Don,
What a great intro to the real you.  Some of my first motoring memories are
that of winding up the West River road in Vermont, seated beside my father
in his British Racing Green, Bertone body MG.
Thanks for conjuring up old memories and congratulations on your fortitude
and perseverence.  By the way, how much is a new Morgan?
Best,
Leland

----- Original Message -----
From: Donald B. White <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2000 8:58 PM
Subject: Re: Morgans


This is my fourth Morgan and ninth antique car.

I seem to have been interested in cars from babyhood. My interest in
history and fondness for reading are a legacy from my mother, who gave up a
career teaching English and history to marry a military man and raise 4
kids. We were her class. By the age of 5, I could read on a jr high level
(back when that meant something) and was already interested in history.
Sometime about then, I recall seeing a group of antique cars (these would
have been brass-era c. 1910 cars) on a drive, and very quickly I decided
that real cars have running boards. By the time I was 12, I wanted to own
and drive such cars. I also seemed to have an affinity for the time span
c.1890-1940, and whatever I became interested in, I tended to end up in
that era: books, buildings, movies, music. My family figured I'd end up
with some kind of history-related career, but around age 17 I became
concerned that if I pursued this interest, I risked living other peoples'
past lives instead of my own. I suddenly wanted to be "relevant" that 1960s
buzzword, and that's how I ended up in art school where I probably didn't
belong. I grew long hair and looked like everyone else. As a teenager I was
collecting and listening to old jazz 78s (more or less in secret, as no one
else I knew liked them) and listening to then-contemporary rock & roll.
However, this effort at being contemporary and hip ended when I realised I
really wasn't any good at it... and meanwhile, the things I'd liked all
along were suddenly becoming fashionable. I don't follow trends, I set
them.

I first saw a picture of a Morgan when I was 12 or 13. I was intrigued by
the Morgan's vintage appearance, but in the mid-1960s there were a lot of
replicas around, and it wasn't that many years since the old-style MGs had
gone out of production. A couple of years later I found an article on them
in Automobile Quarterly ("Malvern's Timeless Flyer," Vol 5 No 2, Fall
1966). It made clear that Morgans were the only surviving vintage car still
being made in the old way (which they still are at this very moment). I
immediately wanted one. The article also stated that Peter Morgan received
letters from enthusiasts all over the world, and that all letters were
answered. I hardly ever wrote letters to anyone, let alone to complete
strangers in another country, but I sat down and wrote, in my nearly
illegible handwriting, something like this: "Dear Peter Morgan, I think
your cars are really great and someday I hope to own one." And an answer
arrived, thanking me for my interest and enclosing a copy of the latest
brochure. The brochure introduced the Plus 8, which is still in production
32 years later. I was impressed by its performance (still one of the
world's fastest cars), but somehow a V8 didn't seem right in that kind of a
car. However, I liked the look of the little four-cylinder 4/4 (as of this
writing, the record holder for longest production of any model, 1936 to
present) and especially the four-seater, which reminded me of the 1920s and
1930s touring cars I loved. I decided that if I could have a new Morgan, it
would be a 4/4 1600 four seater. That was in 1969, and the car I have now
is a 1970, so it only took me 27 years to get the car I wanted. And I now
know both Peter and his son  Charles Morgan personally (Peter just turned
80) and told them this story over drinks a few years ago. They hear stories
like this all the time, but listened graciously.

My father wanted to buy me a used 1965 Mustang (then a common $1,000 used
car) as a high school graduation present; I asked for a Model A Ford (of
the same value) instead, and owned three of them in succession. I drove one
as daily transport for eight years. I had looked at Morgans from time to
time, and finally in 1982 I decided I should sell my Model A and buy a
Morgan. I joined the local Morgan club. I found and became interested in a
1927 Aero three-wheeler which had been the unfinished restoration project
of three or four previous owners; it's now my unfinished restoration
project. Then I found a 1957 Plus Four 4-seater that had been in a guy's
front yard for 20 years, bought and sold that, then a 1961 Plus Four
four-seater which was my first one that actually was driveable. When its
need for full restoration became too apparent, I decided to buy a better
car instead of restore that one (one eternal project in a lifetime is
enough). And I really wanted a 4/4 1600 four-seater, but few of them were
imported here (there are a lot of them outside this country, where they are
much valued as family cars). I have located eight or so in the US and
Canada. I was lucky to find this one just when I had the money on hand and
the owner had to sell. Buying it was an easy 10 minute decision--backed by
25 years of experience!

So far as I know, this car was sold new in Montreal and spent most of its
life there. I am the fourth owner It was moved to Portland, Maine in 1996
and to Boston in 1997 by the third owner. My test drive was to pick the car
up at Logan Airport and drive it back to DC. It's never given me a spot of
trouble and I would trust it anywhere. The only thing that has gone wrong
was that the speedometer seized up on that first day (due to not being
driven enough) and I drove it for 16 months with no speedo or odo, which is
why I don't know how many miles are on it (it reads 14,995 at the moment,
but that only means I drove it 3,500 miles since February 1999). There were
minor things to deal with which came from atrophy or owner ignorance (at
least one owner didn't know how to maintain it properly, and it wasn't
driven enough, but given the one I'm grateful for the other). However, this
is as close to a new Morgan as I'm likely to own.

It occurred to me a few days ago that I'd never sent an introduction of
myself to BP; maybe this is it. Also I'm not very good at giving short
answers to questions.

Don White

Web sites:

Morgan Car Club of Washington DC: www.morgandc.org
Morgan Plus Four Club of Southern California: www.mog.org
Morgan Motor Company: www.morgan-motor.co.uk