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Morgan 3 Wheeler Official Photos

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Morgan 3 Wheeler
Morgan 3 Wheeler

As previously reported, the Morgan Motor Company has decided to relaunch the old Morgan 3 Wheeler, basing the new car, in no small part, on the design of Pete Larsen’s Ace Cycle Car.

Morgan 3 Wheeler
Morgan 3 Wheeler

The new 3 wheeler will be powered, at least for the first year, by a 115 horsepower S&S X-Wedge V-Twin running through a Mazda 5 speed gearbox.

Numerous options include leather interior, special paint, polished engine and more. The British RAF paint job is pretty neat. Price before extra cost options is £25,000 or just over $40,000.

Link: Morgan Motor Company via Autoblog

Previously on The Kneeslider:
Morgan Makes the Super Sports Three Wheeler Official
Ace Cycle Car

Posted on Filed Under: Three Wheel Vehicles

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Comments

  3. I love the Morgan trikes. I was happy to hear that they were going to produce them again, and the new three wheeler looks great. I’d love to take one for a spin.

  4. Fabulous in all ways! Love the RAF livery — when I see it I think of my granddad who served in the Royal Flying Corps during WWI. (He wasn’t a pilot; he worked on the ground keeping those wood-and-fabric kites in the air.)
    Mount a set of K70s and she’d be perfect. I want one! But 25,000 Quid is a bit rich for my budget, and I doubt it would pass U.S. regulations.
    Too bad.

  5. B50 Jim, The Good News is that in the USA this vehicle would be classified as a Motor Cycle, Should be no problem getting it registered here as the engine is certified already by S+S. Considering that a new Harley Trike is about $35000 the $40000 price looks like a bargain. I cant wait to see one going down the road!!

  6. I’ve wondered why these vehicles aren’t re-arranged a bit.

    Why have the engine on the front, in front of the gearbox/differential?

    The vehicle looks like it has a hood and a pseudo-grille shell behind the engine, but what would be under that hood?

    Why not build it like a Cord 812, somewhat. The engine under the “hood” (even with open sides, like a hot-rod, perhaps) and the gearbox/transaxle between the two front tires, in front of the engine.

    • The engine is out front to get the weight distribution right – or at least that’s what I understand. The TriHawk (also known for its handling qualities) has the engine in the same place, but it has a longer nose to cover it.

      I guess they thought a sticky-outy engine looked better than a long nose at the time.

      • Trikes need the weight closest to the wheel pair to keep them from flipping. Move the engine back and the tranny forward, then you probably have to shift the passengers back to provide leg room, and oops! It’s like being a kid again, and flipping your trike.

    • I think my comments may have been mis-construed.

      I don’t mean to diminish this vehicle as it is. It looks very cool, and like it would be a lot of fun.

      I was just spit-balling about alternate configuration options, and driving the front wheels, or continuing to drive the rear wheel…

      I just thought it might look more like a car if the engine were moved back just a couple of inches to the aft side of the virtual front axle line, and the hood made slightly longer, with the grille in front of the engine, rather than behind the engine, With the sides of the hood open like a hot-rod ’32 Ford or something, to continue to show off the engine cylinders. I realize they are probably showing off the engine purposely as it is.

      I wasn’t meaning it as a derision to this vehicle at all, just a spit-balling brain storm of some alternate options and aesthetics that this vehicle inspired me to think of.

    • I suspect the three main reasons for having the engine out front is a) tradition, as that’s where most Morgan trikes had ’em, b) looks (if you got it, flaunt it), and c) funtionality, as it’s an air cooled engine that, well, needs some air to cool it.

  7. I like it.
    Looks good. I could see myself driving one.

    I think I’d have to opt for the Olde English White, and a Russet Brown leather interior.

  8. I can’t help myself. When I look at this unit I get a thousand-yard stare………………………………..rat tat tat…..tat tat tat……..GOT HIM!!!

    It needs a rotor, a rudder and a prop-hub, though.

    • Thanks for that image. I’m now imagining squadrons of these menacing the open roads. 🙂

      “Ready chaps! Diiiiive”

    • A small propeller on the front would look interesting. Maybe help with air-cooling, too. 🙂

      Or, you could go the full-boat route and turn it into a 3-wheeled auto-gyro, and actually fly the thing, in addition to driving it. 😀

  10. Nostalgia is nice, but at over 40 large, I’d prefer to add a 4th wheel and get a vintage Plus 4 or 4/4 drophead coupe. Heads would turn just as much and I’d have the advantage of all weather ops.

