Made with a heart - Morgan 4/4 & Roadster.

Today I'll be going through the Morgan Factory again looking at the production of the classic 4/4 and Roadster models, which share the same galvanised steel ladder chassis as the old +8.



the Roadster and 4/4 still have a solid rear axle.



Framework for the body of a roadster.



Super formed aluminium panels are bonded with the ash frame.



First stage of a Roadsters body awaiting painting by hand.



After painting has been completed a 4/4 has its interior trim fitted.



Roadster nearing completion just over two weeks since it's chassis was laid.



Roadster awaiting final signing off from the factory floor, powered by a 220 hp US version of the Ford V6 Mondeo engine the car gets to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds and is capable of 134 mph.



A 4/4 powered by a Ford Duratec engine awaiting collection by it's new owner. As it says on the employees sweat shirts 'Morgan - Made with a heart'

Hope you enjoyed these factory tours, well worth a visit in person if you get the opportunity.

Tomorrow I'll be revealing a Morgan scoop made very much with the discerning Jimmy 'Golf Cart' Johnson four time Sprint Cup Champion in mind, Don't forget to come back now !

Perfection In Seven Weeks - Morgan Aero SuperSports

The Morgan Aero Super Sports was launched in 2009, it is a targa version of the limited edition AeroMax I looked at in yesterdays blog.



It takes seven weeks to build a SuperSport starting with the aluminium (clipped British pronunciation) frame.



The 4.8 litre / 293 CUI BMW V8 can be specified with either automatic or six speed manual gearbox. At each stage of assembly only one person is responsible for and works on each vehicle, ensuring job satisfaction for the employee and 'perfection' for the customer.



Notice in the assembly process of the Aero SuperSport how the BMW cam cover will magically disappear.



The body panels are super formed and then finished by hand.



The aluminium body panels are bonded around an ash frame, this type of construction is both extremely light and also meets all the global crash standards required of a 21st century vehicle.



Morgan offer customers a choice of 40,000 colours for their hand painted vehicles, if they don't already have the colour you want they will make it.

The eight vehicles seen here in the Aero SuperSports assembly area will represent an income of over £800,000 pounds / US$ 1.28 million. Seventy percent of Morgans are exported.



As if by magic the BMW cam cover disappears !



Close to complete every detail is double checked to perfection in the Aero SuperSports finishing area.



The next stop for this Aero SuperSports will be either the customer hand over area in the factory or to a dealer.

Chairman Charles Morgan says of this particular model of perfection “ The Morgan Aero SuperSports is a luxurious flamboyant sports car which also remains true to Morgan’s philosophy of lightweight minimalist simplicity. It is a celebration of our love of cars and the romance of travel and is a fitting model to announce during Morgan’s Centenary year.”

Hope you enjoyed today's trip around the Morgan Motor Company following the production of the Aero SuperSport, tomorrow I hope you'll join me in looking at the production of classic Roadsters, don't forget to come back now !

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 !

Top Gear - Lancia Thesis

Lancia was founded by Vincenzo Lancia in 1906 and was run by his wife, son and Vittorio Jano upon Vincenzo's death in 1937. The company was taken over by Fiat in 1969 and has been run as a Premier Fiat brand ever since.



The Thesis was powered by a variety of straight 5 and V6 engines with horsepower ranging from 170hp to 230hp, the top speed of the 230hp V6 is around 150 mph.



Lancia ceased trading in the UK in 1984 after their Ferrari powered Thema failed to sell beyond double figures, so it is always a surprise to see a contemporary Lancia in the UK. The Thesis was in production from 2002 - 2009.



Amongst Lancia trademarks is the use of the letters of the Greek alphabet for the names of it's models. Lancia like Alfa Romeo also make a variety of commercial vehicles rarely seen outside Italy.



Innovations introduced by Lancia include the first mass manufactured monocoque vehicle which dispensed with the separate chassis a type of construction prevalent in the motor industry today, they also introduced V6 and V4 engines along with the first 5 speed gear box's as options for their vehicles.



I was surprised to learn when researching the Lancia Thesis that Lancia was named the greatest car company of all time by the presenters of the 14th series 'Top Gear' a motoring TV show produced by Britain's impartial public broadcaster the BBC.

