Morgan 8 Plus
IT’S NOT EASY being the Morganite here at R&T. For years I had to put up with “cookout” jokes, what with Morgan U.S. agent Bill Fink sensibly converting his cars to propane to avoid all the EPA hassles of dirty old gasoline. Now, after considerable development work, comes some-thing quite different from Bill’s Isis Imports (P.O. Box 2290, U.S. Customs House, San Francisco, Calif 94126; [415] 433-1344); namely, a gasoline fueled Plus 8. And what do I hear around here?
“Isn’t it just like Morgan? Everyone else is plunging headlong into alternative fuels—and Morgan goes gasoline.” Not inappropriately, however: Like Belgian ash body structure and sliding-pillar front suspension, there’s something quite traditional these days about gasoline as a motor fuel. For the unenlightened (if, in fact, any of you have actually been able to duck my Morgan proselytizing), these products of Pickersleigh Road, Malvern Link, Worcester, are wonder-fully traditional English sports cars, built with few significant changes since 1936. That was the year when founder H.F.S. Morgan sensed that his 3-wheeler business, going strong since 1910, might profit from something new in the catalog with an additional wheel back there. Just to cover his bets, though, he kept the trike in production until 1952. The Plus 8 is the most potent of current Moggies, with power provided by the Rover (nee Buick) 3.9-liter V-8.
And, as I’ve already implied, gone are the days of frantically searching out the local propane supplier before he went home to fire up his own backyard barbecue. This time around, photographer, adventuress, pal and spouse Dorothy Clendenin and I traveled some 1000 miles through Arizona with nary a refueling fear. The reason for this drive was the Second Annual Copperstate 1000, an old-car tour held in benefit of the Phoenix Art Museum.