    • I bought a new Mini-S, installed a Dinan motor kit and big brakes for $10K less than this cost. Although it was a “Ticket magnet”. If I’m going to have something with a bike motor in it, it’ll have to be a bike.

    • I don’t think heads would turn as much — to most people those things are just old cars, neat old cars; this is clearly different and I’d wager most people have no inkling such a thing ever existed. The money is way high of course, but also obviously this is for people who have a lot of money to burn or who really really always wanted one.

  11. The X-Wedge is a great choice for the engine. It’s the most advanced v-twin engine that will still fit with the look of the Morgan 3 wheeler. And why have the engine in front? ‘Cause it’s not a Morgan 3 wheeler if it’s anywhere else. If the engine is not there, don’t bother building it.

  12. I have an idea for a motorcycle twin engine, with a seated pilot position, and forward tricycle layout…

    But modern, with a BMW DOHC boxer engine bolted to the back of a monocoque driver seat arrangement, and a tilting arrangement on the front suspension. something somewhat more modern than this.

    But this is cool, no doubt.

    • Ideas is just words, son.

      So build it, or CAD it, at the very least. Then maybe somebody on this website will care enough to complain that you did it all wrong. 🙂

      • that takes a couple of things I don’t have.

        1: money.
        2: CAD skills. (which cost money for software and more education. I am still paying off the previous education.)

        But perhaps someday I’ll get both of those, and put ideas to [digital] paper.

  13. Hey, guys, the engine CAN’T be anywhere but up front. End of discussion. Good to know I can buy one here in the States. All I need is 40 Large. Better start saving….

    Any performance numbers? With that S&S engine it should really scoot.

  14. Bloody copying bastards, I have a XS650 with the same paintjob ! 😉

    Sweet sweet vehicle, I love it …

    How do these things handle on a real life road ?

  16. Looks like a neat toy for the guy who already has everything. Why would you put that graphic on your machine and then run a pipe in front of it to hide it? It would have been way cooler to run it low along the bottom like an old sports car. If I were spending $40K, I think I would spend a few bucks more to get the pipe the way I want it!

  17. The rear end of these three-wheelers look really clunky. I would think that the shape of the rear wheel would still allow for a more graceful profile closer to that of an Auburn Speedster.

    • I don’t know, other than the extra storage a large boot provides. Why don’t you ask old Harry Morgan why hid did them that way. Oh wait, he died in 1959…

      -todd

  18. There were a number of Morgan trikes with the engine (inline-4) under the bonnet. these were called the “F” series. They didn’t quite achieve the same effect of a motorcycle engine hanging out in the open for everyone to see. With the little Ford 4-banger behind the radiator the F series trikes were cleaner and quieter and more closely resembled a car than a motorcycle. Back in the day, it was more important to look like you could afford a car than it was to be seen riding a motorcycle.

    The Morgan Super Sport (this design) was arguably the most elegant, memorable, and distinguishable of all the Morgan cyclecars. This rendition is a thing of beauty, no question.

    -todd

  19. Many of you are offering all sorts of design ideas or “improvements” for this 3 wheeler questioning why they did things a certain way. This is a recreation of the original 3 wheelers and I assumed everyone knew that. If this was some entirely new vehicle, they could have made all sorts of interesting variations and questions would be appropriate, but when you’re building a replica, then you follow the original.

    • Their site has a teaser trailer and in the beginning it has a few stills of original models with both the engine out front and under the bonnet as todd mentioned. Their geneva launch site linked on the main page has news footage giving a little history. It’s disappointing to see the price tag when the originals brought transportation to those that could not afford a full car, according to the news video.

  21. A replica, but far better in all ways. Note it has front suspension that works instead of that old slider setup. The S&S engine makes about three times the power of the old J.A.P. used on the original. A 5-speed gearbox that won’t lock between gears. A tube frame, not termite bait. Roll bars that look like they belong. Brakes that stop. From 50 feet away a casual glance says “nicely restored Moggie”; but up close it’s obvious this is a thoroughly modern cyclecar that hasn’t lost any of the classic experience. I wonder what they’ll give me in trade for an old Beeza?

