Background
In a world that is constantly changing, Morgans are a reassuring constant. The fact that you can still go out and purchase a new car with resolutely 1930s styling is something to be rather happy about - especially as the technology beneath the vintage look has kept pace with the passage of time. With a Morgan, you get the panache and substance of a thoroughbred classic, but with the reassurance of modern mechanicals. It’s an old car you can enjoy without ruining your appetite for… well, old cars.
The 4/4 was Morgan’s first four wheeled vehicle and model production goes all the way back to 1936 - barring a World War and a gap of a few years in the early fifties. A development of the three-wheeled F Super, it was originally powered by a 1.1-litre Coventry Climax engine outputting 40 bhp. Since then, propulsion has come from a variety of Ford engines - aside from a brief flirtation with a Fiat twin-cam in the early eighties - with engine capacities getting progressively bigger and power output mostly increasing up to the 125 bhp 1.8-litre Ford Duratec engine. However, the example we have here is particularly interesting thanks to its 2.0L Ford Duratec engine which delivers 160bhp. From 2009, both output and volume inexplicably dropped, with the 1.6-litre Ford Sigma engine producing only 110 bhp. Ten years later, production of the 4/4 finally ceased with the introduction of stricter emissions regulations. Despite the ever-changing underpinnings, and the Malvern firm now favours BMW power, though the pre-war looks have stayed the same - but Morgan enthusiasts wouldn’t have it any other way.
