Morgan is coming back to the US

[bigpoppanils]

(18:41:56 June 04, 2003)

Autoweek.com

The Morgans Are Back! This time, with full U.S. certification

By MARK VAUGHN

In the eyes of many a sports car lover, Morgans have always been the quintessential example of the breed—open-topped English two-seaters with flowing fenders and front engines driving the rear wheels. They were also hard to get here in America—until recently each one was lovingly converted to U.S. specs by just two shops at opposite ends of the country.

Well, no longer do you have to wait six months or a year to drive off in your U.S.-legal Morgan. Now you can buy as many Plus 8s as you like right here in the States through any of six factory dealers—and you can officially register them, pass smog tests and even crash-test them into a fixed barrier at 30 mph if you want to.

We drove a U.S.-spec Plus 8 recently, courtesy of Morgan West in Santa Monica, California (www.MorganWest.net, 310-998-3311; or www.morgan-motor.co.uk). It felt so refreshing it was almost quaint; we wished we’d brought a tweed cap. True to tradition, our Plus 8 rode on a frame of English ash, “A tub made of Louisville sluggers,” said Dennis Glavis, Managing Director of Morgan of Santa Monica, one of the six registered dealers in America.

To that frame is bolted an independent sliding pillar front suspension (originally patented by Morgan in 1909) with coil springs and adjustable shocks, while the rear rides on semi-elliptic leaf springs with adjustable telescopic shocks. Eleven-inch discs with four-piston calipers stop the front end while nine-inch drums brake the rear. Plus 8s are powered by the 187-hp 16-valve Land Rover 4.0-liter V8, longitudinally mounted, of course, and driving the rear wheels, just as God and Her Majesty intended it.

Our brief drive was both fun and revealing. We expected more squeaks and shimmies than we actually found. Initial inputs from bumps or potholes would twist the frame a bit but then the torsional cranking would stop—there was not a lot of secondary or tertiary vibrations or undulations. It absorbed road wallops with ease. You could live with this car much easier than you could with a slightly tighter Caterham, Westfield or Beck Spyder, for instance, though those alternatives might be slightly more thrilling. In the Morgan, it’s harder to scare yourself.

The Land Rover V8 has loads of torque, which gushed through the powertrain at every green light. The engine ran quiet, the chassis is screwed together well, and the combination makes for a very quick car. Not quick like a Cosworth-powered Superlight R we had driven a few months before (AW, Feb. 17), but quick. Glavis said we could expect a 0-to-60 time of 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 135 mph.

Morgan owners and enthusiasts love the cars as much as the company history. H.F.S. Morgan built the first three-wheeler to bear the family name in 1909. The first four-wheeler appeared in 1936 and the first Plus 8 in 1968. Now Charles Morgan, grandson to H.F.S., runs the company.

The one thing that is not all vintage and quaint is the price. Plus 8s range from $64,000 to $72,000, which nearly puts it into Viper/911 territory. Such is the price of fame. Morgan is aiming for 100 to 150 Plus 8 sales in the United States this year, followed by the introduction of fully federalized Morgan Aero 8s early next year. Look for the Aero 8 at the Los Angeles auto show in January. Tell them H.F.S. sent you.

[bigpoppanils]

specs:

MORGAN PLUS 8

ON SALE: Now

BASE PRICE: $64,000

POWERTRAIN: 4.0-liter, 187-hp, 225-lb-ft V8; rwd, five-speed manual

CURB WEIGHT: 2090 pounds

0-60 MPH: 5.6 seconds (mfr.)

no...this isnt a kit....still manufactured on a wooden frame

here is the Aero 8

this model has an aluminum frame and a 280hp V8 sourced from the last generation BMW 740i and weighs 2200 pounds

i believe 0-60 time is around 4.5 seconds, and it is going to be priced at $100k