Back to the Future: 1934 Morgan MX4 Super Sports
Q: What’s the difference between an old Morgan and a new Morgan? A: Not much. The company is the OG (‘Original Gangster’ as today’s young people say about cool old things) of the car world. So forget for a moment that it’s 2022 because, at Morgan, the company builds its cars like it’s 1922! In season 18, episode 6 of Top Gear, Richard Hammond shows up at Donnington Park race track in the new-old iteration of the car pictured here. As you would expect, he is teased mercilessly by both Jeremy Clarkson and James May for driving a tricycle. Hammond argues that the car is made of wood because “that’s the way Morgan build cars. Coachbuilt!” To which Clarkson responds: “I reckon if you went to Morgan and asked them ‘would you like some diptheria?’ they’d say ‘Umm, yes please, because that’s tradition.'” Classic Clarkson! This 1934 Morgan MX4 Super Sports is on auction over at eBay with the bidding sitting at a whopping $18,200.
I say ‘whopping’ because I had no idea these old Morgans were worth anything more than a few thousand bucks, especially in unrestored condition with undocumented mileage. Shame on me for being so naive — clearly, no stone has been left unturned in the quest to commodify collector cars into investments (yeah, including tricycles!). Our Morgan here is equipped with a Matchless V-twin engine. Some were aircooled. Others, like this one here, were watercooled. The 990cc engine is made far more interesting by virtue of the partially exposed valvetrain and a centrally mounted carburetor, all of it just hanging out front. Last year, at Bonham’s Quail Lodge sale, a restored example similar to this one sold for $50,400. Would it be a stretch to call this eBay listing a bargain?
There’s not much on the inside, though you’ll note the steering wheel is on the right. Certainly, the interior is in keeping with what you might expect in an 88-year-old three-wheeled conveyance from Great Britain. The seller notes: “The speedometer is missing, the cable is still hooked up to the speedo drive. A motorcycle speedo will hook up to it.” I suspect the Morgan’s new owner is not going to cheap out and throw in some rando speedometer unless the plan is to drive it as-is. Given the elevated values of these cars, I secretly wonder if this car might not end up on the overly exuberant enthusiast auction website (that shall remain unnamed) within a year.
There’s no question this Morgan is likely to be at least a partial restoration even if it’s to be driven the way it sits. It was last licensed in 1998 when all the fluids were drained and it was put into storage. The seller says this: “Oil was sprayed in the cyclinders [sic] and left for a day, motor turns over fine and has compression.” But, he adds “I did not try to get it running.” Not sure that’s enough information to judge anything, except at best, it’s a full tune up, or at worst, a complete rebuild. In the time it took me to write this, the bid price increased by almost $1000. To quote Hammond, this Morgan would probably fetch even more money if it had four wheels! As it is though, I would not be surprised to see this auction end up in the meaty part of $20gs. Let’s see.
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Comments
I love all things British, well, almost. These being the only exception. To me, these defied all logic, not a car, not a bike. It looks incredibly unstable, probably goes like hell, but try and stop it. I’d say a front collision would be catastrophic, but then, I can hear the the British logic, “well mate, you shouldn’t run into anything anyway, by jove”,,I think the newer one with the S&S motors, are an improvement. I still say all 3 wheelers are prone to flat tires with the single tire riding in the “oil strip” running over nails, blasting caps, driveshafts, whatever cars don’t pick up. I suppose they DO give someone that can’t ride a motorcycle, a chance to ride something and that’s cool. A 1934 Morgan may not be the best route as a decent Can-Am goes for tha money, and push a button and go. This, not so easy. Truly, not for the beginner here.
That’s an interesting point about the 3rd wheel being prone to flats where it rides Howard. I’ve never thought of that.
Someone in town has a recent version of one of these. It makes me jealous, It looks like a lot of fun with the fighter plane paint job with the shark teeth on the side.
I’ve driven my JZR Morgan replica 15,000 miles and never had a flat. You do have to watch the road and it is easy to thread and object on the road between the wheels.
Neat car. The 3 wheeler was to be cheap, sporty transportation as it was classified as a motor bike. The taxes then and now on European cars would water your eyes. Not sure where the Brits are now but the Norwegians have a 100% value added tax on cars. Stationed in Norway in 1974 a VW Scrocco cost almost $8,000.
The 3 wheel exemption still applies in the UK I think if the vehicle weighs less than 450KG, allows the car to be classed as a motorbike and driven on a bike license. Now it makes no difference, but in post war UK, saving small amounts of money was absolutely part of life for the working man.
I just never have seen the appeal of these, but as they say “to each his (or her) own.” That’s a chunk of change for something not running.
I’m sure someone will want it, love it, and give it a good home….just not going to be me.
To be clear, not anti trike. Just more of the Can Am, or perhaps Bourget Scorpion RT, etc version of reverse trikes.
Hey all! I’m never going to pretend knowing anything about anything. I do want to say/ask this though. Pretty much everything that came out to the public vehicle wise do have an ancestory of sorts. So I think that this type of Morgan might be the GGF of CanAms? Forty-five thousand dollar Sling-shots. There is one parked next door to me. It was a rental in my little resort town of Crystal Beach Ontario Canada. I think I got the make wrong. The CanAms here are two front wheel trikes.. I think that this Sling-shots is Polaris. It’s 07:11 and the vehicle in question is underwraps. The owner, a twenty something young woman, keeps all of her vehicles tip top. Along with the Slingsnot there are four? Seadoos. The tiny rental business she owns is called
ADVENTURES IN CRYSTAL BEACH. So. What do the masses think?
