Long wait for UK classics

Fans of old-school British cars are facing long waits for their favourites as delays on Morgans and Caterhams drag out into 2020.

Australians only buy tiny numbers of the old-school British cars, but that is not helping as demand surges in the UK and Europe.

“Caterham are basically sold-out for 2019 and might not be able to give us any supply until 2020. With Morgan, we’ve had about a year with no supply,” reports Chris van Wyk, the Australian agent for the two brands.

“It’s not massive business, but there is a waiting list. It’s very good for the factories but perhaps not so good for our customers,” van Wyk stated.

Morgan has just celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Plus 8 model, which looks like a 1950s car despite running a modern BMW V8 engine under the bonnet. van Wyk reports that two Plus 8s will be coming Down Under.

“We have one of the 50th anniversary cars. What I’ve managed to do is buy a production slot. So there will be two in Australia,” he says.

There are more deliveries planned for the quirky Morgan 3-Wheeler, which took more than four years to certify for Australian sales, but still with some delays.

“Our production was pushed back a little bit. When we ordered last year, they were all scheduled for this year. But they have a policy that one man builds each car and that means delays.

“Some 3-Wheeler orders from 2017 have not even gone into production yet.

“We have delivered 21 3-Wheelers and there are four to come. They are coming this year and should be in production right now. We should get the cars early in the new year. The order queue gets shorter as they head into the UK winter,” van Wyk stated.

According to van Wyk, the work on the 3-Wheeler for Australia is paying-off for Morgan as European requirements on safety and emissions for the car get tougher.

“I always thought we had the best 3-wheelers in the world, from a technical point of view. That is helping now.”

The emissions situation is tougher for the Plus 8, which is about to lose its V8 engine because of tighter new rules from later this year (2019).

“It will be interesting to see how both Morgan and Caterham handle the tough new environmental regulations, which come into effect from September production. Both are saying that most of the existing engines are continuing, but no word on new models or engine power loss,” says van Wyk.

“We ordered five Aero 8s and two Plus 8s and all but one are now here. That’s it.”

Away from the V8, four-cylinder models of both Morgan and Caterham are less likely to be affected.

“It seems they are carrying on with the existing engines. They will tell us in January (2019), so we’ll see,” says van Wyk.

“For Caterham, although they are sold out until 2020 they might be able to slip in one or two cars for us. I’m happy to put my hand up for more cars.”