new Morgan at motorshow?
Discussion
The BBC are touting the Aero 8 being displayed at the motorshow as a "new Morgan". Surely it's been around for some time? Two years, at least? Unless they mean the "federalized" version.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3747759.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3747759.stm
Morgan was recently forced to withdraw its Plus 8 model, which was kitted out with an old V8 Land Rover engine, due to US emission regulations.
A virtually identical car had its world premiere at the Birmingham show, but even this new Roadster has failed the strict US emission regulations.
A virtually identical car had its world premiere at the Birmingham show, but even this new Roadster has failed the strict US emission regulations.
New Morgan feature the Ford 3.0 V6 and is actually more powerful and quicker than the +8 Model
This new model will be known as the 'Morgan Roadster' a new varient of the 'classic' Morgan
Futher details here
www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=23314&s=68
>> Edited by mustard on Wednesday 26th May 00:06
This new model will be known as the 'Morgan Roadster' a new varient of the 'classic' Morgan
Futher details here
www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=23314&s=68
>> Edited by mustard on Wednesday 26th May 00:06
If you can sell your entire production without having to go to the States why bother to meet their standards and pay the high costs associated with certification..
I think the Ford V6 Roadster is a sensible option, a light tunable and cheap to buy engine and if its good enough for Noble...
Morgans biggest problem, to my mind, is that of sales price. When I was a sprog the Mog was a cheap agile sports car, it is no longer cheap and, Aero 8 apart, offers little more than it did nearly 40 years ago. I still have a soft spot for the Mog but I'd find it difficult to splash £35K on one even though Cuprinol now comes as standard.
I think the Ford V6 Roadster is a sensible option, a light tunable and cheap to buy engine and if its good enough for Noble...
Morgans biggest problem, to my mind, is that of sales price. When I was a sprog the Mog was a cheap agile sports car, it is no longer cheap and, Aero 8 apart, offers little more than it did nearly 40 years ago. I still have a soft spot for the Mog but I'd find it difficult to splash £35K on one even though Cuprinol now comes as standard.
gnomesmith said:
You're too young!
Used to be a similar price to MGA, TR2 etc.
I bought a mint Royal Ivory 5 year old plus 8, with Rover 5 speed gearbox, in 1978 for 4250 pounds, I suppose the equivelent today would be around 20,000, hardly cheap for a five year old car, albeit low mileage, I did a search the other day, and it is still going strong in Sweden.....
More photos here
New Ford V6 installed in the MOrgan Roadster
>> Edited by mustard on Tuesday 1st June 10:20
New Ford V6 installed in the MOrgan Roadster
>> Edited by mustard on Tuesday 1st June 10:20
gnomesmith said:
The Aero 8 has been substantially updated and, amongst a number of changes, has a wider cockpit.
The Roadster effectively takes the place of the +8 and uses the Ford V6.
There will be another 'new' sporty Mog revealed at the show.
The Aero 8 had the new BMW 4.6 engine in it... which interestingly the German's have yet to use in their own cars..
The Roadster features the Ford Duratech V6 and should produce more grunt than it does in the ST220...
Podie said:
The Aero 8 has been substantially updated and, amongst a number of changes, has a wider cockpit.
The Roadster effectively takes the place of the +8 and uses the Ford V6.
There will be another 'new' sporty Mog revealed at the show.
The Aero 8 had the new BMW 4.6 engine in it... which interestingly the German's have yet to use in their own cars..
The Roadster features the Ford Duratech V6 and should produce more grunt than it does in the ST220...
Came out the X5 4.6iS if im not mistaken
mustard said:
gnomesmith said:
The Aero 8 has been substantially updated and, amongst a number of changes, has a wider cockpit.
The Roadster effectively takes the place of the +8 and uses the Ford V6.
There will be another 'new' sporty Mog revealed at the show.
The Aero 8 had the new BMW 4.6 engine in it... which interestingly the German's have yet to use in their own cars..
The Roadster features the Ford Duratech V6 and should produce more grunt than it does in the ST220...
Came out the X5 4.6iS if im not mistaken
According to the nice man on the Morgan stand it didn't... this is the (and I quote) "new double-Vanos 4.6"
Cant believe its not a 'stock' BMW engine, lets face it, I'm guessing, but I doubt they make more than 50 Aero 8's a year.
I'll make enquires
The X5 4.4i,645i and the 745i, but not the 540i are
'double vanos' according to their website (all use 4.4ltr version)
www.bmw.co.uk/apm/new_bmw/mid/index/0,,@X@GF@,00.html
>> Edited by mustard on Tuesday 1st June 15:04
mustard said:
Cant believe its not a 'stock' BMW engine, lets face it, I'm guessing, but I doubt they make more than 50 Aero 8's a year.
