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