This article, based on my visit to the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show held at the Birmingham NEC in March, was written at the request of John Sootheran, editor of MOG magazine. Mog is a quarterly magazine dedicated to the interests of owners and admirers of the cars built in Malvern, Worcestershire, England.
I spent all my life in the motor industry, initially as a draughtsman with Jensen Motors then transitioning into marketing with Chrysler/Peugeot. It was in that latter phase that, as product manager responsible for the Peugeot range in the U.K., I had the privilege of writing the “launch platform” for the Peugeot 205. Later, I wrote another one for the iconic 205 GTi. As a promotional initiative I proposed the creation of the Peugeot GTi Club which then evolved into the current Peugeot Sport Club.
When I retired in 2011, I had the idea of starting a blog in which I would share with readers my chance encounters with rare and interesting classic cars. I then started attending classic car shows to photograph the cars on display. This in turn led to the creation of the www.internationalcarevents.com website.
In 2015/16 the Warwickshire Country Record Office (WCRO) bought the Donald Healey Motor Company archives from Geoff Healey’s family. The WCRO advertised for volunteers to help them catalogue the archive material and to conduct “oral history” interviews with former employees, racing team drivers and owners. I live close to Warwick so I volunteered my services. After a while I used my website to publish monthly ‘Healey Bulletins”. That lasted for about two years, I am still in touch with many of the subscribers to the Bulletins, located in various parts of the globe.
The purpose of the above brief career summary is to provide background to why someone who does not have a distinct Morgan connection (I have done two Factory Tours in the past five years :-)) is writing an article for the esteemed MOG magazine. The simple reason is because the editor invited me to, after reading my report on the Classic Car & Restoration Show held at the Birmingham NEC in March. On that occasion I called in on the Morgan Sports Car Club stand and included some photos of the cars on the standi n my report. John thought that MOG readers might like to see those photos together with any background information I had gathered. He also invited me to include any cars that I had seen at that Show that had particularly appealed to me.
So, here is my response to John’s invitation –
First of all a little background to the Classic Car & Restoration Show. The show was first held at the Birmingham NEC in 2013, a spin off from the venerable forty plus year old Classic Car Show that is held at the NEC every November. The Restoration Show is now established as the U.K.’s premier event for showcasing all things relating to classic car restoration. If you haven’t been I would certainly recommend it. Its major sponsors are the Practical Classics Magazine, Lancaster Insurance and Footman James insurance. I have been attending this show for the past six years and I always manage to stumble across cars that I have never seen or even heard of before; that was certainly true this time with the Autovia and Horstman the stand out examples.
Some of the cars on the Morgan Club stand at the 2025 Classic Car & Restoration Show
A 4/4 with its body removed, owned by Tom Roberts. This rare Morgan has been in storage for forty years having been parked in a garage and “forgotten”. Records show that the car was sold by the factory as a rolling chassis. This was not uncommon in the post WWII years because of a shortage of steel. In this case the car was completed by a Morgan agent in Nottinghamshire. This meant that the cars had some non standard features such as a different windscreen frame and a slightly different body profile.
Having been rediscovered the car is now undergoing a thorough and sympathetic restoration. How appropriate then that it was on display at the Classic Car & Restoration Show.
The above information was taken from the excellent information board that accompanied the car.
This is “Dorothy” a 1936 Morgan Three Wheeler Family (four seater) with a 990cc Matchless MX engine.
Here is Martyn Webb, Morgan Motor Company Archivist, with his beautifully presented 1953 Morgan Plus Four. There was an impressive amount of information and photographs accompanying this car.
Here are some of the key information –
- The car was despatched from the factory on 16 May 1953 to the London Morgan Dealer, Basil Roy.
- It was sold to a Mr. Ernest James who entered it into several MCC trials during 1954 and 1954.
- Little is known about the car up to 1975 when it was acquired by the proprietor of Phoenix Motors the Morgan dealer in Exeter. He restored the car and used the car as his personal transport. He also gave NYU 933, previously all red, it’s two tone paint work that it still has.
- Martyn bought the car in 1985. He undertook further restoration in the early 1990s and clearly he maintains it in top class condition. A real Morgan treasure, admired by all who see it.
1990 Morgan Plus 4 currently owned by John Porter. This car was first registered in March 2009 but was involved in an accident the following May. It was classified as an insurance “right off”.
John bought the damaged car in November 2009 and set about rebuilding it to its current high standard, complete with some mouth watering modifications not found on a standard car of the period.
Other Cars that caught my eye at the show –
This 1959 Austin Healey Sebring Sprite started life as a Mk.1 Sprite that was exported to Jamaica. It was raced there and in Nassau, then its owner brought back to the U.K where it was also used for competition both track and rallying. It was virtually destroyed in a rally at the end of 1961. In 1962 the owner recovered the salvageable mechanical items including the engine and gearbox and used them to build this lovely car with a Peel Coachworks body. It went through the hands of a number of owners ending up with its current owner, Paul Woolmer, in 2004.
If you would like to see more cars that I photographed at the show, including the afore mentioned Autovia and Horstman then please click on this image –
Also, here is a report on a recent “Factory Tour” I made in December 2024
For further information on MOG magazine visit the website – www.mogmag.co.uk
This article and photographs contained within is subject to copyright and should not be republished in part or as a whole without permission from the author.
Nick
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