Morgan - Performance Plus Tradition

By: Jonathan Wood .

Few British sports cars attract such universal affection and respect as the Morgan. Manufacturing for a worldwide market, in the same factory at Malvern Link, Worcestershire, that it has occupied since the early 1920s, this family-owned business still produces hand-built cars of a unique character that conjures up bygone days.

The firm's founder, HFS Morgan, was a talented engineer who also possessed a sound grasp of finance — a rare combination. His first vehicle, a three- wheeler runabout powered by a motorcycle engine, was built in 1910 and represented the starting point of a line that endured until 1952.

Progressively, Morgan's trike was developed with sliding-pillar independent front suspension. This was used on the four-wheeled 4/4 of 1936, from which the current Morgan four- and six-cylinder lines take their stylistic and mechanical cues. Morgan is not a company content to rest on past successes, however, and in 2000 it launched the all-new, mechanically advanced Aero 8, enhanced with important elements of traditional Morgan styling.

This authoritatively written and lavishly illustrated book charts the Morgan story from its origins to the present day, and also chronicles the competition activities that have formed a proving ground for various models over the years. Driving impressions, technical specifications, buying hints, and features on topics of special interest such as Morgan's French cousins, the early Rover-powered Plus 4 and Chris Lawrence's TOK 258, add up to a must- have addition to the library of anyone who admires this very British breed of sports car.

Jonathan Wood — author of Rolls-Royce: Spirit of Excellence, another title in the popular Haynes Classic Makes Series — is a respected automobile authority who has written 35 books. He has twice won the Guild of Motoring Writers' Montagu Trophy and is a two- times winner of the US-based Society of Automotive Historians' Cugnot Award.

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