Perhaps bitten off too much?

Fri.02.06.06. It has been a long but fruitful afternoon dubiously distinguished by many exhausting hours ensuring that the final fitting of the screen will be perfect. Cutting the ‘ears’ from the edge of the scuttle had been easy enough achieving the desired effect of endorsing the line of the bonnet flow into the cockpit area. On the original car the sweeping upper curve of the bonnet ended at the point where the screen brackets were fitted. A 90-degree corner had also been created on the top of the left and right edges of the scuttle to enable the continuation of a perfectly flat plane matching that of the bottom edge of the windscreen itself. This design was simply fabricated to facilitate the final assembly. Our intention was to reject these ‘ugly’ corners thus promoting the upper contour of the bonnet from the front to the rear of the scuttle. Logistically this became a much more complicated modification than we had first imagined. 

The curved planes of both the scuttle and the bonnet alter subtly as they travel towards the rear edge meeting ultimately the top of the dashboard. The new corners that had been sculpted required to be moulded to conform to the ‘three’ other planes. Aluminium strips were then fashioned to mirror the desired curves acting as reinforcement as well as a pattern. Once this had been achieved the central section of the scuttle was built up to accommodate the concave bottom edge of the new windscreen. The location of the screen brackets was determined by the angle that was formed when the screen was in the full flat position. When rested flat, the screen ideally should lie parallel with the line of the bonnet, but this caused the feet of the brackets to turn into a steeper angle resulting in a softer rake of the screen. Each slight alteration enabled the screen to sit lower on the scuttle, which also meant that the middle section needed less building up.

After four hours of consideration, debate, reflection, supposition, and formulation as well as cutting, filing and drilling the definitive shape of the scuttle was ready to be ‘made up’. It had been well worth the effort; the line of the bonnet now flows through the scuttle and into the cockpit only to be interrupted by the aluminium screen brackets which hold the magnificent stainless steel folding mechanism.

The new Morgan screen now sits proudly and comfortably on the scuttle at least two inches further back from the original location creating a stylish sleek impression. These have been very important, extremely successful, seriously difficult modifications. Fingers crossed, the screen should fold smoothly from the raised to the lowered position. We can test the theory tomorrow. 

The increasing number of proposed changes to the original concept inevitably will threaten not only the progress of the venture but may undermine the very character of the initial design. We have strived constantly to generate superior engineering possibilities side by side with sensitive aesthetic improvements, so it is imperative to re-visit, research and refresh our understanding of the car, explore other adventurous constructers, embrace their findings with the intention of incorporating the most dominant into ‘001’. The obvious starting point should be Haydn Davies.