I'd like to thank everyone from the Rowdy and Cadillac Forums who visited and made the last couple of days here bumper events. Thanks for popping by Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres, don't forget to come back now !

Standard of the World - 1978 Cadillac Coupe Deville

Rounding out a couple of days looking at Cadillac Coupe de Villes is this 1978 model which appears with number plates suggesting that it was registered before August 1976. Cadillac was born out of the Henry Ford Company on August 22nd, 1902, when mechanic & entrepreneur Henry M. Leland put forward to the investors in the company that continued manufacture was a more profitable than factory liquidation.



In 1977 the Coupe de Ville was downsized 9.8 inches saving 750 lbs in weight over its immediate ancestor, the new package was powered by a 7 litre 425 cui V8.



Leland named the new company Cadillac after his ancestor Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac the founder of Detroit. General Motors acquired Cadillac in 1909. Cadillac appears to have been responsible for setting the V8 as the standard configuration in the US Motor Industry.



This particular model can be identified as a 1978 version by the small vertical tail light insets a feature that would remain with the de Ville until 1999.



Cadillac was twice awarded the Dewar Trophy by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) in England for advancement of the automobile industry first in 1909 for developing models with full parts interchangeability in 1908, and again in 1913 for developing the electric starter (thank heavens, that saved an a lot of sweat and probably a few broken arms) and electric lights (hallelujhah, imagine if we were all still driving around by naked flame candle light or propane powered lights ?). These successes led to Cadillac adopting the strap line "Standard of the World".

Slightly off topic, after an amazing Cup race in Texas, kudos to Dangerous Denny Hamlin, there are still three guys in with a chance to win it all, I am glad Happy Harvick managed to pull a 6th place out of the bag, before the last pit stops it looked like he would be lucky to finish in the top 20. It's looking like the only way to keep his championship hopes alive will be two straight win's. I hope Happy over turns the record books and pulls them off, should be a little easier after the #48 pit crew was benched mid race by the Evil Genius Knaus in favour of the #24 crew when they became available.

Hope you enjoyed your visit, thanks for dropping by, wishing every one a mellow Monday, don't forget to come back now !

The conspicuous underdog - 'Petit Pataud' Replica 2/2

Today I'll be sharing some details about John Aibels fabulous 'Petit Pataud' Replica 1950 Series 61 Cadillac Coupe, if you missed the story about the original here is a link to yesterdays post.



John found his bottom of the range Series 61 Cadillac with the correct Petit Pataud 121" wheel base in Iowa, it did not have the optional power windows, amazing I had no idea they had even been thought of in 1950, but Johns car was originally fitted with a Hydra - Matic automatic transmission and he went to considerable trouble to locate a correct manual one as used at Le Mans, an item difficult to find because it is also the transmission of choice amongst hot rodders.



Being a volunteer at CAM (The Collier Collection) John was given access to the original and correctly identified the Marchal driving lights, GI two way radio among many other parts, and noted how and where they were correctly installed. It took around a year to meticulously hunt down these items on E-Bay and to collect all the bits and pieces prior to the car being sent to a restoration shop for a three year restoration.

The car is fitted with a roll bar and five point harness though John is a little sceptical about the capability of the drum brakes to handle serious competition, I am not sure he has the Alfin drums and additional brake ducting
Cunningham had fitted to the original.



Apparently the Cunnigham 'Petit Pataud' was used as both a tow car and shop vehicle after its sturdy service at Le Mans, evidence of this can be seen in this link to a photo of the restored original where a chrome tow hitch cover is plain to see under the bumper, also the original no longer has the 35 gallon long range fuel tank and filler as can be clearly seen on the passenger side of Johns car just behind the C pillar.



He says of his car "You are right everytime we drive the car we get the thumbs up and smiles from a lot of people. It also drives great, it is very comfortable, it just soaks up the bumbs on the roads. She rolls like a ship in the turns, but holds very well."

I'd like to thank John for sharing his photo's and thoughts on his marvellous motor car, a reminder of a golden age of optimism, a time when with a few good connections a showroom car fitted with a double barrel carburettor, some French springs, a long range fuel tank and GI two way radio you could compete in one of, if not the most romantic race in the world.

Thanks also again to Chief 187 who so thoughtfully set these last two blogs up for me.

