Model Engine Maker

The Showcase => Shows => Topic started by: michaelr on May 24, 2018, 08:08:13 PM

Title: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: michaelr on May 24, 2018, 08:08:13 PM
I have been going through some photos from way back and came across this, I think it was in the Model tent at the Masham steam rally North Yorkshire.
From what I can see on the notes, it has a 9cc Vee engine that runs on methanol, radio control on steering, neutral, forward, reverse, and brakes.

Anybody come across this model, I can't remember the year I was at Masham.  Mike.

Title: Re: MG Three Wheeler
Post by: rklopp on May 24, 2018, 09:16:06 PM
There are a couple of those that race every summer at the Classic races at Laguna Seca outside Monterey, CA. They make a distinct sound compared to most vintage race cars.

By the way, it's a Morgan, not an MG.
Title: Re: MG Three Wheeler
Post by: b.lindsey on May 24, 2018, 10:41:01 PM
It's a beautiful model in any case!!!

Bill
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: michaelr on May 25, 2018, 08:51:06 AM
Apologies for wrong title now changed to what it should have been Morgan it's a age thing.

Mike.
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: mklotz on May 25, 2018, 03:19:19 PM
It's a fantastic model, a pinnacle of craftsmanship.

However, of the original from which the model derives, I'll have to paraphrase Margaret Halsey and say that it looks as if it were designed by someone who had often heard automobiles described, but had never seen any.
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Bluechip on May 25, 2018, 03:42:05 PM
Morgan were well aware how to make conventional 4 wheel models, and still are I think.

www.bing.com/images/search?q=morgan+4%2f4&qpvt=morgan+4%2f4&FORM=IGRE

3-wheelers at one time had a lower Road Tax rate in UK hence Bond, Reliant and Morgan made them . ( IIRC the BMW Isetta bubble car had 4 wheels but the rear pair were closely spaced and came into the same Tax Band as 3-wheelers ).

There is a Morgan 4-4 not far from here ..  :ThumbsUp:   nice ....

Dave



Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Jo on May 25, 2018, 03:50:37 PM
And you can drive three wheelers on your bike license   ;D

Jo
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Jasonb on May 25, 2018, 03:57:20 PM
And you can drive three wheelers on your bike license   ;D

Jo


But you have to blank off reverse if I remember rightly
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Bluechip on May 25, 2018, 04:04:01 PM
And you can drive three wheelers on your bike license   ;D

Jo

Yeah, there was something about that  :thinking:  but I think you needed the full car licence if it had reverse ..  :headscratch:  :old:

Once went to Mallory Park with a mate in his Bond minicar .... terrifying experience .... thought it would roll on every corner but it never did. God only knows how they stayed upright   :facepalm: ( or sort of ). If there was a Guardian Angel for Bond drivers he/she must have put some  :censored:  hours in. Dunno though. Maybe Bonds found some way of defying Newtonian Mechanics. ?

Not seen one on the road for years .. mercifully ...

Dave

EDIT Jason nipped in first with the reverse gear thingy ...  :D Must have faster fingers ..



Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Jo on May 25, 2018, 04:08:21 PM
Not since 19th Jan 2013  :wine1:

Jo
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: RayW on May 25, 2018, 04:29:42 PM
Believe it or not, but Morgan are still making 3 wheelers!
https://www.morgan-motor.co.uk/3-wheeler/

Here in Kent we have a lovely little museum devoted to 3 wheelers and Morgans in particular.
http://www.morganmuseum.org.uk/1909-morgan.html.  Well worth a visit if you are in the Tenterden/Rolvenden area. The museum is behind a rather nice little antique shop.

Ray
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Twizseven on May 25, 2018, 06:33:17 PM
You have to remember that the Morgan has two wheels at front and one at rear.  They are quite stable, so were cars like the Berkeley T60.  The Bond and Reliant with one at the front and two at the rear were notorious for falling over.  I remember many years ago driving up the road near me watching a Reliant coming in opposite direction.  Next minute it was upside down spinning in circles on road in front of me.  I stopped, helped the guy driving turn it back onto its wheels and off he went again.  I used to service a lot of Isetta 3 wheelers.  These were two at front one at rear and again surprisingly stable.  I remember towing one down the M6, when the driver tried to overtake me (just for fun!!!) the tow rope was at 90 degrees between us (both in different lanes) but it still did not fall over.  A friend of mine did actually manage to roll one going round a 90 degree left hand corner.  So strong it only had a slightly dinked headlight, rolled it back on wheels and off he went again.

Colin
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Jo on May 25, 2018, 06:42:45 PM
I remember tales of reliants going down hill and doing a cartwheel across roundabouts and their occupants not surviving as the body work on the car disintegrated as they did not have roll over bars  :ShakeHead: .

Driving a modern all protective metal box is totally different from going fast and the only thing between you and the effects of the big wide world is the thickness of your skin  :paranoia:

Jo
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Tennessee Whiskey on May 25, 2018, 07:28:22 PM
New models here in the States. Fall under motorcycle license here with no “reverse restrictions “
https://can-am.brp.com/spyder/2018-models/cruiser-touring.html

Cletus
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Jasonb on May 25, 2018, 07:59:19 PM
You have to remember that the Morgan has two wheels at front and one at rear.  They are quite stable

Don't know if Tiff would agree with that :o

(https://www.motorward.com/wp-content/images/2014/10/tiff-drift-600x337.jpg)
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Jo on May 25, 2018, 08:20:35 PM
It is all relative don't trust a car driver in a three wheeler .... you do have a motor cycle license so understand these things don't you  ::)

Jo
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Stuart on May 26, 2018, 08:03:19 AM
If he had put in a bit of right hand lock it would have sorted it out


Well to please Jo I do still hold a full lic. Inc the motor cycle part , now a blast from my distance past my first none two wheeled transport ( could not have the YL getting wet and cold ) was a BMW fitted with a 300cc BMW engine same layout as a Morgan but the door was at the front and it did have reverse gear

Wish we still had it as they go for good money
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Vixen on May 26, 2018, 08:17:21 AM
A friend of mine had one of those BMW bubble cars. The brakes were poor, so he 'fixed' them. He then discovered another instability of a tiny three wheeler. He applied the 'fixed' brakes hard, when going down a steep hill, the bubble car pitched over forward and rolled to the bottom of the hill. My friend, Paul, was not wearing a seatbelt and spent the next few months in hospital with a broken pelvis. He said it was like an egg in a shoe box.

