1976 Morgan Plus 8

The seller’s father bought this delightful Morgan Plus 8 back in the seventies, paying Allon White & Son Ltd £2,680 for it in March 1976. The sum included reclining and folding seats, seatbelts, a rear bumper, door handles, a bonnet strap and an aluminium body.

Finished in Signal Red, it was comprehensively refurbished by the same firm in 2002, work that included a bare metal respray in its original colour. Allon White has looked after the Morgan over the years too, which adds yet more romance to an already beautifully provenanced car.

Very lightly used and still showing just 15,000 miles on the clock, the seller waxed lyrical about growing up alongside her family’s beloved Morgan.

But she feels it’s now the right time to pass it on to someone who will, she hopes, love and enjoy it as much as she has. 
 

The Signal Red coachwork is in a very good condition. Sure, the panel alignment isn’t going to be causing anyone at Audi any concerns but for a hand-built aluminium car from the seventies it hangs together very well.

It’s clearly been very well looked after over the years. An indoor car cover, which is provided, was used to keep it dust-free when it wasn’t being driven and the resulting shine, of both the paintwork and the chrome-work, is impressive.

The louvres are also still straight and undamaged, as are the slats on the imposing radiator grille.

The lamp lenses are also in good shape and a nice touch is the Lucas spotlights have their own chrome wire grilles to protect them from stones and other road debris. This isn’t something we’ve seen for a very long time and adds to the Morgan’s already considerable charm.

As do the wheels, which are 15 inches in diameter and free of scuffs and scrapes. They’re also fitted with matching Dunlop SP Sport tyres, all of which have good tread on them and are date-stamped 2017.

The boot-mounted spare wheel matches the other four in both design and the make of tyre that is mounted, although it is much older.

We will never get tired of telling you that experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly.

Weather equipment includes side screens and what looks like a still-new roof. Please see our remarks in the next section for an explanation of why this is probably the case but suffice it to say we don’t think it’s seen much use.

The tonneau cover has clearly provided the bulk of the day-to-day protection, and the Morgan also comes with a pair of aeroscreens that can be used instead of the full-width windscreen. These are newer than the rest of the car and were supplied by Allon White (who else?) in 2002.
 

Morgan owners tend to be the sort of folk who are too busy having fun in their cars to worry about keeping ‘em in concours condition.

Which makes them our kind of enthusiasts, so we can forgive the lightly patinated cabin, a patina that will have developed, at least in part, because no Morgan owner worth their salt has ever raised their roof (most of ‘em haven’t even seen it since they bought the car and stuffed it in the attic…) so it’ll have accumulated the odd water stain over the years too.

But the factory knows this and builds ‘em tough enough to be able to take it.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that if you are obsessive about detailing cars then the Morgan life probably ain’t the one for you.

However, if you enjoy driving your classic British sportscars long and hard – and then carousing long into the night instead of cleaning them – then this is your kind of vehicle.

Not that this is damning with faint praise because there is an awful lot to like included some well-stuffed and very comfortable seats, seats whose surface facing is still in a very good condition with no rips, tears, or other damage.

The driver has a charming steering wheel plus a fly-off handbrake and a somewhat spindly gear lever that gives access to the four-speed gearbox. The brake and clutch pedals are floor-hinged, while the accelerator pedal is a top-mounted roller design that allows precise modulation of the throttle with little more than the flex of your big toe.

There’s plenty of luggage space behind the seats too, and the floor is covered by a combination of black carpets and vinyl trim.

The dashboard is clear and easy to assimilate at a glance, with the rev counter taking pride of place in front of the driver. The passenger, on the other hand, gets to see how fast they’re travelling, which will invariably be somewhat slower than they think; the Morgan is a visceral car and one whose charms include the fact you can have enormous fun at sensible speeds thanks to minimal weatherproofing, a low seating position, and a tuneful V8 engine.

As for work to do, the brake pedal’s rubber pad has come adrift, and the glovebox lining is threadbare. That’s it.  
 

Regularly serviced over the years, the Rover V8 starts well and settles into an immediate idle. It revs beautifully, and every action is accompanied by that characteristic V8 whuffle we all know and love.

It’s a civilized engine too, being silky smooth and tractable. But it’s not afraid to bare its teeth when it’s provoked, and it does so with one of the best exhaust notes money – any money – can buy.

The centre-hinged bonnet gives great access for routine servicing and the rear floor panels can be removed to service the rear axle, differential, and battery: If you’re looking for an easy-to-maintain classic for whom spares are both cheap and readily available, the Morgan Plus 8 would be ideal starter car for the enthusiast who is keen to dip their toes into DIY maintenance.

To help you get started the Morgan comes with a small toolkit, the bulk of which comprises open-ended A/F spanners. Yes, another joy of Morgan ownership is you get to buy a bunch of new tools!

The underside looks good, albeit with evidence of the odd oil leak. Still, getting underneath and tracking them down could be your first job, so #swingsandroundabouts, eh?
 

The Morgan doesn’t have a current MoT certificate, and while it is exempt by virtue of its age, we would strongly encourage the new owner to have it MoT’d at the earliest opportunity. The cost of an MoT is a small investment when offset against the purchase and upkeep of any classic vehicle, and it gives an independent, third-party assessment of the car’s condition, which not only provides reassurance to the owner (and any subsequent purchasers) but might also be invaluable in the event of a bump when negotiating with the police and any interested insurance companies…

The recent Vehicle History Check is clear and the fulsome history file includes the original bill of sale, a wad of old MoT certificates, many invoices for servicing and repairs over the years, and the owner’s handbook.
 

Morgans have something of a cult following for a good reason; they look terrific with a retro charm that evokes all that’s good about hairy-chested British roadsters.

And yet, there’s so much more to them than old school engineering because few marques offer a better solution to meet all your classic motoring needs.

Take this Morgan Plus 8, for example. Still in the hands of its first family owner, it would be as competent at your local hillclimb as it would be crossing Europe in a single bound – and that sort of versatility is less common in a classic sportscar than you might think.

Not that this sort of flexibility comes cheap; we think this one will sell for between £20,000 and £25,000, which we can all agree is a hefty chunk of money but then cars like this are always in demand, so you might do very well out of it in the medium to long-term when the time comes to let it go…

If you’ve ever promised yourself a car to place at the centre of your life, then this might just be it. Running beautifully and looking terrific, it is your passport to the Morgan lifestyle, a lifestyle that most of us have dreamed of at one time or another.  

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at Bonhams|Cars Online HQ. Viewings are STRICTLY BY APPOINTMENT and we are open weekdays between 10am- 12pm or 2pm-4pm. To make a booking, please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, and read our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.