Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor...

[gsalt57tr3]

Last Saturday night I went to the ballgame but it was rained out. Coming home, I overtook a car I didn't recognize but I could swear it had a tuned Vanguard motor in it.

I looked around on the Motorbase website a bit and thought that it might be an early Lotus, like an Elite S2, with the rounded passenger compartment set back on the car.

It was a nice red british car, but thats all I could tell.

Yesterday, one of my coworkers was going on about the torque he got from his solara, so I did a little research on the torque from the TR3 (117 ftlbs, btw). When I was on the Motorbase website again (Really nice resource if you havn't seen it) I looked at all the cars that had the Vanguard motor (one of the sort features).

Among the many cars was a Morgan Plus 4 Plus. This was the car I saw. I heard the motor sound and swore it was close to the sound my Triumph makes. Morgan only made 26 of these cars.

Anyway, the license was "4 PLUS", driving through rainy central California last Saturday night. If your a member here, you got a nice set of wheels...

 

[Deleted member 3577]

A rare bird indeed........Only 26 made!!

Had a rough time finding a pic. of one......Found this.

https://www.mscc.uk.com/modelhistory.htm

I actually saw one years ago & thought it was really cool.

 

[trfourtune]

yup,
morgan +4 had triumph tr4 motor. greg solow (noted triumph tr4 motor builder) races a triumph powered morgan and he's in california."greg solow's engine room".i think morgan made more than 26 plus fours though.
rob

 

[piman]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

Hello all,

Morgan's, like many small manufacturers used many different engines, I think most of the 4's and Plus 4's used Ford engines, but I'm surprised that there were only 26 Triumph engined Plus 4's?
They used the Rover V8 for many years in their Plus 8. For those that are not familiar with them they are wood framed bodied cars.

Alec

 

[Deleted member 3577]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

Plus 4 <font color="red"> PLUS </font> .........Peter Morgan's "biggest mistake"

(or so I heard that was what he said about it)

**** fine looking mistake as far as I can see.

Anyone find a nice pic. of one?

 

[gsalt57tr3]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

I thought it was beautiful.

The Morgan plus 4 all used the Vanguard (TR2-4) engine. As did the Peerless and Warwick. And I believe the Triumph roadster 2000. Not to mention the Massey Ferguson Tractor.

 

[gsalt57tr3]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

pictures I have found:

https://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/by-id/775/

https://www.morgan-motor.co.uk/about_morgan/1960.html

https://www.carfolio.com/specifications/models/car/?car=57574&Morgan

https://www.captainjakes.com/abcd2002/morganrare01.jpg

Thats a quick search of the internet.

 

[Alan_Myers]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

Hi all,

Ya got me curious, too, so here's a photo...

https://www.pbase.com/redmorgan/image/17577837

and another view...

https://www.pbase.com/redmorgan/image/17577885

Nice, car (I still like the Italia better, though.)

Yeah, if that particular car you saw has been specially tuned, I bet Greg Solow is responsible. He's "The Man" among Morgan tuners and relatively close to Sac'to/Fresno. With a rare car like that, only the best would do!

p.s. Oh, BTW, I stumbled across Peter Morgan's obit in the London Independent newspaper, 2003, if interested there's lots of detail about his life and the cars...

https://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20031023/ai_n12721003

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

 

[RobT]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

There is a feature article on the Morgan Plus 4 in this month's (April) Classic & Sports Car (C&SC) magazine. These are still being made but with a modern 4 cyl Ford engine.

 

[Don Elliott]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

When Triumph sold engines to Morgan, they shipped engines off the TR2 and TR3 production lines. That's why the engine numbers on TRs are about 300 numbers higher than the Commission Numbers (VIN).

 

[TR4nut]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

Well it isn't a plus 4 plus, but by chance there is a nice looking +4 on ebay right now - that Vanguard engine looks pretty good in it:
https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MORGAN-19...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[JamesWilson]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

[ QUOTE ]
Plus 4 <font color="red"> PLUS </font> .........Peter Morgan's "biggest mistake"

**** fine looking mistake as far as I can see.


[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif
In fact I like it. Its a much nicer looking car IMHO than their current new-ish model...

Perhaps we could hope for a retro-'60s model to go alongside the retro-'30s one? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif

I'll go hide from the Morgan purists now... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[gsalt57tr3]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

Isn't the phrase "Morgan purist" redundant?

 

[JamesWilson]

Re: Didn't know the car, but recognized the motor.

[ QUOTE ]
Isn't the phrase "Morgan purist" redundant?

[/ QUOTE ]

I was going to call them "Morganatics" until I discovered what it means... which is also oddly appropriate....