Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

It appears that an Italian investment outfit are to take majority ownership:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6774471/Italian-company-buys-iconic-British-sports-car-maker-Morgan.html

RJ
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[Ray White]

I am quite shocked by this news. I am saddened by it too.
How Morgan can hope to increase sales whilst maintaining exclusivity and their famed craftsmanship I don't know. The price will have to come down. I recently enquired about buying a new entry level 4/4 and was alarmed that they now start at £40,200. !!!... Needless to say, I didn't place an order.

[alastairq]

I toured the factory some years ago [I had a 4/4 series 1, 4 seater].....I also knew the late Geoff Margetts [ who worked for Morgan]....To my eyes, modern legislation, and modern customer-led styling ideas, had turned the Morgan from a proper sports car, into a gucci handbag.
The customer base had changed dramatically. from the '70's and before.....customers were no longer tolerant of the compromises a proper sports car imposed on the owner....
No-one wants to buy a proper sports car these days [aside from a very insignificant few]...
A similar trend can be seen in, of all things, the style [and market] of trainers?
Folk will 'go' for the name on the side....and because to use a trainer that is specifically geared for running, isn't practical for day-to-day use, the 'makers' also have a range of comfy, normal use trainers, that live off the trade name....the reputation.
''Look, I am wearing a [insert fancy trade name here] pair of trainers....they are 'sporty'...and give folk the impression I, too, am 'sporty'...[no darned good for sprinting, however]...''
This is what open-top [2 seaters?] cars have become...even the famed Mazda Miaga is a vehicle that offers comfort without the need for compromise....[yet is seen as a 'sports car'...?]
I don't think Morgan will change significantly...but it may gain an improved management?
_________________
Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
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Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[Ray White]

Alastair you make a very good point. Range Rovers are another case in point. Rather than concentrating their efforts on competing with Toyota they tried to market themselves as somehow superior and ended up with an unreliable off road vehicle which will never see mud. A certain Mrs Beckham got involved. Need I say more?

[emmerson]

[ukdave2002]

[Ray White]

You can't blame Tata for taking advantage of Western decadence. If we had been more astute perhaps JLR would still be in British hands. Same with Morgan I guess. As a society we only have ourselves to blame. How it gets put right is beyond me.

I have to admit if it hadn't been for the Chelsea Tractor Set, I wouldn't have been able to afford my Range Rover. I paid just £4k six years ago for an immaculate low milage Chelsea tractor and have never felt guilty about someone else taking the depreciation hit.!

[emmerson]

[alastairq]

Reminds me of a human behaviour TV documentary I saw not long back......

Concerning how we are 'programmed' to view 'quality', [and, naturally, taste?]

The experiment concerned a crowd of ordinary folk, asked to taste two paper cups of tea...to decide which one they thought was the best?

Both were made from the same tea [unbeknownst to the guinea pigs]....without exception they all voted for one particular cup. [of the two]

They were then told the truth, but were all convinced tea out of the chosen paper cup tasted 'better'.....then more truths were declared....one paper cup ha a small weight glued on underneath...and it was the tea from the weighted cup that was deemed tasted the best.

The same test was also conducted using typical paper cups, and pot mugs....same result, the pot mugs won every time.

Seems we are 'programmed' [by society?] to believe anything which is 'heavier'' must be better quality.

I firmly believe that, when we actually cannot physically measure the 'weight', then something that looks heavier, must be heavier, and our minds say, that equates to better quality..[IE, stronger, better-built, more protective, etc]
Hence why I believe these slab-sided panzer wagons manufacturers are busy selling to us , are so popular.
Something in our brains tells us a slab-sided [ie, heavier-looking?] car must be better built, better quality, stronger, etc....than its predecessors, which had low waistlines, more glass, etc.

Which doesn't explain to me,as a one-time bus driver...why Scottish saloons used to have those quite narrow [shallow?] side windows...when compared to their English equivalents? [which would have quite deep side windows?]...making the Scottish saloons look more like armoured cars than service buses.....

NB, a 'saloon' for me is a single-deck stage carriage bus....[or coach if DP]
_________________
Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[Ray White]

The P38 is really ideal for me. I live on a rough country lane and the RR takes it in it's stride. I can also trundle across our paddock even when the grass is wet and the towing ability - being a heavy vehicle - is competent. The ride height is great and there is fabulous all round visibility compared to most cars. The cabin is a nice, comfortable place to be and it has 'used leather' smell.

So far, it's as reliable as anything else but you have to keep on top of things and be prepared for the technology to bite you. I have a "kicker" and if the EAS fails I have four schrader valves which can be fitted in moments to restore 'fixed' air suspension.

I used to have a 1984 Range Rover which was a thing of beauty but in those days I didn't need a 4x4 so I could have been accused of simply showing off. The fact is that I had always wanted a Range Rover since visiting the Earls Court motor show with my Father where it was launched (1969/70?).

[emmerson]

[Ray White]

When I bought my first Range Rover, I had members of my wife's family openly chastise me for it.... "What do you want a b....dy great thing like that for?" I found myself making excuses for it. I wasn't lying when I said that my wife wanted something bigger because she felt vulnerable in an ordinary car after a serious accident in which our Vauxhall Cavalier was written off.

For my part, I didn't need a Range Rover - or any 4x4 - but like I have said before my Dad was so impressed that he almost bought one but called it off when he realised quite how thirsty it was.

The car I eventually bought was one I had known from new. It had been owned by a local man and I had always admired it. Despite it's low milage and immaculate condition it was very cheap. I made £1k when I sold it a few years later.

So No, you don't have to NEED a 4x4 to own one. I certainly didn't have any off road ambitions when I bought my 3.5 Range Rover - it just looked sensational and made a statement in the Company car park. The irony is that the business that I was trying to succeed in went belly up and my wife and I moved away from the crowded South East to Derbyshire for a gentler life style.

[badhuis]