Gordon Pflug (of Sutton & Pflug) once told me that on new years day every
car in inventory became a year newer! During the Plus 4 (series I?) years,
California went by "First Registered" rather than date of manufacture. It
was only after 1968 when the "Ralph Nader laws" took effect that actual
"Date of Manufacture" or "Year Model" became an issue. Also, at least
during those years, Morgan did not have "Year Models." Changes were made
(yes, they did make changes) when changes were necessary without regard to
"Model Year." The chassis number rather than year is more important when
determining the specification of a Morgan.
Gerry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hermen Pol [SMTP:polmognl@wxs.nl]
> Sent: Friday, August 20, 1999 12:58 AM
> To: Jane McDaid; Michael D. Miles, PE; morgans@autox.team.net
> Subject: Model years
>
> Dear all,
>
> Years of build and/or registration can be a tricky business. After all, a
> car despatched from The Factory on -say- 2 January 1979 can be qualified
> as
> a 1979 car, while it clearly was built 1978, just like a car despatched on
> the 31st of December 1978. It just depends on how broad or narrow minded
> one
> is.
>
> Of course, the further away from Malvern a Morgan goes, the larger the
> margin becomes. After all, a car shipped in mid or late December of any
> year
> is not due to be registered in the USA or other non-European countries
> before the following year. In those cases, checking the data with the MMC
> will learn that a car dates from -say- 1966, whereas the registration
> authorities don't recognise the car before 1967. So, there you are.
>
> Then there is the question of model year. The model years in England
> usually
> start around October, the traditional date of the Motor Show. So, if you
> own
> a +8 built to the specifications of the +8 displayed at the 1977 Motor
> Show,
> you have a 1978 model year +8! That means that there's some 3 months
> overlap
> every year between model year and year of registration.
>
> Morgan history has even seen some extreme cases of model year vs year of
> registration. In these cases it was stated in their books: "see .....
> before
> giving date of manufacture"!
>
> After the Morgan has become "illegal" in the USA and more work became
> necessary to make it street legal, the margin at your side has even grown
> bigger. So, decide for yourself which year your Morgan dates from.
>
> Hermen Pol
> Holland
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