I'll make enquires
The X5 4.4i,645i and the 745i, but not the 540i are
'double vanos' according to their website (all use 4.4ltr version)
www.bmw.co.uk/apm/new_bmw/mid/index/0,,@X@GF@,00.html
>> Edited by mustard on Tuesday 1st June 15:04
Only going on what I was told..!
Wacky Racer said:
gnomesmith said:
You're too young!
Used to be a similar price to MGA, TR2 etc.
I bought a mint Royal Ivory 5 year old plus 8, with Rover 5 speed gearbox, in 1978 for 4250 pounds, I suppose the equivelent today would be around 20,000, hardly cheap for a five year old car, albeit low mileage, I did a search the other day, and it is still going strong in Sweden.....
The very point I was making, my best friend paid over £32K for a new +8 in 1997 once normal extras had been included, I think that is a lot of money for a simple, albeit handmade car, they still sell well though. Interestingly my 1955 MGA had a list price of £1050, 8 years later my MGB roadster cost around the same, a Hilman Minx in basic trim in 1963 cost £747 a Mini £447.. I remember the Minx price as a witty reader wrote to Autocar to point out a typo with the poem:-
747 methinks is cheap for a Minx,
especially a 16 litre,
does that include heater?
No the heater was extra, no prizes for guessing the Autocar boob though. The Minx was indeed a cheap version a better specified Austin Cambridge was around £150 more. A TR, Sunbeam, MGB and a Mog 4/4 all cost around the same, about a grand, the more powerful TR being the most expensive. An E Type cost a bit more than half as much again and was very cheap for such a magnificent car.
It all sounds like sports car paradise until you check out the average wage!
Edited to insert methinks into dodgy poem
>> Edited by gnomesmith on Wednesday 2nd June 16:02
gnomesmith said:Sorry Gnomesmith, you shouldn't tell people the are too young to remember stuff when you're obviously so old your memory is failing
You're too young! Used to be a similar price to MGA, TR2 etc.
Hillman was NOT part of the same group of companies as Austin Morris so the Minx had nothing to do with the Cambridge. 
Rich...He didn't say that exactly, it's ambiguous but he could be saying that the Austin Cambridge was a better specified car. Of course, he might not be. LOL. They had the Morris Oxford as well but I can't remember which was supposed to be the better car, if any.
The upmarket Minx was the Singer Gazelle.
They gave way to the Hunter shape which had a dazzling display of badge engineering of the same basic car - Hillman Minx and Hunter sporting 1.5 and 1725cc engines, Singer Gazelle and Vogue with the same engines and the Humber Sceptre which got the Holbay-tuned 1725cc to produce a mind-boggling 94bhp. Serious stuff.
>> Edited by LuS1fer on Tuesday 1st June 22:00
The upmarket Minx was the Singer Gazelle.
They gave way to the Hunter shape which had a dazzling display of badge engineering of the same basic car - Hillman Minx and Hunter sporting 1.5 and 1725cc engines, Singer Gazelle and Vogue with the same engines and the Humber Sceptre which got the Holbay-tuned 1725cc to produce a mind-boggling 94bhp. Serious stuff.
>> Edited by LuS1fer on Tuesday 1st June 22:00
RichB said:
Sorry Gnomesmith, you shouldn't tell people the are too young to remember stuff when you're obviously so old your memory is failing
Quite right Rich but I never claimed it was a stablemate and certainly didn't think that it was.
The Minx was a worthy product of the Rootes Group (Humber, Singer, Sunbeam, Hilman, Commer). I was making a general statement about car prices prevailing at the time of the competitively priced Morgan. I also used examples from Triumph and Jaguar as part of my comparison and they similarly were not part of the group that you refer to as Austin Morris. I suppose I'll have to be pedantic, Austin Morris was a much later group name, you should of course have used BMC to identify the manufacturer.
The reference to being too young was a matter of fact and not meant as a gratuitous insult, you needed to go back a few more years to find the 'cheap' Morgan.
I'm by no means infallible and can make mistakes without you having to make them up for me when they don't exist Rich but lets not fall out about it!
PS. The Holbay 1725 (105 bhp @ 5200rpm not 98 bhp) was used in the Hunter HLS and a variant of the Rapier (HS120) not to mention a Ginetta or two, I don't remember it being an option in the Sceptre although I once drove a factory produced 4.7 V8 Sceptre so anything is possible.
>> Edited by gnomesmith on Wednesday 2nd June 17:26
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