Car of his dreams worth waiting for
Two years ago Nigel Williams splashed out $250,000 on his dream car – a Morgan.
It’s a make of car that people either know well or haven’t heard of, the Taranaki man says.
‘‘It cost me a quarter of a million bucks – worth every penny.’’
The firm was founded in 1910. Morgans are handmade in an English factory and can take years to build as each piece is picked out by the buyer.
‘‘There’s not a Morgan that’s the same,’’ Williams said.
When asked why he bought a Morgan, Williams replied, ‘‘‘cause I’m nuts’’, before explaining that as you get older and get health scares ‘‘you think, how long am I here for?’’.
He went to the car factory in 2015 and, when he left, his wife asked if they owned anything – which he took as support.
‘‘So we phoned and ordered and had to wait about 18 months.’’
Williams’ was one of the 24 cars made by Morgan in 2017. In 2018, eight were made.
He said there are around 200 Morgans in the country, and 22 of them were in Taranaki for the Morgan Sports Car Club of New Zealand’s AGM, which got under way on Thursday, with many owners staying at the New Plymouth Novotel.
Williams believed he had the newest model at the event, a 2017, and fellow Taranaki man Lloyd Gleeson had the oldest, a 1969.
Gleeson bought his Morgan in England in 1974 for 1000 pounds, and did a 20,000 kilometre road trip before shipping it back home.
He got it second-hand from someone who was upgrading, as back in those days people could wait up to seven years for their Morgan to be made.
Allan Duffy, Morgan club president, travelled down from Auckland in the car he’s owned for 22 years.
‘‘I decided I wanted a car older than me,’’ Duffy said. ‘‘Everybody loves them. They give you a wave and a smile.’’
The club is holding a car show at the Wind Wand car park today from 10am until noon.