Morgan Factory Tour

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Grumpy Northener
Posts: 1637
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:26 am
Location: Hampshire UK

Morgan Factory Tour

#1 Post by Grumpy Northener » Thu Jun 09, 2016 6:23 am

Organisers of our national rally for the Jowett Car Club (Tewkesbury) over the last May bank holiday arranged a group tour of the Morgan factory which was a little way down the road in Malvern - Great guided tour and very interesting - some of the time warp methods that they are still using in everyday production are a sight to behold - not too many images as the phone died during the tour
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1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles

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Grumpy Northener
Posts: 1637
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:26 am
Location: Hampshire UK

Re: Morgan Factory Tour

#2 Post by Grumpy Northener » Thu Jun 09, 2016 6:28 am

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It's well worth the effort if you are in that neck of the woods - takes a good couple of hours - they have all facilities + tea room / gift shop / museum etc - you can book individually online - Think it's £20 (we had a group discount)
1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles

GHT
Posts: 1523
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:09 pm

Re: Morgan Factory Tour

#3 Post by GHT » Thu Jun 09, 2016 7:45 am

Grumpy Northener wrote:Organisers of our national rally for the Jowett Car Club (Tewkesbury) over the last May bank holiday arranged a group tour of the Morgan factory which was a little way down the road in Malvern - Great guided tour and very interesting - some of the time warp methods that they are still using in everyday production are a sight to behold
Who remembers the late: Sir John Harvey-Jones of a BBC program called The Troubleshooter?

Unfortunately for Sir John, the best remembered Troubleshooter show is the one where classic sports car maker Morgan Motor Company turned down his advice - and went on to prosper.
On visiting the Morgan Motor Company in Worcestershire, he was aghast to see that the sports car maker was still making its vehicles by hand, and even continuing to use a large proportion of wood in their construction.
Sir John's advice was simple - modernise, greatly increase production and ramp up your prices. Morgan completely refused on all counts.

Car maker, Morgan, turned down Sir John's advice. The car maker happily admits that that particular show, "caused quite a stir." "Sir John's conclusions were significantly at odds with the views held by the Morgan family, who said so," says the company. "Even today, many conversations start with reference to the program, which has entered British folklore."

Despite turning down Sir John's advice, Morgan admits that his visit did have a very positive impact. Hundreds of orders came in. "Ironically, it is one of the principal reasons behind the extensive waiting list." With Morgan continuing to make just nine cars a week, the waiting lists for its various models can be up to a year. Always down to earth, Sir John said he was very pleased to have been proven wrong in Morgan's case. Describing himself as "a very old businessman", he insisted he had already made every mistake in the book.

EricTheRed
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Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2011 10:45 pm
Location: Centre of the universe (Yorkshire)

Re: Morgan Factory Tour

#4 Post by EricTheRed » Thu Jun 09, 2016 10:30 pm

My recollection was that Sir John was aghast that someone was cutting body panels from sheet material using hand shears rather than power shears. He had no argument with Morgan hand building the cars but was pointing out that with certain improvements they could hand build them more efficiently with no loss of quality or craftsmanship.

Just because Morgan continued to be successful doesn't mean that they would not have been even more successful if they had followed some of Sir John's advice!

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