Morgan Plus 8 Supercharged

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By the early '30s, the market for Morgan’s 3-wheelers had started to wane and in 1936, HFS Morgan finally bowed to the inevitable and introduced the 4/4 (meaning 4 wheels and 4 cylinders).

This car became the basis for a whole range of models that are basically still in production today - the 4/4 retaining the crown for having the longest continuous production run of any car ever made – 1936 to the present day.

On the lookout for a new power plant to replace the Triumph engine used in the Plus 4, Peter Morgan was attracted to the newly acquired Rover V8 (nee the Buick 215). He hired Maurice Owen, a racing mechanic with experience with the iconic Buick motor and a development engine was sourced. Within the year, Morgan had the prototype (R7000) up and running on a Plus 4 chassis. The Morgan +8 had its commercial launch in 1968 and was to continue in production until 2004 – a span of 36 years! In fact, Morgan used the V8 engine significantly longer than anyone else…including Rover themselves.

This 1990 Plus 8 was originally ordered directly from the factory under the ‘Personal Export Scheme’ but appears never to have been collected by its overseas owner. It was used by the factory as a brochure car instead – its picture supplied to Morgan by Performance Car Magazine who presumably borrowed the car at some point. It probably hung around the works for a while – before it was later registered to Morgan Dealers Heart of England Morgan in 1991 just prior to its sale to the vendor’s late husband.

A standard enough looking all-aluminium-bodied Plus 8 sitting on alloy wheels, it had just 58 miles on the clock when it was sold in 1991 and has been much loved and cared for by the same owner ever since – it has still only covered 12,900 miles to this day.

The owner had the private number MOR 8R on the car for many years and by 1997 had carefully but significantly upgraded it to its current supercharged form. An insurance document at the time showed a mileage of 9,568 miles in 1997 and declared a raft of changes. These included competition front springs, negative camber frame front, panhard rod and anti-tramp bar, uprated front brakes with four-pot calipers, vented discs and Aeroquip hoses. He had also added a German-supplied stainless steel sports exhaust with side-exit, Monza fuel caps, polished and ported heads, a race-Logic traction control system, thick-core radiator and an oil cooler and full harness…..plus of course the reliable and well-proven Sprintex Supercharger which was professionally fitted and rolling-road tested. Libra-Motive did much of the work and took it to the rollers simply writing on the compliment slip accompanying the power-run printout “Terry – Wow – Rob”…says it all, with 259bhp at 5,000 revs and 325lbs/ft of torque at 3,000rpm.

Its current spec also includes an oil-cooler undertray, Koni dampers, recent Mohair hood with red piping, a half and full tonneau, black leather upholstery also piped in red and a locking glovebox.

There are bills on file from Lewis Racing in 2007 and more recent ones from NewElms garage, Morgan specialists near Shaftsbury. They fitted five new tyres in 2013 and gave it its service (£2,142) in 2016 - just 250 miles ago.

There are 20 plus old MOTs on file to prove the mileage, its current test running to July 2019 with no advisories listed – it really does want for nothing having been so well cared for and so little used over the years.

For those contemplating buying a Morgan, this powerful and charismatic Plus 8 looks terrific value, especially when set alongside the latest factory offerings with their fancy price-tags.