Hey Gang,
Yes the stamps are a nice set but how about the Morgan on the stamp? Here's
a little info courtesy of North American Trike.
That particular car is a '39 DHC 4/4 (NOT PLUS 4 AS STATED!) currently owned
by Allen Naille (who happens to also be a Three-Wheeler guy) in Arizona (the
state immediately to the east of California). It was previously owned by
Spence Young of Arizona (the state immediately to the west of New Mexico) but
was sold by him in 1991. It is my understanding that Allen intends to restore
the car "sometime" but it is still in very runable condition.
The '39 DHC was originally owned by George Goodall for 21 years. Sorry, but
I don't know right off hand if anyone owned it between Goodall and Young.
Spence Young still has the original photo from which the stamp was made and
does not know how it (the photo) came to be in England. "Unless," says
Spence, "I mailed a copy of the photo to George or Peter Morgan. I visited
the works in the 70's and took several 8 X 10 photos to George's son, Jim
Goodall."
When John Sheally drove his Three-Wheeler from sea to shining sea in 1980,
Spence and Ginney Young joined up with him in the '39 DHC for the run from
Phoenix to Palm Springs... pretty inhospitable country for old Moggies, but
this is a very adventuresome group of folks. You can see a rear shot of the
DHC on the road in Sheally's book.
This '39 4/4 DHC car is also featured in Automobile Quarterly, Vol. 30, No.
2, pp 92 & 93. Although it was already owned by Allen Naille at the time of
the photo shoot for this article, it was driven by Spence Young, the former
owner.
When the stamp issue became common knowledge a few months ago Spence Young
wrote to Peter Morgan telling him how nice it was to see the former Goodall
car used for the cover. Peter responded with a hand written letter and a copy
of the cover (along with a copy of the current Morgan catalog... always
selling, always selling!). Peter also acknowledged the caption error of the
"Plus 4" when it should have been "4/4."
I am sad to announce that Spence Young, at age 75 has retired from Morgan
racing and ownership. A few months ago he sold both his Plus 4 and his
Three-Wheeler, both of which went to good homes. Fortunately for all of us he
is still interested in helping us along (see North American Trike Vol. 1, No.
2). He is good people as is demonstrated by the fact that he is not at all
interested in the "Plus 4 vs. 4/4" argument.
--Colin Cobb, '66 Plus 4 & '36 F2
Spreading the news outside Las Cruces, New Mexico
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