PAST IMPERFECT:Morgan's founder began with a passion that has served to drive the success of Morgan to this day
HENRY FREDERICK Stanley Morgan (HFS, as he was known to all) designed and built his first car in 1909. Like so many of the Morgan cars that were to follow, it was a three-wheeler and HFS could hardly have imagined that 100 years later the company he founded would have a unique and revered place in the world motor industry.
HFS was the son of a country clergyman and, unusually for the time, his parents gave him every encouragement to make his own way in the world rather than putting pressure on him to follow in his father’s footsteps.
The young HFS was educated at Marlborough College and then entered Crystal Palace Engineering College, where his design talents were developed.
After graduation, HFS worked as a draughtsman for the Great Western Railway until 1906, when he left to start a garage with a friend in Malvern Worcestershire. Over the next few years, the business flourished – so much so that by 1909 HFS could turn his attention to an idea that had long intrigued him: designing and building a cyclecar, a machine that would be a cross between a motorcar and a motorcycle.
The prototype HFS produced in 1909 was a single seater fitted with tiller steering and a special form of sliding pillar independent front suspension which was to become a feature of future Morgan models. Powered by a 7hp Peugeot motorcycle engine, the whole car was very light and as a result had – for the time – a quite remarkable power to weight ratio, resulting in an outstanding performance.
In November of the following year the Morgan Motor Company was formed and two different single-seater models were displayed at the Motor Cycle Show at Olympia.
The two cars on show attracted a great deal of attention, but few orders and HFS’s partner withdrew from the business. HFS realised that he needed a two-seater model if his company was to survive.
While he was designing a two-seater model, HFS entered as many sporting competitions as possible – he knew that success in competition would prove the speed and reliability of his cars to potential customers. On St Stephens’s Day of 1910, he won a gold medal in the first London-Exeter two-day Trial, and quickly followed this success with further wins in other events.
So successful did the new Morgan prove that, at the 1911 Motor Cycle Show, HFS was inundated with orders, leading him to realise that sporting success must be a necessary part of Morgan’s activity if the company was to retain and build on the image of sporting prowess he had created.
Over the years that followed, Morgan was very successful but by the 1930s three-wheeler sales had declined and in 1936 HFS announced the Morgan Four Four, a light sports car with four wheels and four cylinders. Once again HFS turned to motorsport and his new cars finished well at Le Mans in 1938 and 1939.
The same basic design – albeit hugely improved and developed – is still produced today and continues to perform strongly. Other models followed, most notably the Morgan Plus Eight fitted with a small capacity aluminum V8 engine – a model that has been in production for over 35 years.
Early 2000 saw the launch of the Aero Eight using Alcan’s Aluminum Vehicle Technology and the beginning of an engine partnership with BMW, which continues to this day.
The Aero Eight competed at Le Mans in 2002 and 2004 and a three-car team competes in the FIA GT3 Series. HFS can scarcely have imagined just what he started with that first tiller-steered prototype in 1909.