Mike
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: michaelr on May 26, 2018, 08:46:17 AM
The pictures I posted of the model three wheeler Morgan has really stirred up some good motoring stories, I'm enjoying them all.


Mike.
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: RayW on May 26, 2018, 12:20:05 PM
Many years ago I was following a Robin Reliant three wheeler down a long hill when it clipped the kerb, shot across the road and through a hedge. When I, and several others got there, we found a rather bewildered elderly lady sitting in a pile of shattered fibreglass, fortunately without serious injury. About all that remained intact from the car was the chassis and engine.

Ray
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: pgp001 on May 26, 2018, 12:49:02 PM
Many years ago I was given the mechanical parts from a bubble car (Heinkel Trojan)
I was still at school at the time, but I made my dad a car trailer out of the front axle, and myself a motorcycle with engine part.
It was 200cc from memory and it pulled wheelies with ease, the reverse gear was good fun for catching peple out who wanted a go on it  ;D

The main frame tubes were from our traction engine boiler, the front end was an LE Vellocette recovered from the local tip, ( this was in the 1960's )
My parents were adamant that I was not buying a motorbike so I cobbled this together one afternoon when they were out.

(http://lister-engine.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10026/img004.jpg)

Phil
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: ShopShoe on May 26, 2018, 04:02:33 PM
FYI

For Morgan Fans:

(And Sorry for the Ads you have to watch first…)

New

http://www.kcci.com/article/around-the-us-in-80-days-in-an-unusual-british-sports-car/20874988

And Old

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcITHevPrc

—ShopShoe
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Alyn Foundry on May 26, 2018, 05:02:24 PM
Hello.

My first memories of being in a motor car were of the tonneau flapping around my ears as dad drove his last Morgan F 4. Sadly my sisters arrival made it unpractical.

His first Morgan 3 wheeler was powered by an Anzani " V " twin with magneto ignition and no electric start.
No reverse gear either. Apparently you pushed the car forward from outside and then jumped over into the seat to " bump " start it.

He played with many Morgan's through the nineteen fifties, met Peter on many occasions when the
 " works " carried out certain tweaks to his design for the hill climb events he participated in.

Dad said the only vehicle on the road that could keep up with his Super Sport was the Ford V 8 Pilot, but that was on the straights.... Nothing could be seen in his rear view mirror once a bend in the road appeared!!

Don't forget, you sit " in " a Morgan not " on " it.

Cheers Graham.
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Twizseven on May 26, 2018, 09:13:11 PM
I looked after 4 or 5 Isetta bubble cars.  Rebuilt the engines etc.  Still have a spare gearboxand genuine BMW manual for one.  Perhaps I should try putting them on Ebay.

Remember my mate breaking down one evening in a really upmarket area on his way from Midlands to High Wycombe.  He called me out and I drove down in my Anglia 105E.  We slept in my car overnight and next morning I stripped the engine down at the side of the road.  After a few hours I had it working, but throughout the morning we had breakfast brought out to us and numerous cups of tea.  I do not think the locals had ever seen a Bubble car let alone the engine in bits at the side of the road.

I used to keep a spare bodyshell and chassis on the roof of my dads garage, spare engines, gearboxes in the loft.

 Colin
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Art K on May 27, 2018, 02:27:05 AM
All I can add is the engines for Morgan's new 3 wheeler's are made here in south west Wisconsin. And at work we have rebuilt quite a few rear shocks for the 4 wheelers.
Art
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Jo on May 27, 2018, 07:43:40 AM
A very nice man  :) has provided a few more details about the original model that started this thread:

It was built by a gentleman named Jimmy Mc Neil from measurements taken from a full sized car that is still raced and used for hill climbing  :ThumbsUp: Transmission was via a centrifugal clutch and it went like stink eventually the engine was disabled an electric motor was used to make it more controllable 

Jo
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: michaelr on May 27, 2018, 10:24:48 AM
Jo, I had a thought you may delve a bit deeper into the Morgan model, when I took that picture the owner was no where about in the model tent, I would have liked a chat with him about his model, thanks to you I now know a little more about the model.


Mike.
Title: Re: Morgan Three Wheeler
Post by: Stuart on May 27, 2018, 11:33:49 AM
On the full sized Morgan they used whatever engines they could get hold of one of the best in my opinion was the JAP  vee twin ( James A Preswick ) not the far off land very much Uk

The very early ones ha open valve gear and ran on castor oil no need for brillcream. /sp  , cloths peg valve springs

The later ones had had covered valve gear but still oiled well

They were fun to drive with the throttle on the steering wheel like the choke and advance/retard levers on British bikes , the throttle stayed put none of this self closing stuff

The SS was Pretty quick in race trim , they banned them from completing against the jags of that era reason they beat them in the twisty bits

Great cars and they sure did sound good on full chat


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