I was told this tale by a mechanic yesterday about one of his other Morgan
clients.
This buyer had never owned a British car before, and when he told his
business partner he was thinking he'd get a Morgan, the partner told him he
should start with something more typical like an MGB. Anyway, he thought
he'd shop around a little so he picked up a copy of Hemmings.
This guy bought a '67 +4 this year from the 92 year old widow of the
original purchaser. It was advertized in Hemmings with merely the words:
1967 Morgan +4 $30,000. and a phone # on Cape Cod (MA). It seems the
original owner had died a few weeks after buying the car. His wife had it
maintained meticulously for the past thirty years, and kept all the service
records in a binder. She would have it flatbedded to NYC for service, where
they were not allowed to drive the car. She insisted it be pushed on & off
the truck. It could only be run on stands. She actually had the car on
carpeted stands in her living room! It had less than 2K original miles! The
buyer knew he'd found a gem and told her he'd like to buy it for the asking
price. She then told him she'd listed it at $30K only to keep the traffic
down. She really wanted only $20K for it. In fact, he was the only caller
and this was the only Morgan ad he'd answered. They spent some time
haggling over the price. He insisted on paying her original asking price;
she felt $20K was right. They reached a happy compromise, and he said he'd
have a truck come to get it the next day. Oh, no she said. You should drive
it home. After all, it's still registered and you can send me the plates
when you get home!
A pretty good story! I'm going to track this guy down for the 3/4 Group's
Massachusetts chapter and find out how much truth is in the tale.
Jerry Murphy
'67 +4 Roadster 6676
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