Wednesday 10 November 2010

The Boss's Car - Morgan AeroMax



A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to go on a guided tour of the Morgan Motor Company. To arrange the tour I visited the Morgan website two weeks in advance and made a booking. As I hope you shall see over the next couple of days I had a fabulous time.



The Morgan Motor Company was founded in 1909 by HFS Morgan in Malvern Worcestershire and is the oldest British motor manufacturer in continuous private ownership. Today the company is run by the Grandson of HFS, Charles Morgan and as luck would have it this is his personal one of a limited edition of just one hundred AeroMax models.



The Aeromax is capable of 0 - 60 mph in 4.5 seconds and will take you on to a 170mph.



Every detail of a Morgan is a testament to the genius of craftsmen, as we shall see there are power tools in the factory but there is no mechanised assembly line or machines stamping out parts.



Power for the AeroMax comes courtesy of a BMW V8, so far as I know Morgan has always used proprietary motors.



From the trunk of the Aeromax allegedly is large enough for a couple of Golf bags.



In 1991 the Britain's first reality TV businessman Sir John Harvey Jones was horrified to find Morgan with a seven year backlog of orders were still crafting their vehicles by hand in the Troubleshooter TV series, he advised Peter Morgan to modernise, increase production and prices. Bravely Morgan ignored this advice and the TV coverage led to the waiting list for new Morgans to extend from 7 years to 10 years. Sir John says he is pleased that Peter Morgan stuck to his guns and ignored his advice.

Hope you enjoyed my introduction to the Morgan Car Company, tomorrow I'll take you inside the factory to see how these cars are made, wishing everyone a sunny day, don't forget to come back now !