Morgan puts all its expertise into new Plus 8 GTR

Although the Plus 8 GTR explores design themes not seen in the Morgan stable yet, its five-spoke centre-lock wheels are still part and parcel of the Morgan heritage.

“This model also benefits from learning and expertise gained by the company since the Plus 8 officially finished production in 2018,” said Morgan.

“Big Blue”, a racecar of the late nineties with its bonded-aluminium chassis, pays tribute to the design of this Plus 8 GTR.

Morgan has acquires some Plus 8 bodies (rolling chassis), built before 2018 that will be recommissioned and upgraded with a selection of new mechanical parts. This process, said Morgan, “will employ traditional coachbuilding techniques which has been the mainstay of the Morgan brand”.

“These ‘Aero-chassis’ Plus 8s use the Morgan first-generation bonded-aluminium chassis developed initially for the Morgan Aero 8.

Previously, from 1968 to 2004, Plus 8 models used Morgan’s traditional steel chassis and were powered by Rover V8 engines.”

The original Plus 8s were powered by the BMW N62 4.8-litre engine developing 270kW. Power will be driven to the wheels through a ZF six-speed automatic gearbox.

The 2021 production will be limited to only nine cars.

Jonathan Wells, Morgan head of design, said, “Reviving a V8-powered Morgan at the current time may not seem like the obvious choice for a manufacturer firmly focused on new platforms and powertrains. However, when the opportunity presented itself to recommission a number of rolling chassis and create an exciting special project such as Plus 8 GTR, we embraced it fully. This project has allowed Morgan’s design and engineering teams to revisit some of their favourite elements of past Morgan models, as well as experiment with some features that we hope will appear on future Morgan cars.”

Source: Linden Bray (linden@influenceassociates.com)