I mentioned the Cumberford remarks about the Aero 8 to a friend of mine and
he said, "No wonder, he designed and manufactured a very similar car that
failed in the marketplace." My friend, who has a prodigious memory and is
one of my few non-Morgan owning friends who can actually carry on an
intelligent discussion about them, looked up the article he remembered and
gave me the following information:
Magazine: Car & Driver, April 1982
Car: the "Martinique"
Manufacturer: Cumberford Corp. (James & Robt. Cumberford), Stamford CT
Price: $125,000 (1982 dollars!)
Estimated annual production: 350
Chassis: Cast aluminum, 21 pieces assembled with aircraft fasteners (1982
was a little early for chassis adhesives) that also used parts from a
Citroen CX floor pan including hydraulics
Drive Train: BMW engine, trans, & rear axle
Body: Aluminum
My friend said that it had definitely had an Aero-like look. It was a
2-seater with pontoon fenders that were described in Car & Driver as
"voluptuous." The fenders were constructed of Tevlar, carbon fiber, and
foam and then covered with African mahogany veneer. At the time he was
impressed with the technology, and still is, and the styling...which he now
finds looking like a compendium of classic styling cues, rather like an
Excaliber.
He goes on the say that one must give the Cumberfords a great deal of
credit. Not only did they design and build at least a few of them, but they
successfully sourced parts from manufacturers like Mercedes, Citroen, and BMW.
My friend is mailing me the article, as he doesn't have a scanner. When it
arrives I'll send it out. It sure sounds a lot like the Morgan approach to
manufacturing (he and his brother actually did try to buy Morgan in 1967)
and a lot like the Aero. The Cumberfords must have put an enormous amount
of effort into this project and I imagine that the memories aren't all that
pleasant and it may explain a lot about his recent comments.
At 08:32 PM 6/7/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>Though there is undoubtedly truth behind the observation that auto
>advertising revenues influence auto reviews, it is difficult to dismiss
>all Morgan reviews as a free kick at the can premitted by the lack of
>Morgan advertising....there are so many frankly admiring articles on
>Morgans in spite of that lack.
>
>Cumberford himself wrote of his "love" of the marque and his attempt to
>buy the company just last year, see http://www.gomog.com/cumberford.html
>
>For all that, more than a hint of the present article is found in his
>last one where he speaks of Big Blue being "grotesque". If he didn't
>like Big Blue he wasn't going jump for joy with the Aero 8.
>
>Lorne
>
>"
Howard Clark
c/o Twinrocker Handmade Paper
100 East Third Street (P.O. Box 413)
Brookston, IN 47923
765-563-3119 fax:765-563-8946
|