    • Jim,

      A combo reply about engine placement and sliding pillar suspension. Yeah, non-tilting trikes have to keep the center of gravity close to the paired wheels so hanging the engine in front of the front wheels is a good way to achieve that. When you have vehicles that tilts/leans into corners then the fore-aft CG isn’t as constrained. Tom Blackburn has a tilter he calls TBX3. It’s a free to caster tilter (which sounds scarier than it is) where you control the lean angle and the “steered” wheels find their direction to balance the loads applied to them. He has videos on youtube and participates on a yahoo group devoted to tilting three wheelers. He uses sliding pillar suspension with linear bearings to avoid suspension geometry related misbehavior (track width changes when tilting). TBX3 isn’t that pretty. Tom isn’t an industrial designer. But, it sounds like a fun vehicle. I imagine it is a giddy fun as a Carver.

  22. This looks fun. You could drive around all day pretending to be Peter Sellers pretending to be from India.

  25. Lovely, but I don’t like the paint and the front mudguards are definitely wrong – they are too short at the rear of the tyre and continue too far over the front.

    Re how does it handle on the road – I would expect it to be very good – in the past Morgan 3 wheelers used to compete and win against sidecar outfits despite having a weight disadvantage.

    BRA have made a very similar replica for years at a fraction of the cost and road tests say that with the narrow tyres the trike can be three wheel drifted around corners – a bit of an art to learn, but once learnt they can be driven very rapidly along twisty country roads.

  26. I just noticed the graphic on the side spells “MOG” 😀

    Maybe the price is a little out of reach, I’d readily buy the BRA if I lived in the UK. Is Ace still making these in Seattle?

  27. Expensive but pretty. The S&S motor gives plenty of go. I reckon HD has missed a trick in not supplying motors for this. I do wonder if a Guzzi lump could’ve been used instead, not as much capacity or torque as the S&S motor but as much power and a more highly developed engine that’s integral with a gearbox and driveline which would be better suited for the application. Reverse could’ve been achieved with a system similar to the Goldwing. This is good, but I like Guzzi engines.

  28. Something has me very curious about the replica’s power (what with the front-of-the-axle weight bias) that could have occured with the original, but more likely could with the X Wedge up front now. That is: if the S&S produces about 3X the power of the original, as B50 Jim indicated, and with modern tires and both front wheels driven, what would happen if those two front tires “hooked up” and torque lifted the rear end with a clutch drop and WFO throttle??
    OMG-me thinks we’d have a “lifty”
    Now suppose the opposite: A healthy application of good, modern front brakes at speed and a lot of tire bite……..and now you’ve got a “stoppie” like none other…can it be a “180”?
    Maybe those two tubes behind driver and passenger were put there for good reason!

    • Lifty? Torque from the front tires hooking up would jam the rear tire into the ground (opposite of the torque reaction from braking, a stoppie). Or am I missing what you’re saying?

      • Whoops! Bob, you got me there on the take-off, that rear would remain planted, and good that it does.

  29. What puzzles me is the description on their website regarding the drivetrain:
    “A sturdy V belt provides traction to the reinforced rear tyre.”
    Engine and gearbox are mounted lenghtwise, so a drive shaft to the rear wheel would make sense, wouldn’t it?
    But, perhaps the original vintage drivetrain also used a belt. Can anyone here shed light on this?

    • The original Morgan had a chain drive from the gearbox which is under the seats at the rear. A shaft came from the J.A.P engine to it .
      Reliable belt drives were not really available in the 1920’s, riveted pieces of leather was as far as they got.
      In England these were classified as a motorcycle, so road tax was considerably cheaper than a car. They were also affordable for the lower middle class person, where as a car was out of the reach of many.
      There was a racing series for these in the 20/30’s, at first they used to race with cars but were so much faster so were banned from car races.
      .

  31. I owned a Morgan, back around 1960. Had a V twin AJS engine as I recall, with exposed valve gear(great to see the rockers going up and down). Three speed and reverse gearbox, the frame consisted of two tubes, not much else, aluminium body.
    Had a lever advance/ retard on the steering wheel, which was also where the lever throttle lived. The thing would perform very well indeed, good power to weight ratio, and huge fun to drive. Spirited cornering could be exiting, if a wheel lifted. A friend raced his, and beat hot sidecars, (at Silverstone from memory).
    I once drove a Ford engined one, not so good.

  32. Put the engine out there for the three C’s, namely Cooling, Counterbalance, and Crashing.