Well. Firstly, welcome! This is my first post here, hopefully of many! I’m Adam, and in my 30 (nearly 31…) years on our wonderful planet I have owned a rather wide variety of cars; but we’re not here to talk about them, we’re here to talk about a Morgan! My Morgan, to be precise.
I remember my first interaction with a Morgan in the wild vividly. My parents and I attended a theatrical production at a school I had just started. I think I was 13 at the time. As we walked across the car park, a British Racing Green Morgan 4/4 pulled in and out climbed a man with an instrument in a case. I can’t recall what the instrument was as I was too transfixed by the beauty of the car. My Mother was similarly transfixed by it, and I distinctly remember the impact it had on her. It later transpired that she had always loved Morgan’s. This experience imprinted on my brain, and I made a note somewhere to own one one day.
As the years ticked by and cars came and went, I had flutters with the marque here and there, but never in any serious way. That was, until, the 26th of June this year when I saw a 1975 4/4 for sale on Facebook Market Place around 30 minutes away. The car was described in a slightly unclear way as it was titled as a Plus Four on the listing. The listing also stated that the wings had been replaced in the 1980’s, and from the photographs the rear looked slightly strange. I took this to mean that either it had some sort of strange aftermarket rear panel, or perhaps that it could’ve been a kit car masquerading as a Morgan. Nevertheless, the price was right for me, and I very much wanted to see the car. Alas, I had to wait a week as the family were away, but one week later my long suffering friend Jake drove me over to see the car (I wanted a lift as if I made an offer I was leaving with the car!).
We arrived to a small Northamptonshire village on the 30th of June to find a gorgeous blue Mog sitting in the driveway. We were greeted at the gate, and shown the car. I very quickly realised that my concerns about the authenticity of the car were unfounded, and that an unfortunately angled photo had been the origin of my worries. I was introduced to a couple and their children, and the children’s Grandfather Arthur. Arthur was the owner of the Morgan, and in fact had bought the car brand new in 1975 being it’s first and only owner! We had a nice chat about the car, what he had used it for (as a daily for 10+ years!), and how the tow bar that was on it (yes, a tow bar!) was a factory option that he had used to tow his boat!
I had a thorough look around the car. The bodywork was in moderate shape, the chassis was solid, what I could see of the wood frame looked good, and the interior was in need of a refresh. The engine was started, albeit with difficulty due to a presumed flat battery on a booster (later discovered to be a bad earth…) and she did run, though quite rough with lots of backfires. It was then I was informed that the car had really had very little use since around 2013, and they were selling her such that they might focus on Arthur’s other Morgan, a 1980’s Plus 8. Later research showed that from between 2013 and 2025 she had covered less than 200 miles. However, for a 50 year old car that had been used as she should’ve been for most of her life, she was in fine fettle. I asked the price, we briefly negotiated, shook hands, I transferred some money, applied some insurance, and drove away.
Here she was on the day I first laid my eyes upon her:


My first sit in the car, about to drive away, with Arthur closing the door (the parcel shelf is removed because of the jump start):

Now, I was planning to drive the car back to my workshop around 35-40 minutes away, but I was doing so completely in the knowledge that the car hadn’t really seen the road in 12 years, and was running pretty rough. It was backfiring through both the exhaust and the carburettor an awful lot, and was quite difficult to keep running in the lower rev ranges making pulling away somewhat of a juggling act. However, my first run in her confirmed that she was indeed an awful lot of fun, and I very soon stopped to get some petrol at a local BP garage.
Having filled the tank, paid, and gone to set off again, I noticed a large puddle of coolant on the floor. This had come from the radiator over pressure hose. This could’ve meant one of many things, none of which were favourable. I elected to have the car recovered back to my workshop at this point so I could assess and address the issue properly, rather than overheating on a main road somewhere less safe. The AA was called and they referred the recovery to one of their contracted partners. The chap who turned up was great, the company less so as they refused to take me where I needed to go, and instead wanted to take me the same distance in the opposite direction. I refused this, had a most unpleasant conversation with their call handler, and had to call the AA back. The AA were brilliant, very apologetic, and eventually got the issue sorted. Meanwhile, my aforementioned long suffering friend Jake was sitting outside the gates of my workshop waiting for me to arrive.
Three hours after we set off, the car arrived on a flatbed at the yard. We unloaded it, got it into the container, and locked up for the night.




Many thanks to Jake for his help and patience. Next up, getting the mog running again!
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