Last Summer at the Pittsburgh GP, I met the previous owner of my '57
Plus 4, Andy McSwigan. Andy and his daughter came by to see a car which,
I gather, had spent a great deal of time awaiting restoration in their
garage right there in Pittsburgh. He's the guy who finally put the car
back on the road. The car was originally sold new in Pittsburgh. Andy's
a very nice guy and I really wanted to get to know him. As things go at
these race weekends, we agreed to get together later, but then I found a
cracked wheel, trailered the car and left early, so didn't get together
with him after all. At Christmas, I sent him a photo of the car at speed
at Lime Rock and got the nicest card back, which I thought I'd share
with you all: "Dear Chip-We were truly delighted to get your card and
picture of Morgan. It sounds like a car happy in its new home, so tell
it to go easy on your time and money. When cars get old, they get smart
and sit around thinking of things they would like. Then they break parts
in order to get a new whatever out of you. So go out to Garage and yell
at it to behave. (At least that's my theory.) I threatened MGs with a
trip to the local car crusher or consigning them to our local amusement
part where thousands of kids will rub sticky fingers on them. It works!!
Don't be nice!...."
Andy races flat rad MGs and is clearly One of Us. I feel bad because he
apologized for the cracked wheels in his card. As we all know, there's
no need. If it was possible to write a warranty for a Morgan, we'd all
be driving something else.
Said Morgan is due to get a new clutch and a panhard rod from my friends
at Morgan Spares and heaven-knows-what done to make sure the gearbox is
working fine. At Summit Point Raceway (W.Va.) on Thanksgiving, I seemed
to have a problem with the rear axle rotating in a horizontal plane
about the differential, grinding rubber off of the inside sidewalls of
the tires on the front of frame just forward of the rear suspension on
the left hand side and the from the rear of the frame just aft of the
suspension on the right hand side.
But right now it sits, battery alligator-clipped and dehumidifier
cranking away nearby, in my back garage. I'm afraid I can't accomodate
Andy and yell at this car. Too much in common. I'm getting old and
thinking about the new parts I'd like to have too!!
All the best from rainy Sao Paulo Brazil to all you Morgan owners!
Chip Brown
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