1964 MORGAN PLUS FOUR PLUS SPORTS COUPE

1964 MORGAN PLUS FOUR PLUS SPORTS COUPE
Sold for US$ 134,200 Including Commission
Bonhams Auction, Amelia island, Florida 2015
From the Estate of George Fink
1964 MORGAN PLUS FOUR PLUS SPORTS COUPE
Chassis no. A 5758
Engine no. CT29261
2,138cc Pushrod Inline 4-Cylinder Triumph Engine
2 Weber Carburetors
Approximately 140bhp at 4,650rpm
4-Speed Manual Transmission
Sliding King Pin Front Suspension, Solid Rear Axle
Front Disc - Rear Drum Brakes
*Offered from long term ownership of more than 30 years
*Rare derivative of Morgan, with only 26 built
*Original US, Left hand drive supply
*Highly authentic example
This handsome Duck Egg Blue Plus 4 Plus has a known history from new, and was clearly chosen by British Sports Car enthusiast George Fink for its originality.
Proportionately late in the production run, this is the 20th Plus Four Plus to have been built. Originally sold new to Gregory Nowakoski Junior, an American Foreign Service employee living in Saranac Lake, New York, Mr. Nowakowski elected to travel to the factory to collect his new purchase as many Morgan followers before him and since have chosen to do. Parting with £1,055, roughly $3,000, he picked it up from the Works and exercised it a little on the home turf of the British country roads before shipping it to his home. Its factory dispatch date is recorded as September 12, 1964 and as new the car was actually finished in red.
Towards the end of 1976, he sold it to John Erickson of Yorktown Heights, New York for $3,500. It quickly 'flipped' through a Hemmings advert which asked for $6,000, at which point its new owner became Jerry Williams of San Francisco, California. Five years later, George Fink was able to acquire it, when it joined other unique examples of British machinery. Arriving back in Minnesota in 1983, it has remained with him ever since.
At some time the car was repainted in the current Duck Egg Blue scheme which was a color offered in period by Morgan. It may have been retrimmed, but both have aged gently and provide a clean presentation today.
With a little over two dozen built, these cars will always be rare and covetable. As with other cars in this collection, this is a fine representation of the model
When the Plus-Four-Plus was introduced at the 1964 London International Auto Show, it was greeted by a chilly silence from the Morgan faithful. Yet, it would prove to be the key to the company's survival – and today is a much-sought-after rarity. The new Morgan, so different in appearance from the classically-styled Plus-Four roadster, disappointed wind-in-your-face "Mog" loyalists, who devoutly believed that the roadster's primitive inflatable bladder seats and less-than-forgiving sliding pillar/leaf-spring suspension made Mogs the one true remaining British sports car.
Company president Peter Morgan was determined to turn the page and bring the company his grandfather had founded at Malvern Link a half-century earlier into the modern era. While the Plus-Four-Plus was built on the standard Morgan tube-framed roadster chassis, it would feature – rather than a wood-framed open body clad with steel panels – a fiberglass two-seat coupe body with an unusual "bubble" top, fabricated by the firm of E.B. (Staffs) Ltd. in Stoke-On-Trent. The tall, rounded roof was shaped, as Morgan lore would have it, to accommodate Mr. Morgan. He stood six-foot-four, and sensibly insisted that he be able to enter, exit, and drive the car comfortably. There were proper bucket seats, a full complement of instruments, a wood-rimmed steering wheel and some space for luggage.
The Morgan faithful were having none of it. Orders began to dry up and the factory was forced to abandon its plans for an initial production run of 50. This reversal, however, proved to be a blessing. Fearful that the new model signaled the end of what they had worshipped for decades, prospective Morgan buyers hurriedly jumped on the waiting list for a new Plus-Four roadster. This provided the firm with desperately-needed cash, thus ensuring its long-term survival. Only 26 coupes were completed and sold over a three-year period, many of them to U.S. and Canadian enthusiasts.
Robert Myrick Photography