I was recently sent on a course by my
Company (and folk say they're not good
to us). Now the course itself may not be of
interest to the majority of our
readers.....but while on the course,
we had a small diversion. The course was held in the
Manufacturers factory of the equipment
we were to learn, and the factory was
in Malvern. Malvern is in Worcestershire, in case
you didn't know, and is a relatively
small distance from Birmingham Airport
which is where we flew into to get to
the course. Malvern is also famous for being the
home of one of the last completely
handbuilt cars in the World. The
famous Morgan Cars!! The people
running the course arranged a visit to
Morgan and, of course, we were
delighted to have a look.
Morgan sports cars are handbuilt at
their factory in Malvern and have been
built there since 1910. Morgan built
their first 3 wheeler in 1909 and
continued production of a 3 wheeler
until 1953. Their first 4 wheeler
(the 4/4) appeared in 1936.....it's
still in production today and was
joined by the Plus4 in 1950 and the
Plus8 in 1968. Their new model is the
Aero8. According to their price list, the
cheapest, no frills, version is the
4/4 (2 seater) 1.8 and is £22,824.38p
after VAT. I believe the waiting list
is in excess of a year. So, onto the actual visit. I expected
a Car Factory to be very large with
huge buildings with lots of welding,
painting etc. going on. Morgan is
none of these. The frontage is a
small sort of factory unit type
building and although of a fair size,
does not strike you particularly as a
car factory. You enter via a door
(not surprisingly) into a front office
that is small and has an old fashioned
style desk with a receptionist. At
Morgan, they don't seem fazed by
visitors and it is like walking into a
small plumbers office.
The office has brochures in piles of
the Company products and a guest book
that you sign in with. The
receptionist gives you a map of the
factory and you are left to your own
devices from then on. Looking at the
map, it shows the exit door from the
office to the Spare parts. Spare
parts is the beginning and it sums up
Morgan. It is like entering a time
warp.......you enter and are instantly
transported back to what I assume
things were like in the forties. It is an expanse of shelves filled
with parts for the motor cars and
other ancillary gear. No computer
terminal and modern racking or
automated delivery system in evidence
here. You can imagine some little oik
pulling up a pair of steps forty years
ago and locating a part on those same
shelves. The parts dept. leads onto the
Despatch Dept. and this is where all
the admiring glances were cast. A few
cars were sitting ready to go and they
look beautiful!! All of them were
customised to their owners
requirements leading to a comparison
between versions of the same models,
different seating, colouring etc. As
I say, extremely beautiful to look at
and admire. Leading onward, we went to the chassis
erecting shop, not without many a
backward glance, though. The name
says it all, the chassis gets erected
here, axles and wheels fitted and
drive units. Monsters of engines they
fit to them......V8 Landrover, BMW,
and even a Ford Zetec 1.8 I even saw
someone tighten the bolts on the drive
shaft using two spanners. I couldn't
believe it........two spanners!! No
pneumatic gun with automatic
torque........just spanners. They
really mean hand built here. Forward we went into the New Assembly
shop. This is where they fit the
wooden frame of the car. Yep, the
bodywork consists of a wooden frame
sitting and connected to the metal
chassis. The chassis is very solid,
by the way, bumping into one of them
proved that, unfortunately. After that, it's the Sheet metal shop.
Now this is fascinating to watch. The
cars are wheeled in with their wooden
frame and guys fit partly formed metal
sheets over the frame. They then fix
the panels in position with G-clamps
and proceed to mould the metal to the
frame and fix them in position using
screws, small hammers and the like. The car is now starting to look
something like a Morgan. The folk
that work there totally ignore you
unless you ask them a question. I
suppose they must get lots of visitors
and are no longer fazed by strangers
watching them all the time. After
this, the cars are painted in a fairly
modern looking spray unit separate
from the main building and I expect
are hardened there as well. We didn't
go there so I can't really speculate. We did go into the Trim shop where the
electrics are fitted and the
upholstery and the rest of the car is
finished. Again, fascinating to watch
as there are no robotics here. Folk
fit the wiring by hand and although
the looms are made up, everything is
hand fitted and connected. The same
goes for the upholstery, and over in
one corner there are people using
stitching machines to make it up for
the car. Totally amazing. The cars are now ready to be cleaned
properly, tested and polished ready
for despatch. So that a (very) quick
run through of the tour of the
factory. I can't stress enough how
antiquated the practices seem to
someone who works in an industrial
environment. Time seems to have stood
still for this Company and I'm not
really sure if it isn't a welcome
change. It gives you a very warm
feeling touring the factory and seeing
how the car is built and is much more
friendly than a vast industrialised
production line. The whole layout
seems to meander down through the
factory instead of being driven by the
ideals of getting cars out the door as
quickly as possible. There seems to be no rush or buzz
about the factory and people working
there take their time getting the
product right in every aspect before
putting it further past their
particular task. Something that has
been lost over time everywhere else I
imagine these days. On the other
hand, would I feel safer in a car that
had all the latest gimmickry and was
built entirely by robots that had
preprogrammed tasks to perform ......
yes indeedy. Perhaps, it's because I saw the car
being built and what exactly it was
made of.....in this case a wooden
frame, or perhaps, I think that a
metal frame (albeit) a very thin metal
frame would withstand more than wood
is something that works on me.
However, the Company states in their
brochure that all new technologies in
metal working and safety devices etc.
are incorporated in the new cars and I
see no reason to doubt it. The cars
are designed using CAD and some
components are made on site using CNC
machines. Perhaps, we weren't allowed
in to see these parts because it
rather ruins the illusion of the rest
of the factory. All in all, a very worthwhile visit.
I recommend it heartily to anyone with
an interest in cars. Morgan Cars can be found at
http://www.morgan-motor.co.uk Go on,
have a look!! It's worth it and is
definitely a head turner of a car in
all versions. END