This British Carmaker Makes its Vehicles Out of Wood
Is it possible to keep up in the auto world by only making 800 cars a year? What if they're made out of wood? Morgan says it can be done.
Written by Clare Behe
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Every car manufacturer in the world wants to have a loyal consumer base and be known for its quality and innovation. While some are certainly
doing better
at that than others, there is one company that's been checking each of those boxes—by doing the same thing for the last 110 years
.Morgan Motor Company was founded in Worcestershire, England, in 1909. From its infancy, Morgan sports cars were considered to be quality vehicles, though aside from the unique 3-wheeled design, nothing exceptional.
As automobiles became more commonplace, and the industry boomed, design and production practices needed to keep up with a changing world. This meant giant factories rife with automation and the incorporation of cheaper materials.
This is the car industry we know today. Plastic and metal, perhaps with an electric engine if we can afford it, rolling rapid-fire off assembly lines.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it
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But quietly, at the foot of the Malvern mountains in Worcestershire, Morgan Motor Company’s single factory bustles with fewer than 200 employees, continuing to produce artisan sports cars by hand, using materials, tools, and techniques set in motion by the founder 113 years ago.
We've all heard “slow and steady wins the race.” Morgan Motors exemplifies that philosophy. They produce around 800 cars annually, each one made uniquely by hand, utilizing three main materials: aluminum, leather, and wood.
While a commonplace building block in the founding days of the company, continuing to build their cars from pliable ash is a significant part of the intrigue and faithful customer base Morgan still has today.
Rather than trying to keep up and go blow-for-blow with competitors, they stood out by perfecting what they already had, carefully producing only a few models at a time, and patiently assessing technological developments to determine what was a trend and what could genuinely improve their product.
For example, it was only in 2020 that the company officially switched from a steel chassis to bonded aluminum. The combination of an ash wood body and the aluminum shell is, according to Morgan, much safer in crashes than a standard commuter vehicle due to the wood’s pliability.
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A sports car is rarely considered a practical purchase, especially when it starts at $109,000, but one still has to wonder whether a car made essentially from timber is going to last without rotting. Pre-1982 models aged fairly well with maintenance, but that year Morgan made a couple of significant changes to production that reinforced the lasting power of the unique cars.
The first step was giving customers the option to have the car’s ash body treated with Cuprinol before covering it with the steel shell. The wood is, of course, already treated and sanded before the assembly of the car, but utilizing a Cuprinol stain helped seal in all of those previous treatments, making the body practically impervious to water damage.
The second step, and the most important if you're purchasing a Morgan mainly for its curb appeal, was to paint the outside steel panels individually. This made all the difference in preventing cracks along the seams of the car's painted body.
Are Morgans sustainable?
Despite being made from wood, Morgan isn't considered an
exceptionally sustainable
company. All three current models are gas-powered and use BMW internal combustion engines.As Treehugger
points out
, the main plus for Morgan is that their cars are so small that the tailpipe emissions are the least of the climate’s problems. (They do get points for their HQ building, however, as it is also largely built from sustainably-sourced wood to be able to be easily repurposed.) A working wooden car is somehow both old-fashioned and cutting-edge. Here at Jerry, we believe in combining old-fashioned customer service with cutting-edge ideas—like not spending an hour on the phone with insurances to find the best price.
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