This Is Guernsey

By Pete Burnard

IF IT’S a boy, they used to tell new parents, put him down for Eton and order him a Morgan – advice my parents doubly ignored.

Eton remains a closed book to Elizabeth College number 5516.

But at least I have got around to driving a Morgan and they are rather more readily available these days.

In fact, pop into newly appointed CI dealer San Lorenzo Garage and you can have one now – the fully loaded Roadster in the local pictures is yours for £38,547.

Not that you need that much to own a Morgan – prices start at around £22,000 and the wait for your very own hand-built sports car (spend an extra few pounds and you get a photographic record of it being created) is likely generally to be between nine months and two years, depending on model and specification.

‘I have six build slots for this year,’ said dealer principal Ian Bowtle, ‘but that is for both islands.’

And the slots are model-specific.

So just what is driving a Morgan like?

Travelling forward quickly and back in time, both at once.

Part of the attraction for Ian was the way Morgan complemented the classic vehicle sales side of the business.

‘It’s very much in keeping with what we are doing,’ he said.

And he and Morgans – both the vehicles and the family who still make them in Malvern Link, Worcs – have a track record.

‘I have had three of the cars,’ he said, ‘and it’s not as if we don’t know Morgan and not as if they don’t know us.’

In fact, the Morgan 4/4 was being produced before an ignition key was turned in most of his classic vehicle stock.

The model has been in production since 1936 – earning its entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest-running model of all time.

And while the Aero is, despite its similar looks, very different under the skin, the 4/4, Plus 4 and Roadster are still made pretty much as they always were.

There’s still a separate ladder chassis on which aluminium body panels are borne on an ash frame.

Even the suspension is still Morgan’s sliding pillar independent and the front and leaf spring at the rear.

The quality of the optional leather upholstery is evocative of the good old days, as is the non-airbagged wooden-rimmed steering wheel.

At least Morgan does not take advantage of its low production volume and does subject its cars to European type approval and crash testing.

And the lustrous metallic paint is bang up to date, like the powerplant.

The legendary Plus 8 has gone, the Rover V8 – which Morgan used far longer than anyone else including Rover – having finally succumbed to Euro emissions rules.

The Roadster is the Plus 8’s successor and uses the 3.0-litre Ford V6 of the Mondeo ST220 and Jaguar X-Type.

Thanks to the car’s light weight, straight-line performance is blistering, with 60mph coming up in less than five seconds.

Top speed is more than 130mph – good considering the aerodynamics but best enjoyed on smooth tarmac.

This car was conceived long before 1970 when Delft spawned Europe’s first speed hump – and it shows.

My first sleeping policeman in the Morgan was embarrassing.

My foot bounced off the gas as we started to tackle the hump, then landed back on it as we came down, coming off it again as we accelerated, sending me hopping away from the office like Skippy on speed.

The second road hump was no problem – I’d figured out how to deal with it by then.

Feet off everything, coast over the obstacle, then accelerate firmly away.

That’s the great thing with the Morgan.

It involves you – makes you think.

If, like me, you’re a size 10 (shoe, that is), you even have to think about keeping your left foot away from the edge of the brake when you declutch.

And with all that power on tap, you have to think about when to floor the accelerator.

It’s tempting. The soundtrack is not quite in the Plus 8 class – but the twin exhausts produce a sound that is a lot better than most.

And the rush of wind in hair and the direct feel of the unassisted steering bring home to you just how insulated from everything we are in modern cars and how uninvolving most are to drive.

Not that the Morgan is difficult to pilot.

The view over the louvred bonnet is impressive, but the bonnet is not all that long – not enough to make gateways or junctions daunting.

And at 13ft in length and under 5ft 8in. wide, it is quite at home on our roads, with the sidelights mounted at the top of the wings making it easy to position and to figure out where it ends.

Behind the driver is very little indeed – a short tail with the optional, but necessary luggage rack.

And that short cockpit makes the hood easy to put up – by hand, naturally – and lock into place.

Of course, the Morgan’s charms will be lost on a generation of power-hooded softies raised on Boxsters and the like.

And, truth be told, we all know which would be easier to live with, day in, day out.

Indeed, many road testers do bemoan the non-compliant ride, the shake of the sidescreens, the lack of security, the inaccessible in-car entertainment and suchlike.

But let’s just ask ourselves which car would we really mourn if – God forbid – they stopped making it.

There’s only one answer: the Morgan, the first and the last great British sports car.

After all, what other £22K motor would people be prepared to queue a year for?