Werner,
Eureka! You have found her! Many an hour have been spent trying to
locate your car by literally legions of Morgan historians.
It is not well know that Morgan was eying the NASCAR circuit in the
late sixties and early seventies. They figured hey, they have a big old
V8 up front, we have a big old V8 up front, how hard can it be to make a
bunch of southern boys look bad? Although the plan never reached
fruition, there was always a rumour that ther built one prototype Morgan
with a big V8 and especially set up to turn in one direction as is
required by circle tracks.
Alas the project was abandoned for several reasons. Increasingly
burdomesome regulations made continued sale in the US a less than sure
thing. The Morgan's aerodynamics were considerd a handicap at the super
speedways although the thought was that it would do well on the short
tracks. NASCAR uses a template to check the racers to ensure that the
shape was close to stock and it was well know that no two Morgans were
ever the same shape. There was also the little issue about an incorrect
conversion from English to metric and the sudden realization that NASCAR
used engines around 430 cubic inches vs the 215 in the +8.
But the last, largest nail in the coffin was often rumoured but never
proven until you measured your car. Your car is carefully constructed
to turn right with great precision but, as we all now know, NASCAR
racers only turn left.
Regards,
Bill Eastman
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