Looking for a new boat? This may suit you.

[Athy]

2 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

Bulit over 1000 in the first two years with 600 orders in the first month. Not been in the new one, but been in my old physics masters pre-war morgon aero.

 

I'm assuming that you mean the three-wheeler. Unless Morgan have modernised their production methods (surely not!) those figures are incredible. For many years it was said that they built only about 12 cars per month. If that is still the case then there can be little capacity remaining for the construction of four-wheelers.

I don't think I have yet seen one on the road; perhaps most go for export, as third cars for Californians or similar.

When I was a boy in Sheffield, the son of the family next door had a Morgan 3-wheeler, which was regarded at that time as odd and old-fashioned, certainly not valuable or collectable! I never went in that as far as I can remember.

 

[X Alan W]

1 hour ago, Athy said:

Not a new idea. Some of the three-wheeler Morgan Aeros with a JAP (as opposed to Jap) V twin engine had the whole engine totally exposed in front of what would normally have been the bonnet. 

Yes, the Méhari (named, rather oddly, after a type of camel) was the jeepy variant, comparable to the Mini-Moke I guess. It was quite extensively used by the French Army as well as being sold for civilian use.

The three legged Morgan (air cooled ) had either JAP or Matchless "V" twin Odd one"s (God help them) have been re engined with the Moto Guzzi Air cooled 'V' twin

[X Alan W]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

Now that a nifty way to get the cooling air to an air cooled engine.

A friend had a Mehari ???? a sort of plastic military jeep based on a 2cv. He also had a "dynamite" which is the 4 cylinder citroen air cooled engine shoe-horned into a 2CV, we raced it against my go faster 1300 minivan and the mini won.

..........Dave

I think that the Above is &"Le Patron"a Dutch kit car they do either 3/4 wheel versions based on 2CV doner vehicles

[nbfiresprite]

9 minutes ago, Athy said:

I'm assuming that you mean the three-wheeler. Unless Morgan have modernised their production methods (surely not!) those figures are incredible. For many years it was said that they built only about 12 cars per month. If that is still the case then there can be little capacity remaining for the construction of four-wheelers.

I don't think I have yet seen one on the road; perhaps most go for export, as third cars for Californians or similar.

When I was a boy in Sheffield, the son of the family next door had a Morgan 3-wheeler, which was regarded at that time as odd and old-fashioned, certainly not valuable or collectable! I never went in that as far as I can remember.

 

They build about 1200 cars per year so 23 cars per week hand built by 180 staff.

[Athy]

1 minute ago, nbfiresprite said:

They build about 1200 cars per year so 23 cars per week hand built by 180 staff.

Blimey, a British-owned company thriving and expanding, that is good to hear. I guess that their business model of reaching 1955 and damn' well staying there (at least superficially) would not work for all branches of industry, though.

[Graham Davis]

1 hour ago, BilgePump said:

I think the blue kit car is a Lomax and they also did a three wheel version with the same front end styled after the old Morgans. How to turn a 2CV into a 3 wheeler? Relatively easy. Each wheel is on an independent arm. On the back end, if you throw one away and turn the other one inwards you are nearly there.

Correct it is a Lomax 224, 2 cylinder, 2 seater, 4 wheeled.
Did look at the 3 wheeled version but decided that around here it would be rather uncomfortable, so went for the 4.
The bonnet moulding between the 2 models is actually the same, but Lomax also did a fuller version that enclosed the engine a bit more.
Biggest problem is that you cannot fit the heat shrouding so you can't have a heater in them.

It s great fun and brings a smile to everyone's face when they see it.

There have been various engines fitted to them, from BMW horizontal twins to various Italian and Japanese V twin motorcycle engines. They all need the front of the bonnet modifying.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Graham Davis

[Graham Davis]

24 minutes ago, X Alan W said:

I think that the Above is &"Le Patron"a Dutch kit car they do either 3/4 wheel versions based on 2CV doner vehicles

Not quite.
Mine is a 1988 Lomax, the body of which was built (moulded) in Cradley Heath and fitted to a 1982 2CV. I have all the DVSA records for the car.

The "Le Patron" were a licenced copy of the Lomax and their bodies are made in Holland so that they can get around some of the legislation in that country about home build kit cars. There have been a few small modifications from the "standard" Lomax body. As far as I know they are still producing kits, whereas the UK company closed down, and has now been bought by a chap in Eastbourne who has all the moulds but doesn't seem to produce a complete kit now, although he does list all the parts. I bought mine from him as he does buy and sell a few.

[Leo No2]

13 hours ago, Athy said:

Fascinating - I never knew this. It was an adventurous choice, as the 2CV wasn't even on sale in Britain at that time (and I don't think that the camionette version ever would be).

