100 Years of the Morgan
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Morgan Super Sport 1934 |
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Recreation, 1901 Morgan 7 hp Runabout Prototype was compleated in 1909. 
100 Years of the Morgan 1909-2009By Geoff WheatleyA hundred years is a long time for any business. In the year 2009 the Morgan Motor Company celebrated a hundred years of service and production. Further more its still the independent company that it was when the founder, Harry Morgan borrowed three thousand pounds from his father, the Reverend Henry George Morgan, rector of Stoke Lacy, England, to build motor cars. What is the secret of the Morgan success? Well my first suggestion is that it's still a family business with the family of the founder at the helm. Second the car is by any standards a fun vehicle; note the word fun which should not be confused with the word comfort as my wife will confirm when we owned a 4+4 a few years ago. Even today with the new fiberglass super sleek version of the breed no one can say that it has changed its reputation! My Morgan had a Ford Cortina engine but had I purchased it new I could have chosen what ever power unit I fancied providing it was suitable and part of the Morgan selection process. This I suggest is one of the secrets of why the company has survived while others have simply faded away. There have been several attempts to buy Morgan by various people including the, (My way or the doorway,) CEO of Standard Triumph Motors, Sir John Black, who's gift to the British motor industry was the Triumph 1800 Roadster the car that he thought would replace the prewar SS Jaguar, also the Ferguson Tractor made under license with the Vanguard / Triumph engine! Morgan LIFECAR 2009 
Had one of these takeovers happened I doubt if the company would be around
today, it would have sunk into the economic money pit encouraged by
executives who were only interested in the bottom line and unions who thought the
industry was too important to fail. (Where have we heard that before?)
However, please do not think that it has been plain sailing since 1899,
Morgan has had its fair share of problems including fierce competition from the
likes of Austin Motors with its sports version of the baby Seven and a few
years later with the Morris MG range. The introduction of this competition
forced Morgan to produce a four wheel version of his marquee, a move which
proved to be successful. However, he did produce and sell in excess of
2,500 three wheel Morgan's between 1900 and 1921, quite an achievement for a
small, make that very small operation. (For the European buyer, we can't
import them here, a similar vehicle is being offered today by special order,
however, I would not like to pay for the road insurance!)
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