|
Personal Profile - Andrew Culpin 
The first 21 years Ever since I was a pimpley teenager I've always wanted a Morgan, but just any Morgan wouldn't do, it had to have a wood dash, leather upholstery, leather bonnet strap and a gorgeous blond passenger, well the first one I bought from a Vauxhall dealership was orangy red, it had a vinyl covered dash, no strap, vinyl upholstery and a brunette, but who cares, it was a Morgan, 4/4 in Red. That one didn't last long, I was a Morgan virgin and hadn't a clue about tin worm, wood worm, worm and gear steering, flexible chassis, scuttle shake, one shot king pin lubrication, tightening various nuts and bolts at regular intervals or any of the other essentials of Morganeering, all the salesman told me was what a fantastic car she was, and I agreed, but I couldn't keep her, she needed a complete rebuild. So I kept looking for the ideal Morgan and one spring day I just happened to be passing Arkleys in Barnet, famous for the Arkley SS, but a real Morgan garage nonetheless, so in I went for a look around. There was this little red monster sitting quite inconspicuously amongst the others saying "buy me" "buy me". I strolled over quite casually, heart going ten to the dozen. On close inspection it had a wooden dash, leather bonnet strap, black leather upholstery and lovely deep red paint. Could I start her, Yes of course sir, here's the keys. I pulled hard on the heater knob, pumped the brake pedal and after quite a few revolutions she started - what a noise, this was a plus 8 with straight through stainless exhausts! Well I didn't need the test run to convince me, but it was useful to identify a major problem, no second gear. No problem sir, we'll rebuild the gearbox, give the car a quick service and lend you this 4/4 for a couple of weeks while we do the work.Well, that couple of weeks turned out to be nearly four months, but I didn't mind too much, I had someone else's black 4/4 with red interior and it looked the part. By the time summer was gone, the Plus 8 was ready. What a thrill, this was the car of my dreams. I was living in a 400 year old cottage and I was standing outside admiring the moggie when up comes a yokel. "Do want to buy my petrol can, its vintage", I've got other stuff at home". "No thanks" said I, "Are you sure" says he, "you don't see many of these about", "no thanks", I said, "I don't really collect old things". "Humph" He trundled off grumbling about "You can't beat a new house and a new car". It was 1986 and about this time I joined the MSCC with membership number 2626. I also met a group of ex-CranMoggers at the village pub in Northill and learned about the antics CranMog get up to, so I decided to come along and get acquainted with the lifestyle. And what fun we had, there were quite a few naturally witty characters who attended meetings and events, do you remember John Millard, Clive Temple, Stephan Wheatly and of course Mike Goodman and John Sharpe who still turn up sometimes. These were the good old days for me, Skelch did an Ilfracombe weekend not to be missed, the Birthday Party was at the Bridge in Huntington, Philip organised racing at Silverstone on the club circuit for an affordable £35 and my +8 had many a good thrashing come rain or shine.
It wasn't long before I moved to Wootton and met Judith at Work. She was the blond who made the whole image come true, and, she loved open top cars that go like a rocket. "Can I have a drive"?, "yes dear of course" - Yippee. "Shall we put side exit exhausts on and make more noise"? "Ooo thats sounds like a good idea". We loved the plus 8, went camping many times with a small ridge tent and bare essentials. We got married and asked Tony Baker to chauffer us in his 4 seater, went on honeymoon to Turkey, that was a bit too far for the Moggie, and started a family straight away. Lottie came along and we discovered the drawbacks of a two seater. Two years later Toby came along and the Moggie sat in the garage for 3 more years doing nothing much at all.
It was with great sadness that I made the decision to swap the plus 8 for a four seater. The real dilemma was whether to have the plus 8 converted into a four seater like Philip and Judy did for Darcy, or to buy a normal 4 seater. Problem was price, the conversion was expensive, way in excess of the value of the car so I kept looking. A couple of months later I saw a rebuilt '72 four seater in Allon White's, quite old but with some of the nice older features such as the small side lights, chrome door lock mechanism, half louvered bonnet, four in one instruments and so on, but the interior was very tatty. Well, I fell in love with it but Judith never has, too slow and quiet she says, OK I can make it noisy, ish, but what can I do about a 1600 Xrossflow's performance? Please let me know if you make this one go like a rocket. The previous owner fitted side impact protection bars, hey I've got that in the Volvo, door bars, and those, four point harness belts, scuttle bar, roll bar, stainless exhaust, Kenlow fan, Aeroquip hoses, up-rated brakes, up-rated lights and telescopic rear suspension, plus a few other bits and pieces. We had Shaun at Allon White's do a re-trim and seat rebuild, and dashboard rebuild and dials rebuild and and .... The car looks lovely now and four of us can travel in Morgan luxury and Morgan comfort - make what you will of that. My only problem is that we now tow a large folding camper which is right up to the weight limit of a Morgan for towing and doesn't like going up hills with only 100bhp under the bonnet. Wish we'd converted the plus 8 now! Nevertheless, people with children and Morgans all say that the kids go off the car when they reach about 12 so. Apparently it's embarrassing so we've got four or so years left with the current rig, then we'll have to think again. Incidently, you cannot tow with the latest shape 4 seaters because cars built after 1st September 1998 (S) need type approval for car with a towbar, the towbar itself and the tow ball, if you do it invalidates you insurance etc. If you need to know more just ask Paul Robblett, he's an expert in the automotive industry and has been through this hoop. Obviously, this ruling applies to 2 seater Morgans too.
As you probably all know, CranMog Knackers were formed in 1991, if you didn't know that, just click here and link to the 'ackers page, but don't forget to come back for the rest of the story. Well I got roped into that one. Our first show was "There ain't nothing like a dame" from South Pacific and boy oh boy, we were nothing like dames. The Crackers were so much better looking and we had to wait until 1997 for another turn, this time it was the Village People doing YMCA, I was the Red Indian Chief - boy those feathers tickled. From then on we've alternated Crackers and Knackers and done shows together. In 2002 I was having a drink at the Harbour Inn at Reydon on Saturday morning and came up with the silly idea of starting a CranMog band. The full story can be found on the Plus 5 page, but suffice it to say that the band has blossomed beyond our wildest dreams and we have more requests to play than we can manage, mind you that's a good position to be in, if it were the other way around we'd have given up. That's all from me talking about myself, its my favorite subject and I could go on for hours but you've probably suffered enough. |
| Home | Newsletters | 'ackers | +5 | Adverts | About | Regalia | Links | Contacts | Sponsors |