Every so often, there’s something on the website that’s worth keeping. At the top of the Members Page, there’s a little frontispiece and these will be kept for posterity. They change whenever something new and nice turns up. Click on the month to see the appropriate item.
| June 2016 | Roger Edmonds – Racing in the 1960’s |
| May 2016 | Extreme Passengering – Our Membership Secretary in the 1970’s |
| March 2016 | Edinburgh Trial 1981 – A Precarious Prop |
| January 2016 | Brooklands Re-visited |
| December 2015 | AGM 2015 – Postscript. |
| September 2015 | The Morgan Three Wheeler Club 70 years on. |
| June 2015 | A Brooklands photo with a difference |
| April 2015 | A Champion Morgan |
| February 2015 | Another Mystery Morgan |
| January 2015 | West Midlands Group Holly Run – Sunday 14th December |
| January 2015 | Racing in Portugal |
| December 2014 | Trials (and Tribulations) |
| October 2014 | An Unexpected Treat – A 95 year old WWII pilot takes his first trip in a Three Wheeler |
| August 2014 | A Mystery Photo |
| July 2014 | The Carr Morgan in Wartime Mode |
| June 2014 | Summer Motoring in a Morgan |
| April 2014 | Grandpa’s Morgan |
| January 2014 | Old Friends Reunited – Brenda Stiff meets the Morgan she and her husband owned in the 1940’s |
| November 2013 | 85 Years The Difference – Jim “Halfdime” Nichol’s Morgans |
| October 2013 | Ian & Beth Shirley’s Special Day (in Ian’s dad’s lovely Family Morgan) |
| September 2013 | Our Treasurer’s Treasures. John Scruton’s Three Morgans |
| July 2013 | George Dobson’s photo from a 1960’s Lakes Camping Weekend |
| June 2013 | John Mark’s F-Type climbs to the Gliding Field in Hucklow, Derbyshire |
| March 2013 | Giles Gill’s runaway Family Morgan in New Zealand |
| January 2013 | The Morgan Roll Over Protection System |
Roger Edmonds – Silverstone 1963
Racing has long been a mainstay of the club. More and more historic photos of members and former members are coming to light and we’ll feature these in the frontispieces.
Long time Club Member Roger Edmonds died in 2016. Over 50 years earlier, he was a regular competitor in GW25 and was renowned for his consummate skills and smooth driving. This photo, sent to us by his son Guy, shows him racing at Silverstone in June 1963. Even in these treacherous conditions, his offside front wheel is just pattering on the road surface and his passenger appears to be urging him on. A couple of members have identified him as Bob Bunn; he worked with Roger at R. A. Lister’s at the time.
Extreme Passenger
A photo discovered by club member Austin Smith. Our Club’s Membership Secretary, Eric Bayley has been racing his F-Type for well over 50 years. This photo was taken some time in the 1960’s and Eric thinks the venue was Silverstone. The passenger?… “just a a work friend and a 7 stone weakling who fancied himself as my passenger, always shouting for me to slow down into the corners”.
Eric’s still campaigning his F-Type as well as using it regularly on the road and has recently moved up to 4 gears. Here’s the lean, mean car at the club’s Curborough Sprint in 2015:
A Precarious Prop
1981 and Dennis Rogers fettles the clutch on his ex-Harris International Six Days Trial Morgan during the MCC Edinburgh Trial. A rather precarious means of holding the car up, but this was fairly typical of Dennis’ “no-nonsense” approach to everything. An incredulous motor-cyclist looks on. Many thanks to John Rowland for the photo.
January 2016 – Brooklands Re-visited
Club Member Mark Henry took his 5 speeder to Brooklands and visited a famous Morgan. It’s the ex-Clive Lones racer sporting its Team Car number. It has the JTOR J.A.P. engine originally fitted to the Tom Rhodes car (which now belongs to Bill Wallbank). It’s sitting in prime position in the “Jackson Shed”. The car does still get the occasional airing but it would be nice to see it out more often.
We featured this self same shed back in June 2015 – click here.
December 2015 – AGM Postscript
Finley and Fergus Cameron arrived at the Spares Fair in style.
Delivering the display model to dad Ewan’s stand.
September 2015 – The Morgan Three Wheeler Club 70 years on.
This was the line-up outside the factory in 1945. 70 years on, Steve Lister managed to find 7 of the 14 surviving cars and arranged a photo-shoot outside the factory:
To read more, click here.
