Sophie has a broken wing (arm). But no holiday with Mr Grumpy is complete without a ride in the Morgan Three Wheeler. It just means less waving..
Broken Wing
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M3W-Running with scissors
Clapper bridge at Postbridge Dartmoor
Owning a Morgan Three Wheeler is like running with scissors..
I’m sure George Clooney is used to the wows and photographs when he arrives
anywhere. Me….? Not so much. For me, someone who has taken a few direct hits with the ugly stick, the Morgan Three Wheeler is an endless source of light relief and brief minor celebrity status.
Even breaking down in the Morgan M3W seems heroic. Standing beside the road in goggles and flying helmet, people stopped to ask if we were ok and offered the use of their phone. Its almost as if it were 1916 and we had crashed in French field…. Ok, so we were in no real danger, no French was spoken, it was a phone not a flare, there were more holidaymakers about, but apart from all those things.. Almost similar.
Running with scissors
When that big V twin coughed and spluttered to a stop back in early June we were both enveloped in a cloud of fuel vapour while coasting to an undignified, silent halt. Since then we have noticed an occasional slight intermittent petrol smell but no sign of an obvious leak. A ‘trending’ defect on the forum suggested the possible culprit to be the crimped fuel pipe clips around the injectors. Fearing high pressure atomised fuel on a hot engine and a Douglas Bader’esque bail out, t-shirt on fire, I changed all the clips. My habit of filling up on the way home will have to change too. Owning a Morgan Three Wheeler is a bit like running with scissors..
Injector clips
There is a little Blighty in everyone.. Morgan Three Wheeler USA
I had a very nice email from Todd Kindler in Ohio. Todd understandably found some of the glowing Morgan road tests a little hard to swallow. But, after reading the blog, decided to take a road test and find out for himself. He has now seen the light.. Three wheels is the future! Todd is no stranger to the unusual, he built this cool 32 Ford Roadster..
reproduced with Todd’s permission
“After reading and watching all the car experts testing the Morgan 3 Wheeler I still wondered if they were just trying to appease Morgan and their editors through the test or truly sincere. However after your superb blog I now feel really confident in maybe ordering one! ”
It’s funny reading the M3W forum and the owners trying to correct minor problems or make some small improvements. Some guys are pretty good about addressing the problems and some not so much. I’m beginning to realize the M3W is actually just a custom made hot rod.
To be very honest after building two hot rods I’m quite surprised there really aren’t more issues. My 32 Roadster was finished in early 09 and I’m still making a few tweaks and modifications.
A low production specialized vehicle is going to take quite a few years to sort everything out and like you mentioned some things you really don’t want them to change.
It’s a fine line with unique hot rods and the M3W being one is no exception. That is really part of the frustration and fun. If people don’t understand this they should buy something else!
BTW… the M3W is obviously not cheap but if you would ever build a hot rod and work every spare moment like a dog for two years you would think it’s a bargain!!! I know I’ve done it twice. (see photo)
Todd Kindler Ohio
Published by kind permission of Todd Kindler
500 years
I try to limit non Morgan posts in this blog. I can’t think of any tenuous way to link this in. However, I was so chuffed to find this in a field near our Devon home, I just had to include it. It is an Elizabeth 1st silver groat from 1559. Its hard to believe it has laid undiscovered for nearly 500 years. Finding one is nice, finding two would require informing the local coroner.
inscription: I made god my helper : Elizabeth by the grace of god Queen of England France and Ireland
Silver Groat 1599
Morgan M3W Rolling Thunder Tour
The Rolling Thunder Tour (Morgan Three Wheeler)
Two dogs, (Morgan and Scampi), their owners, and two Morgan Three Wheelers tackle the lanes along the North Cornwall Coast. These are some of the best uncluttered and unique Morgan M3W roads in the world. No grid pattern roads here. One Morgan Three Wheeler is rare here, two, although not officially a squadron would give the Emmet’s a treat. What’s not to enjoy?
One of the benefits of being so close to the ground is you can pick up a fallen GoPro without undoing your seatbelt..
This is as close to motorcycling as you can get without owning one!
Morgan Three Wheeler Rolling Thunder Video
Morgan Drive Belt
Harley Drive Belt, more loose bits..
Ive been cleaning the Harley Davidson style drive belt on the Morgan Three Wheeler regularly. This reduces the overall transmission noise by up to 50% even though the belt always looks clean before its wash.
It’s hard to describe the noise but it is a mixture of electric trolley bus/milk float groan-whine on acceleration and swishing on the overrun. Harley’s seem to suffer from a similar problem but after a good clean, its practically gone. I’ve noticed there is also less rolling resistance when pushing the car.
Carplan Demon Active Super Cleaner is a magic spray that seems to work best. A rinse with a hose, scuff lightly with a wire brush and a test drive followed by a cup of tea. Job done.
Both the belt and drive pulley on the M3W look in excellent condition so I’m not sure what causes it. Cleaning is definitely becoming less effective and time between cleanings is reducing. On a long fast run it becomes silent. Probably too tired to make budgie noises.
The Morgan Three Wheeler must be the only car on which you can reduce transmission noise with soap and water.
More Loose Bits
The gear knob came loose. More through concentration rather than vibration.
Almost every Morgan Three Wheeler Ive driven including those at the factory have had a loose knob.
