Rehabilitating an old Moggie

ownership should have started like this: a drive home through the beautiful villages of North Essex, then the back-roads of Cambridgeshire and the familiar and pretty villages of East Northamptonshire. It should have been a sunny-Sunday experience of blipping downshifts and sweeping bends – except that for me it was chronic misfiring, horrific handling, binding brakes, smoke, a sauna-like cabin and parts spraying themselves across the carriageway. Plus an AA truck and home in the dark. They didn’t mention this in the welcome pack.

I had a feeling we might have some trouble, and I would rather break down in a village than on the M25. I’ve known my 4/4, a 1600cc Ford CVH-powered two-seater with a four-speed Rocket ’box, since the mid-1980s, when my father bought it from the original owner. For the next 25 or so years, my parents spent many a weekend living the Morgan life, with pleasant drives out to watch village cricket on sunny days and trips to the coast.

My father no longer drives and for the past decade the car has covered an ever-decreasing annual mileage, the reason for my comedy drive home. Although it had been superbly maintained throughout its life, not being driven regularly had created a list of recommissioning jobs. Most were pretty simple – the misfire was cured with a new battery and cleaning up all the electrical connections in the engine bay. A full service didn’t do it any harm either and, while I was at it, I soundproofed the entire cabin with Dynamat and made some cover plates for the three large access holes in the transmission tunnel that Morgan left open and which allow engine heat to pour into the cabin. Why they did this, I have no idea.

Then there were the tyres. While thumbing through the car’s paperwork, I came across the original receipt for five new Michelin XAS tyres from Vintage Tyres. They still look new today, with all their tread, but the receipt shows they were bought by my father in 2003 and are therefore 17 years old. It would have been easy to ignore their age (they do look perfect) but they are all that connects the car to the ground, and the risk is not worth running.

I called in at Vintage Tyres (vintagetyres.com) and, with old and new side-by-side, you could feel with just a press of the thumb how hard the old ones had become. As the new XASs went on, complete with new tubes and rim tape, VT’s Ben Field said: ‘We’ve just let the air out of them we put in almost two decades ago.’

So what’s the 4/4 like to drive now? It feels good, but there’s more improvement to come. I’ve already obtained a five-speed Type 9 gearbox, as my wife and I intend to drive the wheels off this thing. But first the handling needs sorting; fortunately, there’s a well-tested and proven upgrade available. More on that soon.

Above, left and below

New boots for the wire wheels were fitted at Vintage Tyres – who last did the job in 2003; with that and the misfire sorted, it was time for some fun, and more improvements are planned.