June 2015 – A Brooklands Photo with a Difference
In May 2015, Trevor Seymour sent in a photo of his 1933 Sports Family Morgan taken at the Brooklands Museum at a photo shoot to promote the VSCC Brooklands Double Twelve event. The picture was taken outside Jackson’s Tuning Shop. Here you see the sepia version of the photo. Click on it to see the car in colour.
photo: Eric Richardson – Classic Car Weekly
April 2015 A Champion Advert
An advert sent to Ross Herbert, our Regalia Manager, by Ken (not Ted) Gross.
February 2015 – Another Mystery Morgan
We received a couple of photos from Peter Amos, an authority on the history of Miles Aircraft of which over 7000 were built.
Peter was trying to date the photos which are of a Two Speeder Morgan at Shoreham Airport, West Sussex, with two different aircraft in the background. They were found by a Mr. Quantrill who worked at Avery’s Photographers in Brighton. When the business closed, Mr Quantrill saved a few interesting photos and these two have just come to light. If you can shed any light on the car, FL 5031, the owner or either of the aircraft, we’d like to hear from you.
We know the photos were taken between September 1930 and February 1933.
UPDATE – 16th March: Thanks to Peter Amos we now know who the owner was:
‘Mr Donald Steiffer, a member of the Southern Aero Club….. He lived at 16 Kingston Lane, Shoreham’.
To read more about the Miles Aircraft, just click here and here.
For a closer look at the photos. just click on the image.
The Morgan, with rather unusual rear bodywork, in front of a Desoutter aircraft. The famous Lancing College is in the background.
Now the Morgan poses in front of a de Havilland Gipsy Moth which was registered in 1930. A great photo with an Avro Avian taking off in the background.
West Midlands Group Holly Run – December 2014
The traditional Holly Run – December 14th 2014. Nick Edwards in search of a suitable Holly Bough.
Racing in Portugal
Quite a number of competitive club members from the UK venture overseas in search of new challenges. Back in October 2014, Iain Stewart and his wife Graca went to The Algarve Classic Festival, held at the Portimao Circuit in Southern Portugal. Here you can see Iain in his unique driving position on left-handers. Click for a closer look..
Iain drove from North Shropshire to the circuit via Dover/Calais, towing his Morgan on an open trailer. A round-trip of 3,750 miles. The journey was eventful and included illegal U-turns under the eye of a policeman and a high speed manoeuvre to avoid a runaway lorry. The event got underway with Iain oversleeping and missing practice. The racing – to quote Iain: “I was put on the 3rd row of the grid (out of 8 rows) for both races. The Superbike and Moto GP racers generally consider this to be the best circuit in the world. However my little Morgan 3 Wheeler just seemed to shake itself to bits. After ½ an hour of racing, my Morgan finished 5th (out of 15), with 3 broken brackets and 5 broken bolts. The second race was good until the 6th lap when I lost fuel pressure. I pulled into the pits to find my carburettor had rattled loose (despite lots of lock-wires). After a quick carburettor rebuild I was back out again having more fun. The winners in my races were a Bugatti in race-1 and a Frazer Nash in race-2. Although these cars were 20 mph faster than me on the straights – The Morgan was substantially the fastest through the twisty sections of the circuit……. As I was busy fettling and didn’t have time to stop for lunch – The Chef prepared 2 x gourmet lunches and sent them down to the garages for us (brilliant). No prizes for me this year, but my wife was awarded a special prize (by the organisers) for being the most patient wife they had ever seen. Every night we had been getting back to the hotel a good 3 or 4 hours after everyone else.”
Members can read the full story on-line in the January 2015 Bulletin (Page 42).
Postscript from Iain: “My last night in Portugal was full moon with a low spring tide at 01:30hr (very good for catching shrimps). I removed a headlight from my Morgan and popped a battery in a knapsack. Just after midnight, my niece, her boyfriend and myself followed the tide out across the rocks. We caught lots of shrimps with nets (aided by the Morgan headlight) and by 02:00hr it was all over as the tide was rushing in again. These shrimps were boiled up and Graca and I snacked on them whilst driving back across Spain.”
_____________________________________________________
Trials (and Tribulations)
The 2014 track competition season has come to a close but competition continues with MCC and VSCC Trials. Morgans proved their worth in the early days, winning many trophies and medals in the early years of the 20th century.
