Morgan 4/4 Sport in the driving report: British sustainability

E lizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor is ten Years old when her dad started a new job. He becomes King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Emperor of India. In 1936 Britain still ruled the oceans, had an empire and a noteworthy independent automobile industry to lose. Including the Morgan Motor Company in Malvern Link.

After 26 years there is the first Morgan with four wheels in 1936

With regard to new-fangled devil's stuff out of tradition, company founder HFS Morgan only gives it after 26 years Fahrzeugbau raised his skepticism about a fourth wheel on his motor vehicle. And presented after a few months of development in the coronation year of George VI. the first four-wheeled Morgan - such a radical, daring and yet far-sighted decision that justifies using the type designation Morgan 4/4 to refer to the progressiveness of four wheels and four cylinders on the roadster.

Even today: In the course of its 75-year life, the Morgan 4/4 Sport sees Great Britain actually losing the entire Empire and almost the entire auto industry, and experiences how 13 gentlemen and one lady in the office of Prime Minister cannot prevent this. Like all Morgan models, the new entry-level model Morgan 4/4 Sport is made of special wood - ash that has been seasoned for ten years. Committed to coach building, the carpenters make a frame for it from a good quarter of a fathom of wood (just under a cubic meter) and lay planks on the floor. All around it, the metal sheet has not been significantly changed since 1954.

Then as now: the Morgan 4/4 is handcrafted

It takes two weeks of manual labor to build a Morgan 4/4 always. In order to preserve his species, he is careful with the environment. The fact that every tree that Morgan needs is cut with an ax and not a chainsaw not only saves energy, but also ensures a certain level of opportunity between the opponents - important for a nation that used submarines as ' ungentlemanly “declined. In addition, Morgan plants two new ones for each felled ash tree - whereby the fact that England has by no means degenerated into an impenetrable forest in the last few decades is an indication of the moderate production figures.

Most environmentally friendly roadster with a great challenge

Under the fineWith the ribbed bonnet of the Morgan 4/4 Sport, entire engine dynasties worked in the course of time - always small and economical machines. The 1.6-liter Ford four-cylinder is currently being given the honor of powering the 795 kilogram roadster. It submits - surely only under protest - to continental European bureaucracy in the form of the Euro 4 emissions standard and the New European Driving Cycle, which certifies the Morgan 4/4 Sport with CO2 emissions of 140 g /km and crowns it the most environmentally friendly roadster. Emissions records may be broken, but not its character. Whoever thinks they have become a bit comfortable does not recognize it - with headrests, good seats and a heater that actually warms.

There is also a hood on the Morgan 4/4 Sport, you grow with the challenge, build it up. When the topping-out ceremony can be celebrated for the first time, that is an emotional moment. Then slip over the stubborn vinyl ceiling, pluck it onto 25 knobs or press studs and insert the side windows. Rubber bibs try to seal the tent structure. Sometimes it still rains in. Or it draws. But mostly both. Your own checked hat is better wind and weather protection. Go now One turn of the key and the engine starts, behaves appropriately squeaky in the Morgan 4/4 Sport. The first gear engages harshly in the gnarled gearbox, the clutch pedal can hardly be pushed down and as difficult to control as a snapping mousetrap - the Morgan 4/4 Sport rolls around with a bobbing and bobbing motion.

Rear axle design principle from 1909

Then the Morgan 4/4 Sport gets going and teaches that performance and weight are what count in sports cars - not power-to-weight ratio. At 6.9 kilograms per horsepower, the Morgan 4/4 Sport is almost twice as high as the 525 hp Mercedes E 63 AMG (3.6 kg /hp). But the 115 hp burst over the light wooden box like a hurricane. The driver sits in his eye. From the low seating position in the fully leather-covered cockpit, his gaze wanders through the small pane over the wide hilly landscape of the bonnet and fenders. They tremble and quiver under the dramatic acceleration and the enormous speed, while the speedometer of the Morgan 4/4 Sport does not confirm either. Two feet behind the driver's seat, the leaf-sprung, rigid rear axle tramples behind the front axle. Its design principle can also be considered mature, it corresponds to that of the first Morgan - the three-wheeler from 1909.

The supply of spare parts for the Morgan should be secured for 50 years

Comfort qualities are suitable for the Morgan 4/4 sport probably no longer works. If he stumbles over bumps, nothing bounces, it just crunches in the beams. The directional decisions made by the pilot at the small helm are politely noted by the servo-free, poisonous steering system, but they implement them according to their own ideas. No electronics worry about the 165's tractionTires, nothing prevents the axles from cornering or the wheels from locking. The Morgan 4/4 Sport is a Gran Purismo, a long-term car and therefore more contemporary than ever. Morgan promises that there will be spares for him in 50 years. Perhaps by then a certain Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor will actually be the King of England. Until then, however, the following applies: God save the Queen. Today - and Morgan too.