Those that were not already loose probably needed tightening after I had driven them.. Anyway, it is just three allen screws under the bezel.
I have ordered an oversize spanner to fit the rear wheel hub. I can’t see any of the tyres lasting much beyond this season and would rather change them during the winter when the car is laid up. Swoopy sweepy roads take their toll. I’ve checked locally and while they can fit the front tyres, they can’t balance them. So a trip to Exeter will be necessary.
Colouring outside the lines
Clearing the cobwebs in a Morgan Three Wheeler
The Atlantic Highway between Bideford and Bude is a definite Morgan Three Wheeler route. It swoops
and sweeps to show off its spectacular bucolic rural views peppered with little white houses, patchwork greenery and winding lanes to the sea. Never too fast, never too busy, always a delight. This is what the Morgan was built for.
As I was passing through one of the small Cornish villages my neighbour had tried to flag me down for a cream tea. Missed him. Im so used to the waving now I’ve become ‘wave blind’.
We had once lived in a part of the country in which it took 2 hours to do 26 miles. Twenty Six temper frayed miles every dismal, dreary evening. Own a Morgan Three Wheeler there? No thanks. Well, unless driving between 01:00 and 04:00 in the morning (roadworks permitting) appeals.
Had Sir John Betjeman written his 1937 poem about the Thames Valley today he would probably be arrested for incitement. His calls for a friendly destruction would be no defence against the ‘gob on a stick’ PC liberal elite.
My parents (both octogenarians) hear the Morgan M3Wrumble up the road and stop outside but don’t answer the door as they don’t hear the doorbell. Quite right, I guess I could be anybody….
Zombie Apocalypse
After all the gnashing and wailing post Brexit by those who think democracy is optional and in anticipation of the Zombie apocalypse predicted by the Chancellor, new headlamp bulbs seemed like a good idea.
Osram Night Breaker Unlimited
Fakes and Replicas
I gave up trying to find genuine bulbs for sale on eBay. The idea of fake headlamp bulbs seemed so bizarre I wondered if the whole notion was perhaps a double bluff put about by those wishing to charge more.
The irony is, the Lucas Tribar’s sold by Morgan are in fact replicas. Lucas having ceased trading 20 years ago.
So, after fitting real bulbs to my replica headlamps, I ran some crude comparison tests. They are definitely brighter and slightly whiter than standard without being obviously modern. However, if I had paid the full RRP I probably would have been disappointed by the end result. It may be a while before I try them at night.
Real World?
I have been emailed a few times and asked “Has anything gone wrong with your Morgan Three Wheeler that you haven’t put in this blog?”. “Where are the tales of woe I’ve read about on the forums?”. All I can say is, its all here for good or bad. The thing is, the good is such a rush that the bad is quickly forgotten. Forums are a clearing house for the bad and anonymous contributors, are sometimes not all they seem. #MadAsABoxOfFrogs
More viewers than Top Gear
Shopping in Bude during the holiday season the Morgan Three Wheeler ends up with more viewers than the new Top Gear.
Colouring outside the lines
Breadcrumb trail of M3W bits
Breakdown trauma
The best accessory for a Morgan Three Wheeler is Morgan Rescue. It reduced our recent outage to little more than an inconvenience. Had my world been governed by the tick of a clock I may have felt differently but I don’t even bother to wear a watch now. It is just not needed.
Morgan’s Breadcrumb trail of bits..
The good news is, the Morgan M3W is running better than ever. I attribute much of this to the new timing pulley, the new spark plugs and replacing the bits that have fallen off which in turn has cured irritating rattles. (Details below). During a recent trip along the Cornish coast, even my passenger commented how well it was running. The Morgan wasn’t made for towns, traffic or freeways, this is where it is happiest, on twisty British country lanes and coastal routes. It’s a real pig to drive in traffic.
Vibration
Both the Morgan Three Wheeler and Concorde are vibration prone. A 2.0 litre V twin Morgan vibrates 
more than a footballers heated sex pond and anything threaded is conspiring to jettison itself at the earliest opportunity. Unlike Concorde, parts are not wire locked and covered with *Thiokol goo.
The Morgan M3W gives a passable impression of being thousands of individual parts vibrating in opposite directions while travelling in a single unified one.
Lost bolts
I check tighten everything I have access to regularly but parts that are hidden can gradually loosen, unwind and fall off, never to be seen again.
A recent metallic noise at various revs turned out to be a missing bolt from inside the fan housing. What is surprising is that any of this can be heard over the exhaust note of the Morgan Three Wheeler. (photo in Gallery)
*Thiokol: Anti vibration compound used inside Concorde engine intakes. Smells like burning tyres on a Gypsy site.
Master Keyway
Ive finally put a mark on the steering wheel to show the master keyway. This was done in Morgan leather with the help of my sewing bee. Although the spacer was well made and machined to the shape of the quick release, it was a bit ‘in your face’ and out of keeping with the rest of the M3W.
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You may use any of the media contained within this blog for non commercial purposes free of charge. Nothing is watermarked. All I ask is you tell me. I have seen photographs, composites and artwork from this blog reproduced elsewhere on the net. Im not complaining, just let me know. My email address is on the about page.
There is massive worldwide interest in the M3W. This blog has had visitors from over 40 countries in the past year. (It could of course be the same person who travels a lot.)
Westmog - Morgan Three Wheeler 