For the Morgan Enthusiast
You know the scene, a beautiful summer’s day, the warmth of the sun and just the slightest of breeze for a perfect temperature, the sounds and smells of the midyear months, “Gin and tonic anyone?” Hmm, don’t mind if I do, but just the one, I wouldn’t want to be one of Hogarth’s subjects! More on that shortly.
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You need to clean all the dirt, grease and general contamination from the Stub-Axle. We use general bulk brake cleaner in a hand pump spray bottle, as it does not leave any residue on the cleaned surfaces. You can now inspect the surface of the Stub-Axle, (photo 1b) show corrosion that has eaten into the metal and (photo 1c) shows the large bearing has overheated and the small bearing shows signs of not being fitted correctly. If necessary, use fine emery paper to tidy up any rough areas but in cases such as photo 1b, a replacement Stub-Axle is advisable.
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From the mid-Fifties on, Europe was awash with elegant coachbuilt GTs for the distinguished chap. France had Facel, Italy had Iso, Lamborghini and Ferrari, while Great Britain had Aston Martin, Bristol, Alvis, Jensen and AC, alongside the traditional Bentley. Although those latter companies were very, very British, they would often go shopping for styling on the continent, and many looked across the Atlantic for cheap, reliable powerplants. From the mid-Fifties to the mid-Seventies, America was a net exporter of horsepower.
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For those of you who have followed this series of articles, we sincerely hope that they are a useful source of reference when looking for somewhere to stay when visiting the Morgan factory in Malvern. We have focussed upon high quality establishments, and to date have featured Stanbrook Abbey; Chateau Impney; The Cottage in the Wood; The Abbey Hotel; The Colwall Park Hotel; Copper Beech House; and The Cotford Hotel. This month we feature something a little different: a self-contained holiday apartment.
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The factory will be open on one Saturday each month through the rest of the year, 08.30am -12.30pm, and details can be found on the Morgan Motor Company website. The next two dates are 11th May and June 1st. Book factory tours (£24) and test drives via the factory themselves, and this year the factory are offering 15 minute “tasters” for £25 offering you a drive in and around Malvern with a driver which are proving a very popular gift indeed.
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Have you ever wanted to pack it all up and just hit the road, miles and miles of seemingly endless freedom and romance, away from the shackles of everyday mundanity. How appealing the opportunity to explore, discover new places, sounds, sights, tastes and smells, experience the beauty of nature and live in the great outdoors. I hope that sounds appetising, but how are we going to do this and where are we going to stay? In a caravan of course, you know hitch it up behind the car and off we go. Hmm, isn’t that just a tiny bit less adventurous, the idea of a caravan is just a little bit stayed? Well, not if it’s in the coolest caravan around a truly iconic home on wheels from Rocket Caravans.
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To access the castle nut you need to remove the wheel by undoing the central nut. As you can see in (Photo 1a) to be able to remove/install the cotter pin there are two opposing holes through the hub that line up with one of the two machined holes through the stub axle (shown in part 1). This allows the castle nuts to be rotated to the right or left to maintain the correct torque on the wheel bearings. This allows for small increments of movement between the castle nut openings and the stub-axle holes.
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Sydney Allard is the very picture of a man whose life revolved around motorsport in one form or another. Born in Streatham in 1910, Sydney’s first proper taste of competition came in 1929 at the wheel of his elder brother Jack’s hand-me-down Morgan Grand Prix three-wheeler. Syd and his other brother, Dennis, later won a three-lap event at Brooklands in an Aero model, and it was all downhill from there.
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This month we feature a small hotel with a superb reputation and a highly recommended place to stay…and dine.
The Cotford is, believe it, owned and run by …the “Morgans” – Yes! Barbara and Chris Morgan (no relation to H.F.S. or the Morgan family that we all know). During the past 12 years they have transformed this hotel from a mediocre, simple establishment into a vibrant, luxury hotel with a fine dining restaurant of immense reputation – “L’amuse BOUCHE”.
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March 5th 2019 will be remembered as the day Morgan stepped into the future. On that opening day of the Geneva Motor Show the company unveiled the stunning new Plus Six, formerly known on the page as “The Widebody” and announced that Italian Private equity Investindustrial were taking a majority shareholding in the Company. Both stories are covered in detail in this edition, along with the small matter of the launch of the limited edition Plus 4 100 Works Edition.
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What stops the front wheels from dropping off? Don’t panic the cotter pin through the castle nut and the stub axle do!
The Rumblings this month is on Cotter Pins in relation to the front wheels and how the bearings are retained in place on the Stub-axles, when used on an Open Hub as used with Alloy wheels held on by normal wheel nuts.
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A British hi-fi company with international renown, an inspirational founder and a fascinating history, a true gem of British manufacturing design and development!
Founded in 1973 Rega Research is an award winning British audio equipment designer and manufacturer. Operating from a custom built factory unit based in Southend-On-Sea in Essex, Rega gets its unusual moniker from the first two letters of its founder’s surnames, Roy Gandy and Tony Relph.
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Another look back at a name from Britain’s proud motoring heritage. This month, Singer: a great independent that was swallowed by the corporate machine
Think ‘Singer’, and most people will think of sewing machines. Sadly, that’s how far this once-great motoring name has fallen from the public consciousness over the past 50 years. In fact, the founder of Singer Motors Limited, George Singer, was in the sewing machine business in the late 19th century, but had nothing to do with the sewing machines of the same name – the Singer Manufacturing Company was founded in America in 1851.
George was working for the Coventry Sewing Machine Company when he decided that his future lay in two-wheeled transport and, in 1874, he left to start his own bicycle company with his brother-in-law. The Coventry Sewing Machine Company, incidentally, had had a similar idea of their own a few years previously, spawning the branch that would eventually go on to become the Swift Motor Company… but we digress.
Granville Orange continues with our series of where to stay if visiting Malvern and
the Morgan factory, with or without your treasured Morgans.
This month we change our focus from featuring large hotels (to date we have covered Stanbrook Abbey; Chateau Impney; The Abbey Hotel; Cottage in the Wood; and last month, The Colwall Park Hotel). We have turned our attention to a small bed and breakfast establishment in Great Malvern offering a very personal and award winning service to guests choosing to stay in one of the six double bedrooms.
Copper Beech House has ample off-road parking for up to 10 cars, so ideal for a group of friends or small car club opting to stay here. With six double bedrooms, each individually styled, Copper Beech House can accommodate up to 12 guests.
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As well as an all-new bonded aluminium platform, the car will use a powertrain never before installed in a Morgan and will be the most dynamically capable production Morgan ever. MOG interprets that to mean it is going to be very fast and have a forced-induction six cylinder engine, probably inline. Looking ahead, the wise may presume there will be a hybrid version. The ‘Wide Body’ sports car will be positioned at the premium end of Morgan’s product range and represent a further milestone for Morgan’s 110th year.
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