Not only on sale in the UK but built in Slough from about '55 to '61 - NB Alton will know more - hence the term 'Slough Built 2CV' - if you did have a pickup it would be worth a few quid now - circa £33K - http://www.coys.co.uk/cars/1955-citroen-2cv-pickup

[nbfiresprite]

1 hour ago, Leo No2 said:

Not only on sale in the UK but built in Slough from about '55 to '61 - NB Alton will know more - hence the term 'Slough Built 2CV' - if you did have a pickup it would be worth a few quid now - circa £33K - http://www.coys.co.uk/cars/1955-citroen-2cv-pickup

Wrong helcopter in the ad, The Wessex did not enter service until 1961. The Whirlwinds at the time were powered by radial piston engines (700hp), the Wessex had Napier Gazelle turboshaft engine (1650hp) which gave more than double the payload over the Whirlwind.. 

[cuthound]

On 19/01/2018 at 19:32, Rickent said:

I wish I still owned my mk1 Escort, mk3,4,5 Cortinas , they would be worth a fortune now.

I genuinely think that the Mk 1 Escort is the best car Ford ever made.

The original Ford Escort was a 100E estate car.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ford+escort+100e+for+sale&client=ms-android-samsung&prmd=sinv&ei=BSBnWpTkMoeUgQbelrXACg&start=10&sa=N&biw=360&bih=616#imgrc=CAfKp0aNsBw1MM:

[Athy]

18 minutes ago, cuthound said:

The original Ford Escort was a 100E estate car.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ford+escort+100e+for+sale&client=ms-android-samsung&prmd=sinv&ei=BSBnWpTkMoeUgQbelrXACg&start=10&sa=N&biw=360&bih=616#imgrc=CAfKp0aNsBw1MM:

It was a more basic variant of the Ford Squire estate built in the second half of the '50s, so long before the better-known Ford Escort. I remember seeing them around but it must be many years since I saw one, except perhaps at a rally.

I just had as mild culture shock when looking at Ford Squire on Wikipaedia: I chanced upon its entry in the Scottish dialect version, which I had no idea existed. I thought my eyes had gone funny at first.

 

[alan_fincher]

Latest news just in.......

How to simulate the driving experience of owning a 2CV, if you don't actually have one.....

BBC News linky.

[ditchcrawler]

how about this, one of many but shows all the extra bits required over and above a battery 

 

[ditchcrawler]

On 20/01/2018 at 16:12, Athy said:

Blimey, a British-owned company thriving and expanding, that is good to hear. I guess that their business model of reaching 1955 and damn' well staying there (at least superficially) would not work for all branches of industry, though.

 

[Athy]

I rest my case. Is that a Plus Four Plus parked behind him?

[Alstonite]

 Is that a Plus Four Plus parked behind him?  Yes, one of only 26 built. My uncle had one for a while from new, ended up part-ex'ing it for a Ford Escort as couldn't sell it. Bet he wish he still had it.

[Athy]

Thanks, I thought as much. So one of the 26 has come home to the Morgan factory and is now in effect preserved - unless it was, perhaps, a demonstrator or prototype which was never sold in the first place.

[Stilllearning]

On 1/20/2018 at 08:37, Mike Tee said:

Don’t forget central locking - you can reach all four doors from the drivers seat.

Yes, there was a wonderful advert I remember seeing in Private Eye: 

Automatic brakes- you press on the brake pedal, and the car stops

Faster than a Ferrari Mondial - a 2CV travelling at 65mph will overtake a Ferrari Mondial travelling at 56mph

 

[Athy]

11 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

Yes, there was a wonderful advert I remember seeing in Private Eye: 

Automatic brakes- you press on the brake pedal, and the car stops

Faster than a Ferrari Mondial - a 2CV travelling at 65mph will overtake a Ferrari Mondial travelling at 56mph

 

Obviously a spoof: when did you ever see a deuche travelling at 65 m.p.h, except when it was travelling along a narrow mountain road and plunged into the gorge beneath?

[Stilllearning]

6 minutes ago, Athy said:

Obviously a spoof: when did you ever see a deuche travelling at 65 m.p.h, except when it was travelling along a narrow mountain road and plunged into the gorge beneath?

Well admittedly I was in my Dyane one day, but as I cruised down the A3 going from Hindhead to Guildford, I clearly remember seeing that the speedo was hard over to the right on the dial, and the engine was almost silent, clearly happy. I did decide to slow down though

[WotEver]

11 hours ago, Stilllearning said:

Well admittedly I was in my Dyane one day, but as I cruised down the A3 going from Hindhead to Guildford, I clearly remember seeing that the speedo was hard over to the right on the dial, and the engine was almost silent, clearly happy. I did decide to slow down though

When I were a lad we were travelling down to Devon one summer when we were overtaken by a little old lady in a Moggie Minor. “She’s doing well!” observed my dad. About a mile down the road we turned a bend only to find said Moggie on its roof on the grass verge with one wheel still slowly spinning. Dad jumped out the car and along with other motorists who’d stopped managed to pull the lady out of her upturned vehicle. Everyone was asking her how she was. She replied “I’m alright but look at my poor car!”