One of the very few cars which are still built today, yet embody all the principles and the vision of its creator, in an unflustered and pure fashion is the Morgan Three Wheeler - one of the greatest (underrated) motoring icons of the entire automotive history. It was Morgan’s second car, after the 1909 ‘Runabout’, and it was launched two years later, in 1911, and it stayed in production for 42 more years, before the final car rolled off the production line in 1953.
Now, some 60-odd years later, the company has brought it back and all the changes they have made have only improved it on the technical side, with its remarkable aesthetics and style remaining refreshingly-intact. They have also retained the vee-twin engine, which now displaces 1.9 liters and makes 100 hp. Coupled with the fact that the car only weighs 495 kg (1090 lbs) and has only one rear wheel, as well as a very sorted chassis and modern running gear (it even has a six-speed gearbox), it epitomizes driving fun, tradition, craftsmanship, passion and soul in a very light and irrefutably-British package.
Always faster than they had any right to be, Morgan trikes were trialed, rallied, hill-climbed and raced right from the start of production in 1910. And the men and women who raced these contraptions were among the bravest in an era when on-track courage requirements were as high as the penalties for misadventure were severe.
The Morgan pictured - possibly in one of the legendary Prescott Hill Climb's first late-'30s seasons or early in its postwar era - was really little changed, other than being frighteningly faster, from the original.
It consists of little more than a few lengths of pipe brazed together and covered in rudimentary tinwork, with a 1,000-cc Matchless V-twin bike engine up front sprouting drainpipe exhausts and driving its single rear wheel by chain. It would have been capable of hitting a truly alarming 100 mph (160 km/h).
And in contrast to the modern racing era's five-point harnesses, full-face helmets, fireproof suits and carbon fibre structures, its driver and passenger are wearing motorcycle leathers and "pudding basin crash hats."
The driver hasn't even bothered with goggles. No safety harnesses are in evidence, as being thrown out in a crash was considered safer than being strapped in. And using one would have limited the "monkey's" ability to shift his weight to aid cornering. Trikes often ran in the motorcycle sidecar class, which required a passenger.