Or, what I considered to be the king of the hill for reverse trikes, the TriRod F3 Adrenaline. Unfortunately, at $55k per, they overestimated their market.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMkf4sdhmc
with a 3 wheel trike configuration avoiding pot holes just means picking which wheel to hit it with!
Amazing the amount of commenters who know very little about Morgan trikes but are quick with opinions.
A friend here in Madrid has just rebuilt a sister car. It started looking like this one and has ended up costing mega $$$$. So this car ischeap at the moment, but has to go to someone who knows Morgans well and can do the work themselves.
The UK-based Owner´s club is the only real source of spares, but there is no guarantee that what you buy will actually be the same as fitted to your car. Morgans in post-war UK were run by poor people, enthusiasts or not, and very often owners bought cars to cannibalize for spares.So very often, Morgan 3 wheelers are like George Washington´´s axe.
BTW, there´s been something of a revolution at the Morgan, with brand now owned by Italians. The latest (4 wheel) cars retain the look of the traditional roadster, they use bonded aluminium chassis, BMW engines and can be had with automatic transmission. Prices are high….
There´s a new 3 wheeler as well. Ditto on pricing
The average age of customers hasn´t dropped any, but the design and build process have changed massively. Still not a car I “get”, to be honest.
I wouldn’t get too excited about a change of ownership from the Brits to the Italians. They both have the ability to turn the car business into a calamity.
Just a reminder that the Morgan company is or was one of the longest privately owned car company in Britain. Oh I don’t think that ranks as a calamity , Oh by the way Fiat ,Italian owned now owns Chrysler which was a calamity for sure.
Albert Ball VC owned one. He said driving it was the closest thing to flying. Ball failed to return from a flight in 1917. The Morgan has been around for a long time.
This is the same version that Jay Leno owns.
I’d prefer the newer 3 wheelers as the support is better
from factory since non-brits run the business.
This thing is something between a MG TC and an old
TVR. Whilst the TC is more reliable then the Trevor
the Trevor have more sportiness but both are very
basic.
If you want a unique car and pure drive feeling stick
on one to past 20 years old. New they are from 70k
but freshly models used go around 35-50k and they
sell fast.
These things are just plain BUTT-UGLY, but I want one. It would be a blast to ride around in one of these. I don’t know how well the Matchless engine stood up but I’ve heard that some were powered by J.A.P. engines and went like Jack, the Bear. I remember one driving around Great Falls, MT one day. I only saw it once and people I knew didn’t know it existed. But one day, at one of the local bike shops/hangouts we were discussing scooter tramp things when this Morgan drove past. The sound of a DIFFERENT V-twin brought us all outside but we one saw it turn right on 10th Ave South and head west toward the freeway. I don’t remember much of it other than it was British Racing Green with black fenders. I loved the sound…
I used to take small groups of Americans on car-related tours of England, and the Morgan facility was always on the list of “must visit” places. This was in the late 1980s and the place was basically as it was in the 1930s. They built 10 cars/week, and at the end of the week the employees would get together and move the 10 rolling chassis from one workshop to the next. In the paint area we could see old Morgan wheels [bolt on or wire] with old bald tyres, all covered with hundreds of layers of different color paint. These were used to roll the cars into and out of the paint booth without having to worry about overspray on the wheels/tyres!
Each half of the bonnet [engine cover] was made by one man who used a sheet metal roller to put the simple curve into the aluminum panel. He had an assistant who cranked the rollers as the boss fed the hood panel into the rollers, and back out again. There was no template, the boss would take the bonnet half and hold it up between his hand and his shoulder, and by simply holding it in that specific way, he was so well-versed in making them this way, that he knew exactly when it was done.
I became friends with Sir Charles Morgan [grandson of the founder], who later became the managing director on his father’s retirement. We used to correspond with each other, and I still have a collection of letters where we discuss the British government trying to get the company to expand from 500 cars/year, to 5,000/year.
This would result in an expenditure of many millions of Pounds and increasing the workforce by a factor of 12. After doing the financial projections, the company could probably turn a profit, but that profit would likely be about the same as it was previously, when making 500 cars a year. Since it was family owned, this meant Sir Charles would likely be profiting the same amount, but with 10 times the work! So he politely told the government “NO!”
On one of my visits to attend the Beaulieu Autojumble, I had a couple of free days so I drove up to Morgan, and Charles took me out to lunch in a new Morgan with the 3.5 liter Rover V8. I don’t remember where we ate, but I remember that ride!
My tours were always limited to not more than 10 people, and one of the items I gave each participant was the definitive book on Morgan cars, signed by either Charles or his father.
I’ve seen what the factory looks like today, and it’s just not the same. I consider myself lucky to have had the various “Morgan Experiences” that I treasure today.
“today’s young people say about cool old things” Creepy …
Ended:Aug 28, 2022 , 7:30PM
Winning bid:
US $25,655.00
[ 32 bids ]
I’ve loved Morgan Cycle cars for a long time, I remember seeing a Replica of one in Hemmings for $4,000, $4k I didn’t have back in the 80s. I did jump on this one. made by Mike Ziadeh in Ohio, he did a great job, 1000cc Moto Guzzi with MG Auto tranny, gets a lot of attention.