How Morgan Cars Are Made: by Hand, Out of Wood

كيف تصنع سيارات مورجان ؟

هذه السياره الانجليزيه الكلاسيكيه؟

نعم انها تصنع بالكامل من الخشب...!!!!؟ وأيضا بيد الانسان!!؟؟

ولا تتدخل فيها الآلات الحديثه حتى ألآن

ويتراوح سعرها 44000 وحتى 300000 دولار!!!!؟

تابعوا معى...

Doing what they do best, and not changing in a changing world: this seems to work for Morgan

The
Morgan Motor Company is proudly independent (even Ferrari is owned by
Fiat, every sports car company seems to be a subsidiary of a larger
manufacturer these days). These cars are not cheap ($44,000 for a base
model, some cost as much as $300,000), the waiting list is more than a
year (each car is made by hand) - can this company survive the severely
affected luxury market?




London-based photographer Mark Obstfeld, who also wrote about the "James Bond's Latest Supercar" Aston Martin
for DRB, returns with a look at this classic British car company which
makes their cars still largely by hand, and largely out of... wood:



The Morgan Motor Company will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2011 - its long and lustrous history can be traced on this page
- and is till run by the same family; the current CEO is grandson of
the founder. The factory is a sight to behold (guided tours can be
arranged on their website) and it's quite revealing to see how much
tender-loving care goes into a hand-built car. Perhaps of interest is
that, while the shell is metal, much of the car is still made of wood:


Workers putting finishing touches to a near complete car

A
welder joining sections of the metal shell - this was later shown to be
so expertly done that no joins are visible at all (the wood can be seen
in this photo) -



Side-wings mounted onto the chasis

Working
on the wood interior (left); worker uses metal shears to individually
shape a hood - because Morgans are handmade, each is slightly different
and has to be done this way:




Inside one of the construction rooms

Mr.
H.F.S. Morgan guided the company for almost fifity years, beginning in
1913... "After a hair-raising first drive in a 3 h.p. Benz that ran
away with him down the 1-in-6 gradient of a hill between Bromyard and
Hereford, he emerged intact but considerably poorer." That was in 1906,
the Benz did not kill him - and in 1910 Morgan patented his own
three-wheeler "Roundabout" . In 1913 the company was formed and has been
a family business ever since.

One of the oldest surviving (re-conditioned) Morgan sports 4/4 cars:



The
Morgan Motor Company had just opened a small museum and showroom,
inaugurated by HRH The Princess Royal (Princess Anne). Here is the
finished room (the Morgans appear to be quite popular despite the
economic crunch):



Inside the museum, a collection of vintage toy Morgans:



An original 3-wheeler from the 1920's:


photos by Mark Obstfeld (right), left - ModernMechanix

The fabulous 1964 Morgan Plus Four Plus (restoration by owner Dennis Glavis):


photos via The Morgan Motor Company

Also 1964 model - the Morgan SLR - has an enchanting shape and graceful lines:


(image via)

A rather loud Morgan Aero8 (which we got to take for a spin) -



Futuristic-looking Morgan "AeroMax" (see images here) and The Morgan "Life" - zero-emission concept car, with Qinetiq hydrogen fuel cell: