Morgan V6 Roadster Factory Prototype (8k miles)

History

This unique car is the original factory prototype of the Morgan V6 Roadster which was eventually launched to the public in 2004. It was developed over a period of about four years by a small team led by chief development engineer Bill Beck, who used it as his own personal car for much of this time in order to fully evaluate it's performance.

The project began in 1998 when a Morgan 4/4 chassis was sent to the Rover factory in Longbridge to be fitted with the new 2.5-litre KV6 engine, soon to be fitted to the Rover 75 saloon. However, for a variety of reasons, this engine was deemed unsatisfactory and Ford stepped in to offer their new all-aluminium 3-litre V6 24-valve engine which was earmarked for the new Jaguar S-Type.

They presented Morgan with a US-spec Lincoln-badged example of this engine which Beck immediately set about modifying for use in his lightweight sportscar. He junked all the unnecessary ancilliaries on the engine (air con, smog control, power steering etc) and also junked the wiring loom when he discovered that it weighed a grotesque 21kg! The slimmed down engine was mated to a Getrag 5-speed manual gearbox, with a BMW gear lever, driving through a 3.08:1 rear axle.

Fitted into the all-aluminium body of the Morgan with its lightweight 4/4 chassis and knock-on light alloy wheels, the 240bhp and 280lb/ft torque engine gave electrifying results. Given that the whole car now weighed just 875kg, it had a Ferrari-beating power-to-weight ratio of 300bhp per tonne. This gave the prototype V6 ferocious acceleration with 0-60mph coming up in well under 5 seconds. This was to prove the car's undoing because it was found to be at least as fast as the new Morgan flagship, the Aero 8, which was just about to be launched.

Realising the embarrassment that this would cause, the Morgan management decided to reign in the V6 project and ordered Beck to stop work on his 4/4 based prototype – much to his dismay. And so it was that the production V6 came to have the much heavier, less agile Plus 8 chassis, considerably blunting its performance compared to the prototype which Beck had carefully balanced on corner scales to ensure perfect weight distribution, front-to-rear and side-to-side, with driver on board.

He had also fitted it with uprated Plus 8 brakes – and Plus 8 badging to fool prying eyes. Other unique features include wider footwells than the production car for easier heel-and-toeing, an aluminium fuel tank (which has since been replaced with a steel one but still comes with the car), and various quick-detach mechanisms which mean the engine and gearbox can be rapidly removed from the car with minimum disturbance of other components. The headlights are also unique in having built in sidelights rather than the traditional wing-mounted ones which can cause wing-cracking problems.  

Beck admits that, in truth, the prototype is perhaps a little too hairy for mass consumption, needing a skilled driver to safely exploit it's explosive performance. However, the car is fully road legal and comes with a snug-fitting removable hardtop and sidescreens and has a long tax and MOT. It has covered just 8,000 miles to date and would make a thrilling road car for a competent driver or an ideal hill climb, sprint or trackday tool.