Hope you have enjoyed this weekends extraordinary vehicle, new followers and comments are always appreciated and a useful tool to help me source more for you in future, thanks for dropping by don't forget to come back now !

Slightly off topic, today is a big day for all three contenders in the post season NASCAR Chase for the Cup, covered by less than 40 points the only strategy to win the cup now has to be to win the next three races, looking forward to seeing if Kevin Harvick can step up to the plate and pull it off. Go Harvick ! Go #29 ! Go Happy !

10/11/10 Erratum, I got the model types a bit mixed up and have removed all 'de Ville' references from the text above, the Series 61 shown here is the shorter model known as Type 61 Coupe, not Coupe de Ville which was the Type 62. Apologies for any confusion.

The conspicuous underdog - 'Petit Pataud' Replica 1/2

It's a great honour to feature on 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' a 'Petit Pataud' replica belonging to John Aibel. This will be another two part blog starting today with the history of the real 'Petit Pataud' finishing tomorrow with some of the fascinating details about this faithful replica.



The 'Petit Pataud' legend starts with an invitation from 1949 Le Mans winner Luigi Chinnetti to facilitate an entry in the 1950 Le Mans entry for Briggs Cunningham.

Seeking advice from a well respected mechanic Bill Frick, Cunningham made a false start building a hot rod like device by dropping a Cadillac V8 into a Ford body and dubbed a Fordillac. If any one knows of any pics of this 'device' please leave a message below.



The Le Mans organisers deemed the Fordillac ineligible so Briggs bought two showroom 1950 Series 61 Cadillac Coupes one was given an open aluminium body devised by employees of the Grumman aircraft manufacturer and dubbed 'Le Monstre' by the French press, the other was more modestly prepared for endurance racing by Frick - Tappett Motors and dubbed with typical French irony 'Petit Pataud' 'little clumsy' a name I believe usually referring to new born pups.

The Cunningham team were surprised to find 'Petit Pataud' the more or less stock underdog of the stable driven by Miles and Sam Collier proved quicker than the heavily modified 'Le Monstre' straight out of the box. Though this was rectified during the course of practice for the race.



The 24 hours of Le Mans had an unusual start procedure, drivers stood on the opposite side of the track from the car and at the drop of the flag sprinted across the track and jumped in to their cars fired them up and drove off, in a piece of comedy reminiscent of a 'Herbie' film 'Petit Pataud's' doors were found to be locked after it's driver sprinted across the track at the start, fortunately the window was open so he reached inside to unlock the door from the inside !

Miles Collier who raced in the 1939 Le Mans race advised Briggs to equip his cars with fold away shovels in case either car found itself buried in the famously unforgiving artificial sand banks installed to prevent the more wayward vehicles from venturing too far from the notoriously fast and dangerous circuit.

Briggs rejected the advice and paid the price on lap 2 of the race when he found himself trapped in the sand bank at the end of the 4 mile long Mulsanne straight, Briggs probably wasted several minuets borrowing a shovel from a spectator and wasting half an hour successfully digging his car out and resuming the race.



'Petit Pataud' meanwhile as to be expected from a land yacht was sailing along at a nice and steady pace reaching 120 mph on the Mulsanne and running 1,956 miles to average 81.5 mph for 24 hours and finish in a commendable 10th place overall, 2nd in class behind a Cadillac powered Allard.

Briggs and Phil Walters brought 'Le Monstre' in one lap down, about the time it would have taken to borrow a shovel, on 'Petit Pataud', a small victory for the clumsy team underdog perhaps but just the stuff of legends that makes Le Mans such a fascinating race.

Tomorrow I'll continue with details about Johns fabulous replica and some surprising differences with the restored original which make Johns car today arguably closer to the original Le Mans spec as raced in 1950.

Thanks to Chief 187 who set up my connection with John Aibel, and thanks to John, unfortunately I was not able to visit Florida to take these magnificent pics which he kindly sent to me.

Thanks for stopping by wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, don't forget to come back now !

10/11/10 Erratum, I got the model types a bit mixed up and have removed all 'de Ville' references from the text above, the Series 61 shown here is the shorter model known as Type 61 Coupe, not Coupe de Ville which was the Type 62. Apologies for any confusion.