Morgan Mania

Sir,

Having just read the October issue of Motor Spot I notice that in the classified advertisements section there are no less than 56 second-hand Morgans for sale on offer by dealers, 45 of which have no price on them.

Morgans being a small company with a very limited output of cars per week, this seems to me to be out of all proportion. Being a former Morgan owner myself (1962 4/4) I can understand why someone enchanted by the Morgan at the Motor Show, as I was, receives a rude awakening when, on taking delivery of their expensive possession, finds that what in the warmth of Earls Court with the hood down, was an attractive, comfortable, eye-catching car, suddenly, once on the move, becomes transformed into a draughty, cramped, vicious little bucking bronco, determined to shake its rider through the canvas hood at every bumpy corner or at very least to make the driver and his false teeth part company. That is not to say that I did not find my Morgan good fun on sunny days with the hood down; I am just trying to hypothesise why so many almost new Morgans are loaded on to dealers by their owners who, presumably, have had a long wait before taking delivery.

I also noticed a J2 MG for sale at £3,500. Does anybody actually pay these prices? I can only assume that the reason I never see any early MGs nowadays is that they are either held by dealers or by one of the ever-increasing number of museums, or have been bought and stacked away by someone with more money than sense, as a hedge against inflation. Certainly no-one in their right mind would pay £3,500 for an MG J2 for road use, which isn’t capable of keeping up with an 850 Mini.

As a past owner of an MG PB, a Morgan 4/4 and a Lotus Super Seven, I am now reduced to a 1966 850-c.c. Mini, which I find very reliable, but I hanker after a more exciting mode of transport. Having seen the prices of my former cars shoot up way out of my reach now, it must sound like sour grapes on my part when I say the blame for this must be placed very largely at the door of the dealers whose advertisements appear so regularly in your magazine.

Apart from this I would like to say that I have read your excellent magazine for 12 years now and never miss an issue.

Romford. D. LAMBOURNE