Made from cast iron and solid oak, the rear wheelarch jig in the Morgan wood shop has been shaping sports cars for around 80 years (nobody knows exactly how long). But a slimmer, sleeker new wood press now sits alongside it, made especially for the Morgan Midsummer.
“The older tool’s shape means the rear wheelarch of any Morgan is never a perfect curve,” explains chief designer Jonathan Wells. “This is the first car we’ve created entirely using 3D digital design software. Its wheelarches are CAD-drawn concentric curves… so we needed a new jig.”
The future has arrived in Malvern, it seems – even if it still looks conspicuously like the past.
A project with Pininfarina
A roofless roadster intended to provide ‘a closeness to your surroundings and a raw connection to your machine’, the Midsummer is a joint project with Pininfarina – the Italian design house that sculpted many of Ferrari’s most beautiful cars.
Its impetus came via another Italian connection: Morgan CEO Massimo Fumarola, previously chief project officer at Lamborghini. He provided the link between Malvern and Turin, resulting in a car that combines two centuries of coachbuilding expertise.
Only 50 examples of the Midsummer will be made – all of them snapped up in advance by Morgan’s most loyal customers. A price hasn’t been disclosed and Wells says it “varied wildly” depending on the spec of each car. However, I’m told the ballpark figure is similar to the limited-run Plus Four CX-T of 2021, which started from £204,000.
‘Elegant and eccentric’
The Midsummer was inspired by traditional Italian barchettas, with swept-back wings and a strong shoulder line created by its wooden door-tops. Its prominent headlights – with integrated indicators – come from the updated Plus Four, while Morgan’s traditional stamped bonnet louvres are replaced by ‘piano key’ vents in front of two tiny aero screens.
Wells says his favourite angle is the rear-three-quarter view, and I’m inclined to agree. The Morgan’s elongated, tapering tail harks back to pre-war designs, and its powerful haunches wrap around 19-inch forged alloy wheels like those of a salt-flats racer. The stainless steel sills are very distinctive, too, visually lowering the car and reflecting the road surface.
Uniquely, where you’d usually find the words ‘Disegno di Pininfarina’, the badges on the Morgan’s front wings say ‘Pininfarina Fuoriserie’. Literally translated as ‘out of series’, the Fuoriserie name reflects the Midsummer’s status as a genuine collaboration between the two companies – not simply a Morgan dressed in Italian couture.
“A Morgan isn’t aggressive, it is elegant. But it’s also eccentric,” affirms Wells. “The Midsummer establishes design foundations to build upon for future Morgan models.”
Softer than a Plus Six
The forthcoming cars Wells hints at start with the updated Plus Six, due soon, which will look more distinct from its (cheaper, less powerful) Plus Four sibling.
The existing Plus Six is the starting point for the Midsummer, which borrows its ‘CX’ bonded aluminium platform, 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six BMW engine (also found in the Toyota GR Supra) and eight-speed automatic transmission. Morgan hasn’t quoted any performance figures, but with 340hp and a target kerb weight of 1,000kg, it certainly won’t be slow.
As a driving experience, Jonathan Wells says the Midsummer is “totally different”, with “more compliant dampers and plenty of tyre sidewall for a classic GT feel.” A sealed underbody means “much lower drag than a Plus Six” as well.
A Morgan for grand tours
As per standard Morgan practice, the Midsummer’s body panels are supported by an ash wood frame, but its interior uses speedboat-style teak. Rather than single pieces of wood, however, each component is hand-made, with up to 126 layers of laminate to ensure strength and durability.
The car’s dials, with their polished centres, are bespoke and its steering wheel also differs from the Plus Six. There’s no boot, but a storage area behind the seats provides space for a couple of weekend bags – ideally a bespoke leather luggage set from Schedoni, the same Italian brand that supplies Ferrari.
Some customers have specified a luggage rack, says Wells, and a full-width windscreen is available if you’d rather not don flying goggles. Other notable requests have included a polished aluminium finish, instead of paint. Wells says every one of the 50 cars will be unique.
Made for Midsummer
And how about the name? Primarily, Morgan says it’s ‘a celebration of the season that provides optimal weather conditions to experience an open-top barchetta [do they live in England?]’. It also refers to Midsummer Hill, near Malvern, which looks down on the birthplace of company founder HFS Morgan, along with the Pickersleigh Road factory.
Open the Midsummer’s tiny doors and ‘Coachbuilt at Pickersleigh Road’ is stamped into each sill. Wells and the wider Morgan team are clearly proud of this car, and rightly so. Glamorous and gorgeous, it successfully combines quirky British tradition with effortless Italian style. It is unmistakably a Morgan, yet unlike anything the marque has produced in 114 years to date.
Let’s hope the collaboration between Morgan and Pininfarina bears further fruit, and that next time it isn’t only a ‘Fuoriserie’ for the chosen few.
Tim Pitt writes for Motoring Research