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Before and After: 1957 Morgan 4/4

1957-morgan-as-found

We all love to see before and after photos of project cars, so when Barn Finds reader Dan K sent in some shots of this  1957 Morgan 4/4, I knew we had to share them. Here is what he had to say, This Morgan does not belong to me. It is a customers car. The Morgan was dug out of a storage building and the new owner sent the car in for a complete restoration. In the middle of the restoration the owner died and his wife hesitantly decided to finish restoration. I don’t have any other information that I can share other than that. I just thought you might be willing to show it on your site.

And After…

restored-1957-morgan

Thanks Dan! What a beautiful machine. Some impressive craftsmanship went into this one and I’m sure the owner is happy with their decision to finish it. I know I would be. Be sure to send in your own before and after shots so we can all get inspired to get out into the garage and get those project finished!

Comments

  1. Avatar leiniedude Member

    Hi gang, can someone help me with an explanation about the gear lever? I see a hole in the tranny hump where I normally look for a shifter. What am I missing? And she is one smoking hot looking ride! Thanks for any help.

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    • Avatar Dickie F

      I see a gearlever dropping down from under the dash, but the hole in the floor remains (?).
      Confusing. But then I am not familiar with Morgans ….

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    • Avatar dan kirkpatrick

      Dan Kirkpatrick Interiors trimmed this Morgan. The hole in the tunnel is to access one of the u-joints for greasing. If you look VERY closely, you will faintly see a leather covered hole plug. I will be adding this Morgan with quite a few more photos of the interior coming together at http://www.dankirkpatrickinteriors.com, along with photos of the tonneau covers, the side windows and top. I am not a Morgan expert but this car is very nicely built.
      Thanks so much for all of your great responses!! Dan Kirkpatrick

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  2. Avatar geomechs Member

    That’s a sweetheart! Nice job!

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  3. Avatar Doug M. (West Coast)

    Great Idea (the before and afters) as I really enjoy seeing and being inspired by the process. It’s kinda like watching the last show of “Biggest Loser” where I am staring at the screen saying to my wife “I can’t believe that’s the same person!!!…. why did they wait so long to take this on??”

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  4. Avatar Harrell

    I’m wondering if “Dan” would indeed be Daniel Short, the owner of Fantomworks?

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    • Avatar dan kirkpatrick

      “Dan” would be Dan Kirkpatrick in Oklahoma.

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  5. Avatar DT

    Now that …I would have been tempted to leave the old patina,it looked nice in project stage.and makes a beautiful restoration.my compliments on the upholstery work

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  6. Avatar Anthony

    Is this vechicle for sale? If so what is the asking price? Looks good

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  7. Avatar Martin

    Love these before and after photos. Keep them coming! Beautiful job on the Morgan.

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  8. Avatar jim s

    great job. i like both the before and after look. is the hole on the transmission tunnel carpet a plug that is removed to lub something ( trans or drive shift )? thanks for sharing.

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  9. Avatar Phil H

    This is a series II 4/4 with the teeny tiny 1172cc Ford Anglia 100E motor pumping out a massive 36 hp, not very quick. A 3 speed Ford gearbox with a remote push pull lever. The rear end is geared in the 400’s to give you leverage. Very rare with the original components as many of these cars had their motor upgraded to the 1600cc Ford Cortina motor in the mid 60’s.

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  10. Avatar TrickieDickie Member

    I LOVE these older Morgans, a really True Sports Car. Those of you that have either driven one or at least ridden in one know what I mean. Morgan owners are really dedicated. Probably also the last car manufacturer in the world that still employes carpenters that build important parts of the car!

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  11. Avatar Henrie

    Wow , look at that ” workshop “. ( and the Morgan of course )

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  12. Avatar Barry

    Looks like I am not the only one puzzled by the weird looking shift lever. What’s up with that? I am trying to figure just how in the world it connects to the transmission.

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  13. Avatar paul

    Nice & the only color combo a Morgan should ever have.

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  14. Avatar Ted

    Just looking at the restoration photo looks great But why the leather belt across the hood? Did they come out this way or is this to actually hold the hood down?

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  15. Avatar TrickieDickie Member

    Ted……………..The Morgan is English and I think the leather belt across the hood is largely tradition. Bt it DOES tend to insure that the hood will NOT fly up, doesn’t it. That is very English.

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  16. Avatar Fred

    Here is an explanation on the shifter I got from the British Car List, still not clear to me, maybe more searches will reveal something, like a picture :)

    I think that’s a Wooler remote push pull shifter.
    It moves the shift rod further back towards the
    driver and the action is the same but the stick
    remains upright. IIRC, tricky to set up and 2nd
    to 3rd can be a bit crunchy if not perfectly aligned…

    http://www.team.net/html/morgans/2001-02/msg00063.html

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    • Avatar Derek

      This car has the push pull system gear lever. On this Series II 4/4, the vertical gear lever is actually in front of the firewall so the push-pull lever goes forward through the firewall to get to the Ford 3 speed gearbox.

      The Series III, IV and V 4/4s also used a push-pull system but with a Ford 4 speed gearbox that had the vertical lever behind the firewall but still too far to reach. The Wooler remote shifter was a replacement for the push-pull system to have a vertical lever that is reachable -not sure if these were available until the Series V.

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  17. Avatar Ted

    I pulled up a 57 Morgan on the internet here and looks like the belt is a tradition Its on the “Plus Models, 2 and 4 and that’s right

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  18. Avatar Richard

    I have a 57 4/4 Series II that’s been in the family since 1963. The gear lever you see in this car is the stock Morgan remote linkage that connects to a vertical lever sticking up from the English Ford 100E 3 speed gearbox, non synchro first gear, nearly all of which except for the tail shaft sets forward of the firewall. This remote set up reverses the traditional 3 speed shift pattern. First is down, or back if you prefer, and to the right, not down and to the left which is where you’ll find third on this set up. The hole in the leather covering the drive shaft cover has a leather flap covering the hole in the original car. The performance of the 100E cars is nothing to write home about but I think they are the prettiest of all the cowl model Morgans. This one is certainly is a great looking example.

    Like 0

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