You don’t see very many Morgans around. They’re British cars with a history that dates back 110 years. Henry Fredrick Stanley Morgan, born in 1881, started the company in 1910 and managed it for almost 50 years.
The vehicle that put Morgan on the automotive map was the Morgan Three-Wheeler. The simple lightweight design consisted of two wheels in front and one in the rear powered by a motorcycle engine teamed with an uncomplicated two-speed transmission with no reverse. It was an inexpensive vehicle, and some believe Morgan was the first man to offer motoring for the masses.
Morgan’s first 1910 production vehicle was a single passenger, three-wheel Runabout steered with a tiller instead of a steering wheel. Although the interest was high, not many were sold because it could seat only the driver. So in 1911, a two-seater was introduced, which was quite successful. London’s famous Harrods department store became the first Morgan dealer and, as of today, Morgan is the only car ever displayed in Harrods.
Like many early auto makers, racing was the automotive proving ground, and by 1914, Morgans had won 10 world and British records and 24 gold medals in various reliability contests won in race track victories. In the 1920s, at the Brooklands Race Track, the Morgan was so superior to competitors in its class that they were required to start a lap behind the four-wheel cars.
The three-wheel design, called a cycle-car, meant they could be classified as a motorcycle and thus avoid the British car taxes. These cycle-cars are licensed as motorcycles in the U.S. as well. Morgan even made four-seaters that qualified as cycle-cars. Morgan built the three-wheel cycle-car from 1911 through 1939, and a few were built in 1946, right after World War II. Then, several years ago, Morgan started building three-wheelers again.
In 1936, the first Morgan with four wheels was built. It was called the Morgan 4/4 to indicate that the car had four wheels and a four-cylinder engine. Morgan didn’t ever make their own engines but bought them from other manufacturers including Triumph and Ford. Morgan retained its reputation for building excellent performance cars in 1937 with a few 4/4 models built with a 1098-cubic-centimeter engine by Coventry Climax, developing 42 horsepower.
Morgan cars are hand-built in Malvern, Worcestershire and still use wood to frame the sheet metal. The company has about 220 employees and can build about 850 cars a year. There is a waiting list of about six months to get a new Morgan, and at times the wait time has been as long as 10 years!
Fremont residents Richard and Melanie Smith have been the proud owners of this edition’s 1963 Morgan Plus 4 roadster for seven years.
“I was torn between an MG and a Morgan. I was looking for something British,” Richard said.
His love for British cars started when in high school he helped a neighbor kid work on his Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite. Richard and Melanie are Morgan fans. They frequently go on the Northern California Morgan Club runs in which some Morgan owners actually ship their cars from as far as Europe to drive the beautiful California coast.
The Smiths purchased their Morgan for $19,000, and other than one mechanical problem when an oil line broke, it has had only normal maintenance expenses. Somewhere along its ownership, someone did some restoration, as its interior and exterior look great. The couple did add a luggage rack in the rear and are looking for period-correct, Morgan-type luggage for a reasonable price. The actual mileage is uncertain, as the odometer read 15,000 miles when purchased. The owners estimate the true mileage is probably more like 75,000 miles, which is pretty low for a 57-year-old car. The Smiths estimate its current market value at about $35,000.
This British racing green Morgan is powered by a 103-horsepower, 2-liter Triumph TR3 engine teamed up with a manual four-speed transmission. The seats are black leather. The British would call this Morgan a drop top, while in the United States we would call it a roadster or a convertible, but in neither continent would it be called a luxury car. It is missing a few features we normally associate with luxury cars, like a heater, roll-up glass side windows, a radio, power steering or cup holders. It does have a canvas top that is stored behind the seats but concealed. One way for the amateurs to tell a Morgan from an MG is the Morgan uses a leather strap or belt over the bonnet (hood) of the car — pretty cool.
The Smiths have no plans to sell this classic car. It’s one thing on their bucket list they’ve checked off. Another bucket list item is a trip to England this July to visit the Morgan plant, but right now there are some major “ifs” involved because of the coronavirus.
Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles or to read more of Dave’s columns, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.
Going on hiatus
David Krumboltz’s regular column will go on hiatus until further notice after this week’s column because of the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. In its regular place and on the column’s regular schedule, we’ll run some of Dave’s favorite columns from the past until shortly after the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order has been lifted.
