Driving the past into the future
by: Peter Hayward
SO MANY of us drivers – mainly men it must be said – stare wistfully after every Morgan sports car hoping one day to own one. That iconic shape is the epitome of a 1930s roadster but with modern engines and brakes able to match the crowded roads we all face today.
Of course, most of those lusting after a Morgan would like the Rover V8 engined Plus 8, or Ford V6 engined Plus 6 with their amazing straight line performance, but the 1.6 engined 4/4 is just as much fun, much cheaper to buy and run and there are many more around.
Basically, most Morgans almost up to the present are based around a layout which started production about 80 years ago.
So you get a steel chassis with a live rear axle and the company’s signature sliding pillar front suspension, with a traditional ash-framed body covered in a steel skin on earlier cars, but aluminium later.
Under that gorgeous bonnet – which stretches out in front of you from the low driver’s seat – sits a Ford engine in almost all models.
There are still many earlier and pre-WWII Morgans on the roads, but very few come to market these days so I’ll concentrate on the cars built after 1968 when the power unit was a Ford 1600 crossflow boasting between 70 and 95bhp and it was followed in 1982 by the 1,597cc Ford CVH unit that had 95bhp.
Later models were the first to be fitted with a five-speed gearbox – all previous gearboxes were four-speed.
In 1991 the CVH engine, with electronic fuel injection, boosted power to 100bhp, and in ’93 the 1.8-litre Zetec was slotted in, giving an output of 114bhp.
This continued until 2006, when the 1.8 Duratec replaced it, boasting a heady 125bhp, and finally from 2009 to 2018 the 1,595cc Ford Sigma unit was introduced, giving 110bhp.
The 50s and 60s cars were slow by today’s standards, taking about 20 seconds to get from 0 to 60mph.
But the 4/4 is a very light car and as power increased, so did performance. The last Sigma engine models are good for the 60mph sprint in about eight seconds and will reach a maximum of 115 miles an hour.
This is the cheapest and least powerful model in the Morgan range and most have only been driven on high days and holidays so even early cars can come with very low mileage.
Of course, owners love them so most have been meticulously maintained and command very high secondhand prices. Historically, the waiting list for new ones was so long that many people bought secondhand instead.
Road-holding is very good, within the limits of the firm suspension and live rear axle, but it can be upset by rough surfaces mid-corner.
The ride is stiff so you feel bumps and ripples through the seat of your pants. But the experience of driving a Morgan is second to none and I would delight in owning one.
Later hoods are reasonably easy to put up and down, but the side screens – there are no side windows – take a little longer to fit.
There is only room for two, of course, and very little stowage for luggage or shopping – that’s why so many on the roads have a luggage rack on the back.
Equipment includes very little apart from an immobiliser and an efficient heater but leather seats were an extra £700.
£11,000 for a ’75 1.6 needing some work, £20,000 for an ’83 model in good condition or £24,000 for a ‘94 model also in good condition.