Filed Under: News
Mention Classic three wheelers and a great many people would immediately lose interest in the conversation, no doubt the same effect with an article.
Three wheeled vehicles have come and gone, some lasted longer than others, the Robin Reliant for instance made famous by the television programme Fools and Horses was around for quite sometime and had and still has a large number of fans, I still marvel at the fact that Reliant also made 100mph saloons at the same time, not that the three wheeled reliant was a slouch, I have been passed on motorways by them much to the chagrin of my passengers.
Another well known three wheeler was the Bond, though I confess I could never work up any enthusiasm for it, but again Bond had a fantastic following but the three wheeler era was coming to an end and Bond did try four wheelers and a very trendy three wheeled “Bug”, but alas they came to nothing the opposition had won the day.
Whilst we are on bygone vehicles, there was a really brilliant three wheeler a Berkeley it was small but from the front you saw the two wheels which made it look like a normal car, the design was very modern and did not portray the fact that it was a three wheeler, alas it’s parent company was a caravan manufacturer who unfortunately fell upon hard times and that was the end of car and caravan production.
The German’s also were well known for three wheeled contraptions, I say that tongue in cheek because if you haven’t seen a Messerschmitt, which resembles a small plane cockpit on wheels very small wheels, the passenger sat behind the driver somewhat akin to a rear gunner, I won’t say too much as the Messerschmitt story is quite interesting, and then there was the other one a BMW, well before BMW fans start complaining it was an Isetta which BMW took over and the company done very well.
One last one before the main act, the AC, full blooded power is AC’s well known ability, however they also made a three wheeler, well at least it gave mobility to those who would normally have trouble it was listed as an invalid carraige.
No doubt there are those of you saying what about the Morgan, indeed the most successful three wheeler ever made, according to records some 32000 came out from the Malvern Hills close to the Welsh border, a most unlikely place for any kind of industrial development.
Morgan is a family business always has been, started by HFS Morgan in 1910, he was a clever man who started work at the Great Western Railway drawing office, his father was a religious man, and I can find no mention of the proverbial silver spoon, it seems that the garage business was the catalyst for the whole operation, HFS was local agent for Wolseley Cars and also ran a small Wolseley bus, from Malvern, being a very rural area no doubt that supplemented the garage business.
Before we get bogged down with the Morgan family, the grandson of HFS runs the business taking over from his father, as an aside Morgan has defied all normal automotive manufacturing, they have never made an engine, all are bought in so Morgan’s can be found with a great variety of motors.
In the early days Motor Cycle engines were the mainstay of the three wheelers, mainly JAP, Matchless and Blackburne, these appeared after HFS acquired a small factory in Malvern Link, however Morgan kept producing the three wheeler, various models came and went in 1927 the Super Sports Aero arrived, slow, not the slightest, top speed was in the region of 95 mph, these engines were highly tunable and fairly adaptable to modifications, needless to say it did not take long for the racing fraternity to start winning competitons and so much so a one make racing series began,
Given the engine was a mere 1000 odd cc, the economy and the speed of the little Morgan was seldom beaten or even matched by much larger cars.
The fun part is the car has an Ash frame, even today some of the latest models have stuck to this, HFS designed the front suspension in the very early days and still uses it even today, which is no doubt unique to Morgan and says a lot about the car and it’s inventor.
The waiting list for Morgans somewhere in the region of two years, sure is, they employ only 160 odd staff and still operate from the original factory, apparently nothing is rushed at Morgan, well at least it does give one time to save up the money, well what does a new four wheel Morgan cost, I am not talking new four wheelers, oh dear no this company has produced a new three wheeler, read on-
The engine is the latest Screaming Eagle V twin 1800cc from Harley Davidson fitted to a Mazda 5 gearbox, there are two roll over bars, the cockpit is leather padded and has all the latest info on the dashboard, the top speed is 115mph, with acceleration 0 to 60 in 4.5 seconds, the aluminium body comes in eight colours, virtually everything else is finished in gloss black, wheels, exhaust, chassis etc, you want more, well Morgan will make cars to individual requirements once they have completed a production run, the car goes on show at the Geneva Car show in March.
There are comments that say this Morgan is very near to flying without leaving the ground.
For the record the first car was the standard model made between 1911 and 1915,
Next came a De Luxe version from 1912 to 1931
A Grand Prix model 1913-1926 using OHV Jap Engine giving in excess of 60mph
The Sporting, 1913 -1921 a lightweight version with no doors, a real Starsky and Hutch affair
Family Model 1915- 1937, would accommodate 2 adults and 3 children, there was also a two seater version with a luggage locker
Then came the sporty ones the Aero and Super Sport Aero 1920 -1933
A delivery van appeared 1928 -1935, though it was not a good seller
Then we have the Super Sports from 1927 – 1939 with a tuned engine
During the course of production the JAP engine was dropped in 1933 for Matchless MX2 and then a Matchless MX4 and the rear end was altered to become a barrelback instead of the beetle back
During the 30’s we had the F models, the first one was the F4 1933 – 1952, some production life, it had a new chassis and a 4 in line Ford Y type engine, it was restyled both in 1935 and 1938.
2 From 1935 – 1938 an F2 two seater was offered on a four seater chassis, it had either no doors or one on the passenger side, using the Ford unit again.
3 The Final three wheeler the F 1938 – 1952, you could have either one door or two
Power was still the Ford Y type engine.
The chassis was made from steel tubes, it had independent suspension at the front, this applies to all previous models, the back wheel is attached to the gearbox by a hinge, as for chassis sizes they were variable depending on the model.
The engine was attached by only 4 bolts and was very easily removed, the clutch was attached directly to the engine, all very simple.
The front suspension, again applied to all models and some of the current four wheelers#
A kingpin, with a sliding axle a main spring and a rebound spring, some of the cars also received shock absorbers on the front wheels.
Up to 1932/33 the front wheels were different to the back one, at that point the back wheel was changed to match the front ones and at last a spare made sense.
You have to keep reminding oneself that all this is going on in the small factory in Malvern with those few workers.
The introduction of the F typeall brakes were operated by the footbrake, there is no way we are going through how they stopped before, just trust me they did, and they all had self starters from virtually the start back in the 1920’s
Steering was geared from 1932 making life that little bit easier, under the bonnet was two tanks one for petrol and one for oil.
Writing about Morgan is not easy but it is great fun it is still British it holds the record for it’s 4/4 the longest production run of any car, to be honest buying a car, you don’t with a Morgan you join a family, long may they keep producing cars.
Happy New Year and my thanks to the Morgan Car company for help and inspiration, free ride would be appreciated.
Ted Lay tedlay@gmail.com
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