Bob Nogueira <nogera@prodigy.net> writes
> You raise an interesting issue here which happens to be one of my
>favorite topics to think about when on a road trip
>( I really need to find radio that I can hear with the top down)
> I've often heard the story of the conversion from the Flat Rad to Cowl
>being attributed to the lack of Lucas lights. This is usually part of the
>legend that Morgan never makes a changes in design unless forced to or with
>great reluctance. While these make for a good story I don't believe they
>are true.
>First, If one looks at Morgans up to 1954, they in fact developed just as
>any other marque.The four wheeler which was introduced in 1936 also was up
>dated greatly with the introduction of the Plus4 .
>We can thus say that in 1954, Morgan did have a normal history of making
>design changes .
Progress in the car market in the UK generally after WW2 was fairly
slow, although a number of groundbreaking cars were launched, these were
mainly for export. In the UK itself, you could sell almost any porridge,
as new cars were in seriously short supply. Change happened, but was
often fairly slow- Morgan probably was not very different than anyone
else.
>. Now if we take a look at the market in 1954 we will see that Morgan was
>in fact looking at some major competition. Austin Healey was a big hit
>and pretty much in Morgans price range. The Jag 120 had made popular the
>New age body design., and Triumph was preparing to release the TR2 which
>was aimed directly at the Morgan market
>( Note : Lyons, know to be very vindictive and a man who always expected to
>get what he wanted ,was upset after making a offer to buy out Morgan and
>being rejected.
FWIW, I think you may have confused Sir William Lyons, (the Jaguar man),
with Sir John Black, (the Standard/Triumph man). At the 1951 Motor show,
John Black asked if Morgan would like to amalgamate. Slightly later, TR2
engines were restricted by Triumph's Ken Richardson, (possibly because
the Morgan was faster- less weight to lug around). The resurgence of the
4/4 can probably be explained by the easier availability of Ford
engines. Relations with John Black are normally described as cordial-
the Standard Special engine in 4-4s, both pre and post war being
evidence of a good working relationship.
> He ordered the TR model be developed and ready for sale
>with in a year . His instructions were that it sell for the price of a
>Morgan and have the new age style of the XK120 . Production was to be just
>slightly more than Morgans production, )
>I believe that HFS saw these threats coming and knew he had to up date the
>Plus 4s styling to hold his share of the market. Given the limitations of
>the coach built body and the resource of the factory he was limited to what
>he could do with the body. The Updates to the Morgan style came in four
>changes over the next five years These changes occurred in a descending
>order of impact on the style, thus supporting the premise that HFS was
>attempting to up the design as much as possible ;
>1 , The switch to the Cowl front which took its styling cue from the XK120
>and proved so popular that several owners and Dealers returned flat rads to
>the factory to be rebodied as cowl models
>2. The dropping of the double spare tires shortly after the introductions
>of the cowl model . At the time the double spares was though to be very old
>fashion
I would humbly suggest that the demise of the rear trunnion, replaced
with a drop link is another explanation. The increased reliability of
tyres and the reduced importance of trialling are other possible
explanations.
>3. The switch to the flat back from the bustle back .
as above
>4 The widening of the body to cover more of the wings and thus attempt to
>make the Morgan wings appear more like ' vestiges if a fender than actual
>fenders
I'm not convinced of this one- the body tub does not appear to me to
have got much wider until the recent +4 and +8s. In recent years wings
(fenders) have got much wider to cover the huge tyres now fitted- some
cars now look like a cartoon.
>With Peters control of the company I believe he pinned his hopes on the new
>Plus 4 Plus model and did not bother with and further updates to the Plus 4
>styling.
The +4+ never sold well, people preferring the older styling. I'm sure
that the +4+ was only a toe in the water exercise, using the new fangled
GRP. The real salvation was probably the +8 with its colossal increase
in performance and then the nostalgia kick!
>Now if we compare the styling changes made to the Plus 4 during its life to
>the styling changes made to models of the other companies I believe you
>won't find any that updated the styling of a model as frequently as Morgan
>.
Compared to other cars in the UK, I'm not sure this argument works. If
you assume that the +4 lasted from 1950-1969 quite a few cars went
through multiple changes in a similar period. In a much shorter period
there were three versions of the Ford Cortina, even the Morris Minor
evolved from the split screen, side valve, low light to the 1000
Traveller.
>As for Lucas discontinuing the lights being the motivation to change, it
>appears to me that Morgan could have made its own light buckets with far
>less cost and labor than changing the design of the fender . ( hell they had
>to make half a bucket for the cowl model .)
I think that the 'light buckets' are a stamping, the wings, (yes,
fenders again), are a number of rolled steel strips welded together. I
don't think Morgan have ever had a press big enough to make the lights!
Maybe this was engineering pragmatism at its most roundabout.
I don't suppose that anyone will know the truth and in any case the
combination of factors is likely to have been necessary to trigger the
changes. As a Morgan fanatic, I take great pleasure in being able to
trace the basic layout and style of my car from 1910 three wheelers
through to the 1936 4 wheelers, to 1953/54, to the lowlines in 1966 to
my 1972 car. If I can break the piggy-bank, I'd like to trace it to a
1999/2000 4/4 4 str, but I fear the cost is too great!
--
Jeremy Edwards
1972 Morgan 4/4 2 str
Melton Mowbray, England
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