Modern Vespa

I have the California Air Resources Board's Engine Certification page bookmarked, looking for the fabled Genuine Cruiser to appear. Yesterday I noticed a new engine certification for the Morgan 3Wheeler company.

WTH is this?

These have been around for years and most everyone including myself would love to own one. Totally impractical and quintessentially the queerest, coolest thing I've ever seen.

The Morgan factory is in Malvern where I live and I consider myself lucky so see and hear these iconic three-wheelers having a road test several times a week. Apparently Morgan road tests all their new vehicles.
John W.

Yep, absolutely gorgeous cars that would make an ideal weekend vehicle. You'd be surprised at how much some of them do get used though. There's a chap that goes to the breakfast club at Shelsley Walsh that uses his every day.

I had a cat with one back leg that I named Morgan.

Nobody got the joke.

Jay Leno has one that I often see on the Santa Monica mountain roads. I raced a 1960 ex-factory Sebring Morgan until I totaled it at the Meadowdale track in Carpentersville, Illinois.

The beautiful Morgan 3 - I'd be willing to darned near die to own one!

You gotta watch "The Party" with Peter Sellers.

Wow! Two of my favorite things (a Morgan 3-wheeler and Peter
Sellers) in the same movie. How did I ever miss that?

Make mine piaggio powered please

Yes, the Triking as a kit really makes you think, doesn't it.

Birdy Num, nums...Biiirdie Nuuuum, Nuuummmmss! Seriously one of those movies you end up watching everytime it's on cable. Usually TCM. The bathroom scene one of my many faves.

And Claudine Longet. And the sixties...

I owned a Morgan 3 Wheeler back in the early 70's. It was a 1928 with a 1100cc JAP engine.

It was a blast to drive with the throttle, choke and spark advance on the steering wheel. You had a lever in the middle that was the back brake and a gear shift on the right.

So when you wanted to stop you had to push the throttle off, step on the brake pedal, push in the clutch, and pull the rear brake lever all at the same time.

It got very interesting in traffic.

2 forward speeds no reverse. Dog clutches You had to oil the clutch so that it slipped correctly.

The pictures were taken at Lake Travis outside Austin, TX

I got it from my dad who also had a Morgan +8 What a screamer. Olds V8 engine in a car that only weighed 1800 lbs. and looked kinda like an MG TD. Aluminum with an ash wood framed body.

They are still making them that way and they've started making the 3 wheelers again. There's a dealer in California.

Great photos! Thanks Dutch.

The Morgan dealer in Santa Monica has been there for many years. Here's the link: http://www.morganwest.net/

Since I got a Ural for my 75th birthday, I'll have to wait for my 80th to get the Morgan 3 but that's only 3 more years.

I like it and, as luck would have it, I live right near the dealer in Santa Monica. I like it a lot better than those Harley-type motorcycles with two wheels in front. What I want to know is what do they cost?

I just love Morgans in general. A few years ago I went to a British car show with my then boyfriend and spotted a British racing green Morgan. I was gushing about how I'd only ever seen them in magazines when the owner appeared. He said that was his Morgan and that it wasn't parked in the right place, and would I like a ride? So lovely! Hope I get to ride in one again sometime. His was a 1966 he bought when he was in university. Best part was when he yelled out the window to my boyfriend that he was going to take me away!

A friend of mine in LA found out that I used to have an old Morgan and he got me a T shirt from the dealer.

I used to belong to the Morgan 3 Wheeler Club in the UK. I've still got the lapel pin and some decals.

I sold mine many years ago to a guy in New Jersey that was going to restore it.

Worth a look to see Hammond do donuts with it!

live quite close to the factory

also know one of the test drivers for shows and track days

Here's a nice vintage one I saw earlier.

Who says over steering is dead?

Seriously they brings out the 10 year old boy in me.... Would have Loved to at least seen one in the flesh in my life time. But I had other priorities with this young lass you see.

Glad that Morgan is bringing them back , wise move.

Now for a separate thread about rethinking the MP3 body work.... I love the bikes but I just can't connect with the body work.

You could run them into a wall, back them out and couldn't tell the difference.
Yet they do have a special place in my heart.

Amazing amazing thread. Thank you guys a TON for this one. Dutch, pure unadulter.. wait, you said plus 8 didn'tcha... wow.

Oh, and noticed the TVRs in the last picture. Those are a great favorite of mine. There was a British car club out of Milwaukee years back and I know there was at least one TVR. A Griffeth (sp?) maybe.

Awesome thread. Love love love.


Harv

Griffith is the correct spelling I believe, though I didn't take any photos of the TVRs. While we are on the subject of old British cars, here's an MGA and a Morris Minor.

Or how about some Italian exotica.

I had a couple of Mini Coopers back in the day when they had sliding side windows.

A few years ago someone took an old Honda CX 500 and built a modern version of a cycle car....it had a shaft drive!

This one is a 1933 BSA three-wheeler.
John W.

I heard that the reason they had 3 wheelers in the UK was that they were taxed less than 4 wheeled cars.

I've got the History of the Morgan book.

Here's what the suspension of the 3 wheeler looked like. My 1928 looked exactly like this.

There are also some licensing rules that applied to 3 wheeled vehicles under a certain weight, plus a lot of the earlier trikes came from companies with a background in motorcycle manufacturing so they were easier to build.

Pictured from today:
A 1927 vintage:

New, the cockpit:

The new 3-wheeler with the SS motor.

And if you want 4-wheelers, they got a dozen or so: