Suddenly, It's No Longer 1950: Morgan Plus 4 Drives Into the Sunset
Nothing lasts forever. Not even, apparently, the Morgan Plus 4 — a low-slung, quintessentially British roadster that started production in 1950 and still looks looks like it comes from a land of postwar rationing. Beneath the 2020 Plus 4 lies the same ladder frame that underpinned the first Plus 4, which arrived on the scene when Betty White was just 29.
You won’t find many 2020 Plus 4 models. Just 20 commemorative examples are planned as Morgan gears up to enter the modern age.
As this year marks the end of the hand-built Plus 4 and its steel frame, Morgan has decided to issue a limited run of 70th Anniversary models. A production plaque, a Ford 2.0-liter four-cylinder with boosted output (180 horsepower, versus 154), and special leather, wood, and paint completes a package that begins with a gold-painted chassis.
The Plus 4 (seen in prototype form above) was always a vehicle for special people — special, individualist people who don’t rank personal safety as their topmost concern — and the 2020 70th Anniversary Edition Plus 4 is the most special of them all. It’s also the rarest. Stickering for just under $80,000 USD, the last crop of Plus 4s are already spoken for.
Morgan is quick to note that regular Plus 4s are still floating around, available through the marque’s relative handful of global retailers.
What’s next for the 111-year-old brand? A modern, aluminum platform found beneath the new Plus 6. That model, which retails classic Morgan proportions while boosting torsional rigidity 100 percent, sources its power from a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter BMW inline-six. Use of the CX-Generation platform affords occupants additional interior volume, which is always nice in a roadster.
[Images: Morgan Motor Company]
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What Morgan should have done, although it's only my opinion, was to update the front suspension for '54. The sliding-pillar front "suspension" is about the same as a spring-loaded sliding door latch, once commonly used on garden sheds. They tend to stick and be high friction even when full of good old-fashioned grease. Yup, Morgan missed the boat 65 years ago. Hell, I guess by 1960, they'd decided the Lotus 7 had the market for minimalist sports cars with an actual working front suspension covered with the 7, and gave up. The big scarf and peaked cap brigade of owners remained happy through rain storms and buckboard ride, so Morgan went back to sleep on the chassis front until the Aero 8. Always had a year's backorder on the books and weren't keen on expanding the biz, so everyone's been happy until now with a new owner.
Damn! A Morgan Plus 4 was Number 2 on my bucket list. Number 1 is a major lottery win.