charles Morgan said.
But then the U.S. government began introducing emission and safety standards that presented problems. The killer was a demand for a 50,000-mile road test. The cost was too great in terms of the number of cars Morgan could sell, so it pulled out of the American market and didn’t get back in until the early 1990s.
“The American authorities are not against small manufacturers, but if they think of any concession for them, the big manufacturers want the same concession,” said Peter Morgan.
For a time, Morgan’s San Francisco dealer sold Plus 4s until 1996, when the EPA started regulating vehicles that ran on propane. Then the Plus 8 was converted to electronic fuel injection.
Of Morgan’s three models–the Plus 8, Plus 4 and 4/4–it sells only the Plus 8 in the U.S. because the testing required is too costly for the less-expensive models.
Though the Plus 8 costs $59,000 in the U.S., according to Bill Fink, owner of Isis Imports in San Francisco, which sells the cars, Morgan had to make adjustments to meet U.S. standards. For example, it has developed an air bag.
Charles Morgan said that, on recent crash tests using dummies, Morgan achieved the lowest injury criteria ever in the U.S. He cites the long hood and the ash in the chassis. “It acts like a hammer handle and takes energy out of the impact,” he said.
Morgan has had its share of famous owners. Peter Morgan considers the most famous as being French actress Brigitte Bardot, who bought one in the 1960s.
“She bought when it was terribly unpopular, and she didn’t know it from Adam,” he said. “She saw one in a showroom in Paris, and literally went in and bought it.”
Famed photographer David Bailey once bought a Morgan and gave it to his second wife, French actress Catherine Deneuve. Their marriage apparently was not helped when he discovered she had mistakenly poured water into the oil filler.
Three kings–Juan Carlos of Spain, Hassan of Morocco and Hussein of Jordan–own Morgans. Mick Jagger used to have one, as did Roddy MacDowell and the late Peter Sellers. No member of the British royal family owns one.
H.F.S. Morgan, the father of Peter Morgan, invented the car and remained the firm’s director until his death in 1959. He was a vicar’s son who was apprenticed to a famous locomotive designer, William Dean.
Later Morgan started a bus service in nearby Great Malvern, and in his spare time invented his car. The first model was a three wheeler–two in front, one behind–that won the French Grand Prix in 1913 and remained in production until 1951.
The first four-wheel car was made in 1936 and the next year won at Le Mans. It was the 4/4 (four wheels, four cylinders).
“It was the forerunner of the 4/4 we produce today,” said Charles Morgan. “But whereas it went from 0 to 60 miles an hour in 24 seconds, today’s model does it in 5 seconds.”
Morgan employs 140 workers, all skilled craftspeople, and it puts a lot of emphasis on training. Apprentices go through a four-year training program, but they tend to stay with the company.
Valerie Harris, 46, is a machinist in the trim shop and a Morgan owner. She and her husband saved up to buy one after they had raised their children, and the car is registered in her name.
“They look so classic,” she said. “They turn heads. We were driving through Yorkshire recently, and when a boy standing by the roadside saw us, his mouth dropped open. I thought, `He’ll have one one day.’
“We’ve made a lot of friends through the Morgan Club and been to a lot of places we would never have. It’s our social life.”
She said she paid $50,000 for her car. “It’s a lot of money, but it’s great,” she said.
