This September will see the publication of Morgan 100 Years, the Official History of the World's Greatest Sports Car by Charles Morgan and Gregory Houston Bowden.
Morgan's achievement is unique. It is the only car company in the world to have reached 100 years of age while still completely in the ownership of the founding family. Co-author Charles Morgan, grandson of the founder, still runs it and Gregory Houston Bowden is a lifelong Morgan enthusiast who has previously written three books on the marque.
The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs covering the whole 100 year period (in colour throughout except for the earliest ones) and tells the story from the earliest three wheelers to the latest BMW-powered supercars. Along the way we meet such amazing characters as Gwenda Stewart who in the 1930's held all the world records for three-wheeler cycle cars and Prudence Fawcett who was the first person to drive a four-wheeler Morgan at Le Mans back in 1938. In fact, the complete story of Morgan's six attempts at Le Mans is told in detail. We also meet Chris Lawrence who is said to have won more races at Goodwood than he has had hot dinners.
Morgans are still lovingly hand-crafted in the factory built by the founder in Malvern Link, Worcestershire. Although they still make their traditional range which boasts a front suspension patented in 1909, they now also produce the state of the art Aero 8 with a 4.8 litre BMW V-8 engine, the AeroMax, a coupe version of the Aero 8 and the experimental LifeCar which shows that hydrogen-powered vehicles can be amazingly exciting and fast! Morgan's surprisingly green credentials are also discussed.
Fans of Morgan cars include Nicolas Cage, Jonathan Ross, Richard Hammond and Simon Cowell.