Morgan

Morgan's way of producing cars is unique. In this day and age, the company still makes use of real craftsmanship in every aspect of building its characterful cars, and every Morgan can be made to a bespoke specification to suit the individual customer's wishes. In Making a Morgan, you can follow a very traditional model, a Morgan Plus 4, through every step of its build, from customer specification sheet to finished car – a process that, in this instance, takes 17 days. During their stay in Malvern, the authors spent every day at the Pickersleigh Road factory and, in doing so, established a real rapport with the the Morgan craftsmen and craftswomen. A rapport that allows this book to present a truly intimate portrait of the individuals who so proudly build Morgans, and the painstaking way they go about their work. Featuring some 380 images, including a range of archive photos from the Morgan factory, this is a rare overview of a unique, and very British, manufacturing tradition. Never before in over 100 years of rich history has the Morgan production process been documented in such detail.

A collection of international articles lead us through the Morgan story since the birth of the Plus 8 in 1968. Models reported on include the 4/4, Plus 4, Plus 8, amd the new Aero 8.

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This book covers that exciting period when it was possible to buy a Morgan from the showroom, use it for commuting all week, and then compete with it in motor sport at the weekend with an excellent chance of success. We cover such events worldwide and also the factory developments over these years. Unusually we have published two Forewords, one from Lew Spencer describing how Morgans became popular and successful in the USA, and one from Charles Morgan, describing what it was like growing up in the Morgan family at this time.

This book is the third in a series by Jake Alderson Alderson and Chris Chapman detailing the competition and development history of the four-wheeled Morgan. However, it reads well as a stand-alone volume. It covers the exciting period in the early Sixties when the Plus 4 was at the peak of its success and there was much activity at the factory to secure the survival of the marque during a period of falling sales. Morgan nearly always tested new ideas in works competition cars before adopting them for production, so the authors believe that the Morgan story is best told chronologically. This has been achieved through exhaustive research over many years with the encouragement of the late Peter Morgan who wanted the story of his marque to be told in detail. Research has been enabled through access to company records and countless interviews with the people involved who have contributed anecdotes, behind the scenes information and many photographs not previously published. The book takes its title from the involvement of Chris Lawrence and his LawrenceTune team who had begun privately developing the Plus 4 model for racing in the late 1950s. By 1961 Lawrence was running the factory works team of racers in the UK and Europe, regularly humbling significant opposition including Porsche. In 1962 he took Peter Morgan's new low-line Super Sports design to Le Mans with co-driver Richard Shepherd-Barron, who contributes the foreword to the book, and finished 13th overall and first in class. Morgan competition around the world is covered in detail, including the important scene in the US, Morgan's biggest market at the time. It was a pivotal period for the company's future. Important developments are fully covered, including the radical glass fibre bodied Plus 4 Plus and the evolution of the Ford powered 4/4 into a proper sports car.

This Portfolio traces Morgan's 4-wheeler cars from the introduction in 1978 of the Rover V8 powered Plus 8. This engine was used in Morgans for 35 years.

One of the UK's most experienced and respected motoring writers traces the products of this most British of car manufacturers, from the pioneering three-wheelers of more than a century ago through to the first 62 years of four-wheeled car production. "Morgans To 1997" is a comprehensive guide to a range of cars that have commanded a fanatical following and led to the creation of a vast collection of flourishing owners' clubs throughout the world. After a review of four decades of three-wheeler production, the author traces and describes the four-wheelers from the original 4/4 through the Plus 4 to the blistering Plus 8 in their different body styles, and takes the reader into the Morgan factory for a rare insight into the traditional production techniques still adopted in the manufacture of these hand-built cars. Technical specifications and performance figures add to the reference value of this attractive volume.