Morgan Super Sports

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

The now-iconic Morgan 3-Wheeler was a common sight on the roads in the 1930s thanks to its affordable price and sparkling performance.

A step up from the motorcycle and sidecar, its popularity only diminished when the small car, principally the Austin Seven, Morris Minor and Ford Model Y, became sufficiently cheap (thanks to mass production techniques) to tempt the public into these more comfortable offerings.

However, its superior power-to-weight ratio meant the 3-wheeer could still humble many a larger-engined 4-wheeler and the little Morgan retained its popularity amongst press on motorists as 'the sportsmans choice'. The Malvern factory was not slow to capitalise on the competition potential of the machine, a Gold Medal in the 1911 London-Exeter-London Reliability Trial with Morgan himself driving was followed by victory in the inaugural cyclecar race at Brooklands the following year, Harry Martin taking the chequered flag three minutes ahead of the field.

Racetrack successes led directly to a road-going spin-off in the form of the Grand Prix model, introduced for 1914. The first Aero sports model, inspired by the Grand Prix, followed immediately after WWI. Subsequent technological developments included the fitting of front brakes, operated by hand lever, from 1924 and the adoption of a new chassis - the M-type - on the new Super Sports model in 1928. This new chassis was lower than its predecessor and undoubtedly helped Morgan trounce the opposition at the New Cyclecar Club meeting at Brooklands later that year. In 1931 a conventional three-speeds-plus-reverse gearbox was introduced, the old two-speed transmission disappearing soon after.

According to Morgan factory records, chassis number D267 is a Morgan Super Sports which was despatched from the factory on 15th April 1933 to Homacs, the Morgan dealer at 243 Lower Clapton Road, London E5. The car was originally painted with a black body and red wheels (the wheels were originally going to be cream but the order was then changed). It was fitted with a JAP overhead valve, water-cooled engine, serial number LTOWZ/Z/26500/SM, the Burman gearbox was number 621 and the body was number 636.

The current owner acquired the car way back in 1974 by which time it had already been fitted with a Matchless MX2 engine, paying a princely £600 to secure it via Jaye & Warrington of Aspley Guise, Bucks (purchase invoice on file). Being the owner of several other classics and a busy medical man to boot, the vendor only used the Morgan very sparingly but would occasionally lend it to friends, one of whom managed to blow the engine up in around 1995 due to some rather over-enthusiastic pedalling!

The vendor took this as an opportunity to get the car restored and entrusted it to a well-known Morgan specialist for a comprehensive overhaul. As the vendor had previously acquired a fully rebuilt JAP ohv water-cooled dog-eared LTOW engine, he decided that this unit should go in place of the damaged MX2 unit although, for good measure, the MX2 engine was also rebuilt and is generously included in the sale.

The full extent of the restoration is too detailed to list in full here but is amply documented by correspondence and bills in the history file. Suffice to say that every part of the car was restored to a good standard, including the gearbox which was stripped and rebuilt with new bearings etc.

Since the restoration was completed the Morgan has been very little used but has been started and moved regularly, being kept in a heated, dehumidified garage between times, along with a number of other classics that the vendor is fortunate enough to own. Remaining in generally good order throughout, it is only reluctantly being sold due to an impending house move and consequent loss of storage.

AMENDMENT - the spare engine is a "MX", not a "MX2".