Morgan’s Newest Car Travels Back to the Future

By Chuck Squatriglia
Article Source: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/02/morgan-3-wheeler/
Photo Source: Morgan Motor Co.

Morgan Motor, the eccentric British automaker with one foot planted firmly in the last century, is reprising the first car it ever built and we have this to say: Oh hell yes. Sign us up.

Automakers have never been short of crazy ideas, and the Morgan Threewheeler (yes, one word) is somewhere near the top of the list. The car was odd when it first appeared in 1909 and it’s even more so today. But it is at heart an elemental machine, one that, for better and worse, places nothing between you and the experience of driving.

The originals were wickedly fast for their time, winning the French Grand Prix in 1913 and lapping Brooklands at more than 100 mph. Three-wheelers set several long-distance speed records in the 1930s. The modern take, dubbed the 3-Wheeler, should be at least as quick.

Power comes from an S&S V-twin hanging off the front. It’s good for 115 horsepower and drives the rear wheel through a Mazda five-speed ‘box and a rubber V-belt. Morgan hasn’t said what the car will weigh, but when it teased us with renderings last year the target was less than 500 kilos. The steel tube chassis is wrapped in aluminium bodywork. Morgan promises the 3-Wheeler is “a driver’s car with properties that do the sporting appearance full justice.”

The car gets its official unveiling next week at the Geneva auto show. Sticker price is 25,000 pounds, or about $40,000. Yeah, we know. Crazy.

Still, go ahead and laugh. Roll your eyes. Scoff, even. But you know you want to drive it. If you don’t, well, fine. We’ll take your spot in line.