Thursday 21 April 2016

Moggie the 3rd....in a month!

Geoff's Story....................................




THE STORY OF MY MORGAN (SO FAR)

The Purchase

In 1965, after I left the merchant navy, I was a “mature” student at college in Bristol doing a course in Quantity Surveying.  The father of one of my digsmates (if there is such a word - my spelling checker doesn’t think so) died, leaving him some money.  He immediately went out to buy an MG sports car.  When he returned from the car dealers he informed me that he had seen a car that would interest me (I was driving a 1936 Morris 8 at the time).

When I went round to the showroom there in all its glory was the most magnificent machine I had ever seen.  I immediately fell in love with it and rashly paid a £20 deposit (i.e. 10%).  £200 was a lot of money that I didn’t have, and the Moggie was really overpriced, but when you are in love reason goes out of the window.

I intended asking my father to lend me the balance but he inconveniently died, leaving me no money.  I then approached my life insurance company to lend me the money against my paid-up premiums.  This they agreed to do, so I wrote out a cheque for the balance, prematurely as it turned out because I got a phone call from my bank manager explaining to me that I had insufficient funds in my account.  After I explained to him that the insurance company was about to deposit sufficient funds in my account he reluctantly agreed to honour my cheque.

So I became the proud owner of a shiny red three-wheeled Morgan Super Sports.

Previous History

According to the logbook that came with the Morgan the trike was built in 1933 and rebuilt in 1946.  The colour was also given as blue (see later).

The Morgan must have also undergone another rebuild in the early 60s, when it was repainted red.  I don’t know when the other mods were made.

Exploits in England

As a proud owner of a Morgan three-wheeler I joined the Morgan Three-Wheeler Club and went along to the monthly meetings, at first in Bristol and later in London, where I participated in various club activities such as The South Coast Run and various race meetings.

At the time of purchase my Mog seemed to have an odd steering wheel so one of my new friends lent me a steering wheel from a scrap Morgan in his back garden.  I forget his name so am unable to return said steering wheel.  If you read this and want it back please come and collect it (in South Africa – free accommodation supplied).

When I bought the Morgan it had been “upgraded”.  One of the first things that I removed were the wing mirrors and hub caps.  More was to follow.

In 1966 I embarked on a round Britain trip, going from Bristol to East Anglia then north to Eyemouth, across to Carlisle, then, hugging the Welsh border, south to Bristol via Malvern Link then home to Devon.  This is recorded in the December issue of The Bulletin under the pseudonym of “Mognapper”.

Shortly thereafter I started to have the Mog painted black (why?), but only the top panels were resprayed.

Emigration / Immigration

When I emigrated to South Africa, paid for in the most part by the South African government of the day, I was allowed to bring one vehicle with me.  Of course I chose the Morgan, and herein lies many a tale. 

Firstly, I had to get an international driving licence.  Although I had an ordinary driving licence for normal cars, the international licence had three-wheelers grouped with motorcycles, so they duly stamped both blocks: cars and motorcycles / three-wheelers.  When I exchanged my international licence for a local one surprise, surprise.  Who do you think got two licences in return?  So I now have a heavy motorcycle licence, even though I failed the test in Exeter.

Secondly, when the Morgan arrived in Cape Town harbour the only thing missing was the rear-view mirror.  However, much worse was to follow.  Although the Morgan is small and easy to push the obese stevedore boss insisted on sitting in the trike to steer it while his minions pushed.  Needless to say the obese one broke the hood supports, and it is only now that I have gotten around to replacing them.

Thirdly, because I owned the Morgan before I arrived in South Africa I didn't need to get a roadworthy certificate.  Perhaps it would have passed back then, but I wouldn't bet on it.  Now, of course, it would pass after the latest rebuild.

Because Moggie didn’t have seatbelts, indicators and brake lights I obtained an exemption for some of these failings from the Provincial Government of the day.

Exploits in South Africa


On arrival in Cape Town I awaited the arrival of the Morgan.  I was staying at the Ritz Hotel at the time at the expense of the SA Government (R1,00 for lunch, as much as you could eat, remember those days?).  A few days after the Mog arrived and parked in the Ritz Hotel’s car park than a Willys Knight arrived from Prince Albert with a couple about to be married in Sea Point.  Imagine my surprise when I was invited to the wedding. 

In 1968 the Southern Cape Old Car Club held a meeting in Prince Albert and I went along to see whether they still remembered me.  Annetjie did!  Theo and Annetjie have now retired to George and have sold the Willys Knight.

Of Course I joined the Crankhandle Club and participated in many of their functions such as the All Clubs Braais.  I even won the Houhoek Run prize one year.

In 1985 John Shapley of Car magazine interviewed me and my daughter and I featured in the magazine dated June 1985.

Following the publication of this article I was contacted by a gentleman in Natal who had read that I was looking for ash.  Apparently, when Dunlop had switched from ash to carbon fibre for their tennis racquets they had sold off their stocks of ash.  This gentleman had bought up their stocks, and he sold me six pieces of ash which I lugged around until I needed them (see later).

When I was relocated to Great Brak River (halfway between Mossel Bay and George) I joined the Southern Cape Old Car Club and still participate in many of their functions such as the hugely popular George Motor Show.

The Major Rebuild

A few years ago I decided that the Morgan was in dire need of a rebuild.  When I was visiting the UK I looked in on GEE Limited in Gloucester and Terry Foxen sold me some items.  But he also gave me a copy of the Super Sports bodywork details.

I slowly stripped the Morgan, taking numerous photos as I went.  I had all the chromework rechromed, cables remade, etc. etc.  When I remade the wooden bodywork I tweaked it so that it was slightly wider than the original.  After all we are all getting slightly wider as we get older!

Using the ash that I had got from Natal, and also re-using ten pieces of ash from the original bodywork as well as some marine ply where ash was impractical to use, I remade the bodywork.

A friend up the road was a German metalworker and he filled up the holes that had appeared over the years and resprayed all the bodywork.

When I bought the trike there were two basic colours used for the wiring: green-white and green-black.  I used a 1937 Lucas wiring diagram for the new wiring colours.  Shouldn’t be too different from 1934!


Still To Do?

Well, the rear wheel is still oversize, but should I change it?  It’s so difficult to find and import the right size tyres.

Also, my dashboard is not exactly correct, but far better than when I bought the trike.

This Moggie might become available - Ring me for more info.......Terry 082 412 0371

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