Club member and Group Organiser Dave Anscombe continued the tradition for a few years, including the 2006 Exeter Trial – pictured above. I quote “….. for the last few years, I have attempted to maintain the tradition using my 1937 Morgan three-wheeler. As can be seen, this is not kind to old machinery and we have never come close to winning an award but it has given me (and seemingly a significant number of spectators) a great deal of pleasure.”
The Exeter Trial is held in early January. The Land’s End Trial is usually in early April. Fancy having a go? For more information on trialling, click here for MCC and click here for VSCC.
__________________________________________________________
An Unexpected Treat
Back in April 2014 I stopped outside one of my favourite pubs, the Red Lion in Litton, Derbyshire. The weather was nice so I sat outside enjoying my beer. A gentleman walked across and looked around the Morgan. “I always wanted one of these.” he said, “But after the war, when we had children there wasn’t enough room in a Morgan”. It occurred to me that he might like a run around the country lanes. I offered him a lift. His face lit up and he climbed in. We pottered into Tideswell and down the main street. “I was a pilot in WWII” he said. I was surprised, he didn’t look old enough. “I flew over 30 types of aircraft in and out of over 200 airfields. I’m 95 years old now”. I told him there was still time to buy a new Morgan and fulfil his dream! Back in Litton he climbed out and we said our goodbyes. “That was really nice.” he said. “An unexpected treat.”.
Steve Uprichard
_______________________________________________________
August 2014
Mystery Photo
Many thanks to photographer Tony Large for sending in this photo and the words which accompany it. The car is in fact an MX4 Super Sports taking a ford at high speed – well, to start with anyway. The car belongs to Urs Mezger from Switzerland and was entered in the 1000 Mile Trial promoted by the Royal Automobile Club and organised by HERO (Historic Endurance Rallying Organisation). This was only the second time the event had been run, the previous 114 years earlier, in 1900!
On day 2 of the event, Urs and his son Nick set out to travel to Preston, via Pershore, Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb, and through Shropshire for lunch at Rowton Castle. Unfortunately Urs got caught out by a ford just outside Pershore, and in crossing it did a good display of what a depth charge must look like when it goes off!
To see more photos of Urs and Nick, click here.
__________________________________________________________
July 2014
The Carr Morgan in Wartime Mode
Received from Peter Jolly via Ross Herbert (The Gerald’s custodian), a cartoon from an article by Gerald Carr from the Motorcycle Magazine in 1958. It featured the F4 in ‘wartime’ mode.
__________________________________________________________
June 2014
Summer in a Morgan
A few Morgan chums ventured to the Welsh Borders for their annual un-organised “Jaunt”. As happened in 2013, it rained. Visibility was very limited on the Long Mynd near Church Stretton and Bob Barlow had problems looking through 4 layers of water – both sides of the windscreen and both sides of his specs. Click on the image to see his solution.
April 2014
Grandpa’s Morgan
For some time Dave Anscombe’s two year old granddaughter, Megan had been able to recognise “Grandpa’s Morgan” from photos and had seen it in his garage but had not seen it out on the road.
Dave called to see her with his much used F4 on the way home from the Daffodil Run and Megan asked to sit in the car. She then demanded a “Ride in Grandpa’s Morgan car” and so, sat on her mother’s lap, had a short (and surreptitious) trip up and down the cul-de-sac.
Subsequent visits to his daughter’s house have prompted further comments along the lines of “Want to see Grandpa’s Morgan” and “Want another ride in Grandpa’s car” and disappointment when Megan sees a conventional vehicle parked outside. It looks like we have another youthful convert to the cause.
__________________________________________________________
January 2014
Old Friends Reunited
|
A lovely photo of the Morgan in the early ’50′s |
Here’s the Morgan in 2013. |
| click on a photo for a closer look | |
89 year old Brenda Stiff was recently reunited with the Morgan she shared with her late husband William in the late 1940′s and early 1950′s. Her nephew found an old photo of the car and traced it to its latest owner, club member Peter Elgar. Peter has owned the car since the mid-1960′s and Brooklands GO Trevor Seymour was heavily involved in its rebuild.
An article in the Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser quotes Brenda:
“In the late ’40s, early ’50s, we spent all our time riding around in that car. We used to drive it to dances and weekends away. It was such a wonderful life. William adored that car. We had nothing but happy memories of driving around the country. I remember getting soaked because we didn’t have a roof on the Morgan, but we didn’t mind because we were young.”
