Morgan

The people that I'm travelling with are always poking around in guide books and such, they find things. One recent find for Kathy was the Morgan Auto Plant in Great Malvern, not far from here. I've always avoided plant tours which, I imagined, involved looking at huge machines and things with which I can not connect at any level. But these nifty little cars, not bad.
We left Kathy, oddly, since she found the place, who had no interest in Great M and got to the plant with plenty of time to spare.The archivist for the plant greeted us and, along with about 15 others, we heard how, in 1909, a village pastor by the name of Morgan, who had a mechanical bent designed a 3 wheel vehicle to get him around the hills in the area.

These proved so successful that he received orders from other people and decided to get a shop and produce them. They had an ash wood frame with sheet steel panels and a 2 stroke motorcycle engine. The orders continued and he prospered.

When the driving public became familiar with 4 wheel vehicles the Morgan company smoothly changed to the now familiar sporty version that everybody about my age covets.

They still use the ash frame, but over the years have used modern innovations as they became available. One person is responsible for the complete construction of the wooden frame stage. A set of ancient jigs are used to shape the wheel wells that you can see. We watched craftsmen planing and shaping the various components on old benches.
Galvanized steel frames are used on the newer models that have been and are still added to the line. But individuals still have responsibility for each frame. When the frames have been completed, they are picked up and moved to the shop next door and there the aluminum panels are attached to them. Again one person is responsible for the car. At this stage the wheels and suspension systems and steeling and engines are added so from here on the car is driven from shop to shop.

Here is one of the newer models being made, but with these they seem to come and go depending on their popularity. These vehicles have a BMW v8 and are very fast 0 to 60 in 4.2 seconds or something like that. These cost 127 000. pounds. The interiors are beautiful things with handmade leather seats and hand polished wood trim. The dash is polished aluminum. There is no plastic used.
The traditional models remain the most popular. The entry level is going to cost you 29 000. It has a 4 cylinder engine, and a Ford V8 with a few more options will run you up to 40 000 pounds. 65% of sales are to foreigners, mostly central Europe. The USA only allows the newer models with the steel frames in and Canada is worse they said. As you can see above, 6 of 10 have left hand steering.

They are all hand sprayed. The leather and flooring is cut and sewed on benches right in the shop. If you pay enough you can get any colour that you want. He said that an Italian customer had ordered his with yellow paint, orange leather interior and blue carpets. The Brits in the tour group were heard to mumble, "Just like an Italian. Harrumph."

We had a fun time seeing this very human operation. No robots, no assembly lines. The 100 or so craftsmen felt that the cars were their projects, not 500 number 38 bolts on 500 Ford Tauruses. They hoped to make 800 cars this year.

I sat in one of the expensive ones, but with the difficulty I had getting in and out, I may have missed my Morgan time of life. But you know, the salesman said that it would get easier, and if we sell our car and if we took out a little line of credit, and if Sheelagh gets a little part time job, and if.......