Morgan has celebrated the 70th birthday of the 4/4, the longest production run for any car, with changes to the Aero 8 and the return of the +4 four seater too.
142 individually-marked 4/4s will be built this year – two for each year of production. Underneath is the familiar steel chassis with aluminium panels over an ash frame. The 4/4 comes with the 1.8-litre 125bhp Ford Duratec unit. Inside is an altered dashboard with special instruments.
Production will run till November this year and the price is £27,950.
Not content to leave it at that, Morgan has also announced the return, after 18 months away, of the +4 four seater. The 1.8-litre Ford Zetec unit has been replaced by the 145bhp 2.0-litre Duratec unit or the 223bhp 3.0-litre V6.
The hood is said by Morgan to be much easier to use and rear legroom and headroom have both increased noticeably.
The traditional exterior and interior styling remains, but a modern touch is that the rear seats can take Isofix child seats. Those seats can also be folded forwards to increase boot space. Prices are £32,020 for the 2.0-litre and £39,130 for the 3.0-litre.
Not so traditional is the Aero 8, which Morgan has also refreshed. The front styling changes are modelled on the Aeromax coupe shown at last year’s Geneva show. That car’s designer, 22 year old Matt Humphries, is now on the staff at Morgan.
Since introduction in 2001, the Aero 8 has gained a wider body to satisfy US regulations, where it has been on sale for the past year. It also has driver and passenger airbags, ABS, cruise control and even tyre pressure sensors.
The Aero 8 continues with the 4.4-litre Valvetronic BMW V8. Despite this, it has lost some more weight – down to 1145kg. Hence its 0-60mph time of ‘under 4.5 seconds’. The price is £62,500.
Morgan’s famous delivery times remain. In order to keep them at 12 months, Morgan is increasing production by 10 per cent this year to just over 600 units. The Worcestershire manufacturer sold more cars than ever in 2005.
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