WOODEN AIRCRAFT AND AUTOS

Ed, Nice info. Where do you get that info from!? Amazing and nice info.
By the way, I saw a restored or Brand New Morgan in Damme, Belgium, two weeks ago on a visit. The auto was pristine. Frame from plywood. Fabulous auto. Should have photographed the auto, darn it.

-Kevin

I got it by looking for myself (opening hoods and trunks and crawling underneath) and asking questions in East Berlin. There were actually several variants from sedans to "station wagons" to the SUV (4 X 4 Trabant).

Why did I feel a need to ask such questions?

The East German Army used Trabants as we used the M151A1 MUTT (AKA the Jeep albeit incorrectly so as the actual jeep was an GPV M38 (or variant such as the M38a1, M38a1C, m38a1D, or even the "Mighty Mite" M422 series) and I was quite interested in strengths and usable weaknesses.

Somehow I bet that is more than you really wanted to know.

Sounds like a good size firecracker would destroy the vehicle.

Nice info from you on those cars. Interesting on how plywood was used. Strong and inexpensive.
Did I tell you I saw a pristine Morgan in Damme, Brussels, three weeks ago? Damme. Nice village to boot.
The Morgan looked new.
The English used many gliders and the Mosquito Bomber made out of plywood in WW-2. Pretty good planes at the time. Inexpensive to build.

-Kevin

Steve, This is similar to the Morgan roadster I saw in DAMME, Belgium two weeks ago. The one I saw was painted green, and the paint was flawless. Impressive to view.
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/4462/2002plus8morgan1vt2.jpg

Steve, Thanks for the Morgan information about ash wood. Never knew that info. I thought it was plywood back in the mid-sixtys. A lot raced in the SCCA races. Quick autos on the track. Very impressive.
I loved that large hood hold-down strap.

-Kevin

Looks like some plywood too. Of course ash is used to make baseball bats....Louisville Slugger....but for some reason have bits of cork in them. ")

http://www.harpers-morgan.com/Other/woodframes.htm

Steve, There was one of our SCCA sports car drivers racing a really nice Green colored Morgan in a class race. He won every single race in his class for years. I think he won the Nationals also.

I checked out his Morgan and the vehicle was immaculate. The wood frame was unusual to view and to think about ash being a body frame. So strong and simple. That was back in 1965.
Still works today.

The new Morgan?s must cost a fortune with a Corvette aluminum V-8 strapped under the hood today. That Morgan in Damme, Belgium was impressive to view.
Steve, any idea of cost and how many Euros, Pounds or Dollars!?

Quite a few years ago I constructed model airplanes and the motor mounts were made from ash plywood. Very stable and light.

If you like vintage race vehicles, you would like to see one of my friend?s restorations. A Bugatti Sports Roadster that ran in the Indy Brickyard in the 30s.
The owner runs it every year on Storrow Drive in Boston during the summer. Steven Safarian, from Cambridge, MA, scares the living hell out of everyone when he passes you with a straight-block, straight-exhaust race engine that he rebuilt. Steve wears a French beret and goggles on the excursion.
Wild, Wild, Wild!
The car is worth bucks. One of the finest examples in the world.
I used to watch him machine some parts for it. What a machinist and craftsman. His shop is called Safarian's Escadrille. Has model WW1 airplanes in his office hanging from the ceiling.
(Safarian's Escadrille)
His automobile employees all wear long white coats and white pants to work every day. The floor is painted a light grey and is cleaned and waxed every evening.

Steve, if you ever went there you would have to have an exotic auto to be accepted. No Detroit vehicles. Only Ferraris, Maseraties, Mercedes etc.

Remember the Golden Rolls Royce in James Bond Goldfinger movie years ago? Peter worked on it personally.
He also built a crazy beach vehicle for one of Steve McQueen?s movies here in the North Shore of MA many years ago. The buggy thing was a screamer! Too much power. Scared the heck out of Steve McQueen also!

It seems to follow, everyone into engineering and racing loves it and carries it to other fields during their lifetime. Nice.
Thanks for memory lane.

Thanks Steven,

-Kevin

?Steven, No one ever uses corked bats ever, unless you are from the Yankees baseball team.
Just kidding.
I am from the Red Sox Nation of nuts here in Boston.
Pretty soon the cost of a season ticket at Fenway could buy you a Morgan Sports Car. Why are Morgans so expensive? Why are season tickets for baseball so expensive?
I could pack away a season's worth of Tetley English ale or beer for the cost of a single Yankees or Red Sox baseball ticket to a game.

Pack it back in the Morgan and listen to a baseball game or watch it on the TV for free and get buzzed drinking good beer or ale.
Good wine also.
No charge for parking at $90 during the play-offs and the seats will cost you probably $300+.
Works! Does the Morgan come with a wicker basket for beer and lunch?
I will bet it does.

Strange to think about. You could own a Morgan Sports Car and afford it if you had a box lunch watching the Yankees or Red Sox baseball game for you and your honey on the road every game. Wonder how many years would it take to offset the season's ticket price? NOT MANY!

-Kevin

Steve, really do not know akout the engine. The old Morgan's had a terrible suspension. The drivers had big ?Bs? to drive them. Hop across the road.

-Kevin