2009 Morgan LS3 Road Test Review

Morgan is not a newcomer to the automotive industry. In 2010 the British boutique carmaker will celebrate 100 years of

producing motor vehicles. In this world of General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Ford and Kia there is not a lot of room for cottage industries left over from the days when there were true Master craftsmen in every village and town. Quaintly quirky small manufacturers who have little interest in assembly lines and mass production have all but disappeared from the market save for areas like jewelry, stained glass, portrait painting and the like. The local one-family grocery store has all but vanished, along with the local candy store and ice cream shop. McDonalds can be found near the Great Wall of China.

Putting things in perspective, Toyota produces more cars in one hour than Morgan has built in last 99 years. Yet in spite of their lilliputian production figures Morgan has achieved tremendous results in racing and produced a fair number of truly fun vehicles. Almost any historic race series that includes vehicles from the 1920s on will sport Morgan three-wheelers as well as four-wheeled competitors. Yes, Three-wheeled contraptions with James A Preston “JAP” motors that spit, rattle and shake like a World War One machine gun. With two wheels up front and one driven-wheel in the back the three-wheeled

Morgans are fun at 20 mph, exciting at 45 mph and an exercise in concentration and sheer fortitude at speeds any higher.

With the exception of the modern Morgan Aero Series, which became unavailable for shipment to North America after August 2008, Morgans have always sported sliding pillar front suspensions and live rear axles. Sophisticated for the 1930s and a bit behind the times ever since. Morgan has always purchased their drive trains, from Triumph, Rover or other manufacturers. The cars have always been fairly light in weight, ranging from 1,500 to a bit above 2,200 pounds. Traditionally Morgans are light, fast, cheerful, economical, loaded with personality and easy for an owner to maintain.  It is not uncommon to find that an older Morgan has been in someone's family for 40 or 50 years, often named and treated like a member of the family.

The lack of a soft and compliant suspension, any kind of trunk or storage space and racy 1930s styling are just some of the endearing quirks of Morgan ownership.

Fast forward to the 21st Century in Northern California, don't bother with the 20th as Morgan technical progress was a bit slow during the 20th, and you will find Bill Fink of Isis Motors, 35 years of Morgan on the west Coast of the US, and his baby, the Morgan LS1.

Talk about wanting to drive the hairy Beast, holy smokes Batman. Over 350 horses and 350 foot pounds of torque in a 2,350 pound car on a 98 inch wheelbase, read flyweight, put in perspective that's less than 200 pounds more that the Lotus Elise that makes due with 190 to 240 horses and much less torque. Can you say “rocket ship”? Would you rather say “fake-out”? The Morgan LS1 looks like it just came off of a British Car dealer's showroom floor circa 1951. Press the lever, pull the cut-down door out towards you, slip in under the wheel, check the mirrors and the pedals and turn the key. The bright red LS1 made a guest appearance at Western Automotive Journalists Future of Automotive Propulsion just for fun as one of the presenters was Paul

Drayson, new Minister of Science for the United Kingdom (who says journalists don't have a sense of humor?) But the biggest laugh came when Ed Kajer, Director of Electric Transportation for Southern California Edison was tossed the keys and told that he could drive the LS1 back to the San Francisco International Airport with a writer in tow. Ed, sporting an ear-to-ear grin, surely woke the neighbors with every snick of the shifter as he roared away that night. That's a Corvette LS1 engine heart in there, backed up by that lovely six-speed manual. You have your choice to steer either with the front wheels or steer with the rear wheels with that much power.

The interior has the look and feel of handcrafted bespoke leather and wood because it is handcrafted bespoke leather and wood. The seats are sink-in comfortable right out of the Italian couch order book. The gauges and controls go against British Tradition, as they are well placed and work nicely. While acceleration is simply astounding the ride takes a little getting used to as every bump gets translated to your hands and your posterior, only smoothing out

once you achieve highway speeds. Handling is tight until you hit that pothole in the road on the sharp corner and then the Morgan can step out if you're not cautious with the go-pedal. After a few days of driving, any worries about the ride and my ability to work with a live-axle car faded. The Morgan really grew on me.

Bill Fink of Isis Motors has built nine or ten of these 2,350 pound beasties, the first ones, like this prototype, offered the Corvette 5.7-liter engine and gearbox with 335 horses and 350 foot pounds of torque, while the ones he is building now offer the LS3 package with 430 horses and 410 foot ponds of torque and zero to 60 in around 3.6 to 3.8 seconds, with an estimated EPA of 19 and 28 which is credible as we saw 21 mpg on premium around town and 27 on the open road pushing 80 mph while tacking under 2,000 rpm with the engine basically idling. The 225/60/16 front and 245/55/16 rear tires on heavy-spoked wheels looked cool, but a lighter wheel would have definitely offered more road compliance. These Morgans are fully EPA/DOT compliant. The Morgan LS3 from Isis will sell for around $75,000, be easier to service and get better gas mileage, plus it looks like a Morgan.

Yes, the Morgan LS3 is a rolling anachronism. One of the fastest cars on the road today draped in shapely aluminum, stuffed with leather and wood, the car makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But it is so delightfully satisfying to drive, so flagrantly against convention that it always brings a smile. Normal and conventional? Who needs it, life is too short to drive a boring car.