To read more, and to see more photos, click here. Our thanks to The Advertiser for the photos.
__________________________________________________________
November 2013
85 years the Difference
 |
 |
| click on a photo for a closer look | |
85 years ago, Jim “Halfdime” Nichol’s 1928 Aero left the Morgan Factory. May 2013 the Aero left Jim for a new home. But the link isn’t broken; Jim ordered a new 5 speeder and specified the same body colour – mid-green. Some things never change.
The photo on the left is of Jim’s 1928 car, posing alongside another Anzani engined projectile; the world’s second oldest flying machine, now based at The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in the USA. On the right is Jim’s new Morgan pictured alongside a Fokker DR 1.
Jim reports: “5 speeder, tougher to get in and out of, once in it is much better, though latching the seatbelt is a bit of a match! Since I took delivery (20 September) I’ve put about 740 miles on it, all with smiles!”
85 years the difference – but nothing changes!
__________________________________________________________
October 2013
Ian Shirley’s Special Day
Neil Shirley’s son Ian got married to Beth in August 2013. The wedding was in Northern Ireland and the guests and locals were treated to the sight of Neil’s lovely 1929 Family Morgan which he took across the sea from North Wales. You can read all about the Special Day below the photos.
click on a photo for a closer look
|
Neil delivers the Best Man to the wedding |
Beth and Ian |
“When my son announced he was getting married one of the first things he asked was ‘Can you take me to the church in the Morgan’? I have only had this Morgan about 18 months, so along with all the other arrangements I duly took the Morgan apart to sort out the mechanical reliability. Colin Wilson supplied new clutch lining and brake parts, Greg Bibby relaced the front wheels and Bob Angell supplied parts. Time sped on and the car was eventually assembled only the week before we left for Ireland. I did run the engine and drove a few yards in both gears, but that was about it.
____________________________________________________
September 2013
Our Treasurer’s Treasures
John Scruton, Treasurer of the Morgan Three Wheeler Club, has Morgans with two, three and four wheels.
July 2013
An apt photo for this time of year. George Dobson sent this lovely photo taken near Buttermere in the late 1960’s. George continues:
June 2013
Exploring the green lanes. Sheffield member Jon Mark tries out his F Super after the winter fettle and his wife Pauline captures the moment. No doubt squirming over the grass in the middle of the track, Jon steers his car to the top to watch the gliders at the Gliding Club near Great Hucklow in Derbyshire.
____________________________________________________
March 2013
A Cautionary Tale from Giles Gill, South Island New Zealand
“These pictures of the wee dear were taken on a trip over the Haast Pass to meet a group of folk touring NZ in their Morgans a couple of years ago.
Travelling in our little car, with Rosie (other driver), me (riding mechanic), our minimalist luggage, and the wee car’s “overnight bag” of far too many tools and spares (I never know what to leave at home on long trips!) means there is quite a load for the old string brakes to cope with.
Arriving at the first sign warning of a hill is just OK (“Trucks use low gear, Morgan Threewheelers prepare fresh underwear”).
Seeing the first notification of a “runaway vehicle ramp in 1km” (that’s 5/8ths of a mile in Pickersleigh Road units) really starts you thinking……….. 5/8ths of a mile at any gradient with a runaway vehicle ramp is a mighty long way in my timid book, especially since we’d had a rear tyre blow out a few miles back with cheese grater wire one side of the road and rock face the other……….
Next sign informing of ramp in 500m (5/16ths of a mile) and by now you realise the roading department isn’t joking.
It’s really quite nice to see the ramp appear round the corner, with lovely soft kitty litter at the top to give you a soft landing.”
 |
 |
OK, Giles admits “the photo is posed, we managed to career down the hill mostly in control, with brakes were very judiciously applied, the buttocks firmly clenched, and the Haast river provides a lovely laundry facility.” It’s a lovely story even so!
____________________________________________________
January 2013
The Morgan Roll Protection System
Not a factory fitting, but a system devised and used by Dalton Linkleter, once a keen and innovative Morgan owner, showing the effectiveness of the roll protection on his 1934 JAP. For anyone wishing to install a similar accessory, it is a spare wheel surmounted by a well stuffed rucksac! Many thanks to George Dobson for passing on the details and sketch drawn by Dalton.