PASSING through the gatehouse at Bicester Heritage is like stepping on to a film set – the perfect backdrop for the opening scene of this epic daydream.
The latest resident of the carefully conserved WW2 RAF station, Morgan Experience will provide an Oxfordshire hub for customers and enthusiasts past, present and future. The beautifully restored Power House building is a suitably period surrounding for such a classic marque.
Founded in 1909, Morgan Motor Company keeps one foot firmly in the past, but now has its eyes fully focussed on the future. This is nowhere more evident than in my wheels for one day – the drop-dead gorgeous drop-top all-new Plus Four.
With a lightweight aluminium CX-Generation chassis aptly powered by BMW’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine under that long louvred bonnet, she gallops with the potential of 255 horses. By my basic mathematics, that’s a power-to-weight ratio roughly akin to a rocket on a rollerskate. From a standing start, she can hit 60 mph in just over five seconds and top nearly 150 mph.
Pressing the start button, the journey begins in this best-of-British thoroughbred – with a refined ride and a thirst for a waltz on the wild side. Steering this timeless dream machine on four counties’ tree-lined B-roads across the Cotswolds (back to her ‘home’ in the historic spa town of Malvern) is a uniquely British experience; the ultimate wind-in-the-hair road trip in a true motoring icon.
For over a century, the red-brick Victorian factory, nestled at the foot of the rolling Malvern Hills, has hand-built every vehicle in time-honoured tradition. Age-old tried-and-tested 1920s techniques married with appropriate 2020s modern technology provide a fitting antidote to mass-produced manufacturing.
The family-owned firm employs dozens of craftsmen and women, who expertly assemble up to one thousand personally-configured vehicles per year from ash, aluminium and leather.
A tour of the evocative Pickersleigh Road site is a veritable feast of sights, sounds and smells that further fuels the fire of desire.
The tastefully redeveloped Morgan Experience Centre is the perfect pit stop to refuel with a bacon butty and builder’s tea before the final furlong.
As the last of the summer sun started setting over the shire, the golden hour light further enhanced her slender curves and there was no doubt in my mind – it was true love! The End.
- Morgan Experience
- Bicester Heritage, Buckingham Road, Bicester
- morgan-motor.com
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