How I Came To Find My Morgan
My search for a Morgan started in 1949 when a friend of my father's
came by our house with a Model A roadster and I went for a ride in the
rumble seat. Even at five I knew that a straightforward open air ride
was good.
Two years later, when some supercilious guy dating my older sister
came by with an MG and told me that "mice" were under the hood and he
wouldn't open it for me because they would all escape, I knew in my
soul that there was something better than this.
About ten years later when Bonnie Currie went roaring by our home in
New Hampshire in a brand new bright red Alfa Giulietta convertable
that belonged to her father, I knew that this, in it's entirety, was
very good, but very likely unattainable.
In 1965 I actually looked at and sat in a British racing green Plus
four in a showroom somewhere in Massachusetts, priced at about
US$3500 (I still have the brochure with the salesman's scribblings
around somewhere) but didn't get to drive it, settled later for an
Alfa TI sedan for about US$2500.
The Alfa got traded on a 1967 BMW 1600/2, which got traded (!!) for a
Volvo station wagon when my son Sam was born in 1974. This Volvo was
supplemented with a 1963 PV544 which, once the tree which was growing
up through the engine compartment was removed, the cat and her kittens
evicted, the bullet holes in the windshield plugged, brakes, carbs,
u-joints,etc replaced, I drove as a fun car until January 1996. I
still think that Volvo is the second-best fun car on the planet and
would have kept it if I had garage space.
Sold the Volvo to the gentleman in Stratford, CT who sold me my 1957
Plus Four. A "fully restored, VSCCA race ready" antique ivory beauty
that died on the way home from Stratford, CT and that I undoubtedly
paid way too much money for. I saw this car during one of my many
sojourns with my long-suffering wife of 30 years to Look At Morgans,
and she finally said: "Look, why don't you just buy the dam thing!" as
I stood mooning over said Morgan. So I did.
Despite my Tale of Woe (starter, generator, brakes, front suspension
including tie rods and king pins, disconnected and leaking One Shot
Oiler, rust-filled gas tank) which after reading this web page doesn't
really sound remarkable at all, I now have a car which I have been
tooling around the VSCCA circuit with, following the pack and sliding
around on my Avon HM Tourist 5.25 x 16's and having a tremendous
amount of fun.
I need to give the car a tune up this weekend, do some other crucial
stuff, including finding that vent hole for the rear axle. Don't think
I'll get to trimming those hedge bushes or pulling up that
pachysandra.
Funny. I don't feel like a new Morgan owner. And I don't regret a
thing.
Chip Brown
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