insideKENT Magazine Issue 49 - April 2016 | Page 126

MOTORS

MORGAN 4/4

2016 MARKS THE 80th ANNIVERSARY OF CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION OF THE 4/4

THE MORGAN 4/4 IS THE WORLD'S LONGEST RUNNING PRODUCTION VEHICLE AND
A TRULY ICONIC CAR. BUT BEST OF ALL, IT'S BRITISH, AND LIKE MOST BRITISH-BUILT
CARS, IT MANAGES TO PROVIDE FUN AND PERFORMANCE, WHILST BEING SURPRISINGLY
SENSIBLE IN ALL THE RIGHT WAYS TOO.
words and photos by Luke Yates

The looks of the Morgan are simply jaw-dropping:
a beautiful mass of sleekness, with gigantic round
frog-eye headlights, a grin of a grille, bold
sweeping wings gliding over the wheels, and a
set of lights on the rear protruding on what could
easily be Stinger missile tubes. The model we
road tested was coated in a blaze of Liquid Gold
metallic paint, which under the day's beautiful
clear blue sky, looked nothing short of magnificent.
True style, it has been said, is timeless, and that's
certainly the case with the Morgan 4/4. With its
design reputed to have been based on the 1930's
Vanden Plas Squire – another truly beautiful car
– the Morgan would feel at home at any point in
the last 100 years, right up until the present day.
It seems equally conceivable to imagine this
timeless design on the road during wartime Britain
in the 1940s, or zipping about driven by the hero
in a Luc Besson film set in the future. And while
it is easy to slip into thinking that the 4/4 is an
'old' car no longer in production, they are in fact
still being manufactured today. In fact, 2016

celebrates 80 years of continuous production of
the 4/4 and the Morgan Motor Company are
producing a commemorative model in addition
to the bespoke 4/4 tested here.
Slide yourself into the snug cockpit of the Morgan
and suddenly you feel all sorts of things that
modern motors have made tragically obsolete.
As you harness yourself to the ruggedly luxurious
anthracite leather seats with perforated inserts
(ours had a glorious yellow trim to match the
paintwork) you feel as if you are bonded to the
car – man and machine brought together for
some extraordinary feat of driving. You are
preparing not to drive, but either to race or fly!
The huge bonnet sprawling off ahead of you
towards the horizon seems to entice you, to coax
you, to encourage you to get moving as soon as
possible.
Taking a moment to admire that oh-so-beautiful
interior, you are treated to a positive feast of
brilliant British engineering. Stylishly arranged,

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Smiths instrument panels provide clear and
concise feedback, whilst all the switches and
knobs are suitably ergonomic and shiny, exuding
delightful quality. There is even a decent radio/CD
player, though to be honest, I preferred listening
to the magnificent roar of the 4/4 itself, without
any background noise.
As you fire up the engine and press down on the
satisfyingly chunky accelerator, the response is
akin to the recoil from a powerful rifle. The Morgan
may have a 1600cc Ford Sigma engine under
that gigantic hood – a modest engine by modern
standards – but this is a car that breaks modern
rules. It is amazingly light, so much so that the
engine delivers 110bhp in a car that weighs quite
a lot less than a metric tonne.
The result of this engine, combined with a smooth
efficient Mazda five-speed gearbox is astonishing,
delivering 0-62mph in just 8 seconds and a top