The Mog

MOST 100-year-olds are happy to take it easy on their birthday – Morgan Motor Company had other ideas.

The iconic firm, based in Malvern Link, spent 2009 celebrating its centenary in style with a royal visit, a festival weekend and a very close call with a quad-bike daredevil. This Photograph was taken in Malvern during the Festival Weekend when the town was taken over by Morgan owners from all over the world.

The year-long anniversary was made all the more remarkable considering the rude health of the company. Morgan Motors can proudly boast to have hand-produced more cars last year than at any time in its long history.

Celebrations kicked-off on January 2, 2009, when the first of 25 centenary cars rolled off the production line at the company’s factory in Pickersleigh Road, Malvern.

March brought the Geneva Motor Show where a perfect replica of the original 1909 Morgan was displayed alongside the latest models.

April was a busy month, beginning with a visit from the Princess Royal to the historic factory, before a celebration run from Repton School to Malvern College which attracted several hundred three and four-wheeled Morgans and marked the century-old engineering link between the two schools. Morgan was then a ‘featured marque’ at the world renowned Villa d’Este Automobile Concours D’Elegance on the shores of Lake Como, all of which made sure that Morgan’s centenary was firmly on the map.

The cars proved their track worth in May when they scored two emphatic wins at the GT3 rounds at Silverstone, beating the world’s best funded works teams.

Morgans narrowly missed being crushed by the Kangaroo Kid quad-bike rider at the Three Counties Show in June as he jumped nine cars in the parade ring – a very close call according to the driver sitting in the end car.

The company also featured at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, a major sporting event attended by more than 150,000 visitors over three days. The main focus of the year, however, centred on a week of events in late July, with river cruises from Upton-upon-Severn, golf at the Worcestershire Golf Club, driving tests at Madresfield, guided tours of Stoke Lacy, track days and steam train rides, all leading to the main festival weekend at Cheltenham Racecourse.

More than 3,500 cars attended over two days from 23 countries with Morgans as far as the eyes could see. A gala dinner for 800, outdoor concerts, auto tests, concours, displays and street entertainers made sure it was a weekend to remember.

The grand finale was a music and fireworks spectacular from the Malvern-based English Symphony Orchestra playing a rousing selection of classics with soloists Natasha Marsh and John Hudson conducted by the charismatic Jay Alexander. It was described as a truly international event to remember.

The pace didn’t slow for the rest of the year, with spectacular displays at the world’s premier Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach Golf Club in California, cars featured in the Lord Mayor’s Parade in London and the Children in Need Morgan raffle, which attended all of the events over the year raising a total of £50,000.

While all of this activity was taking place, the factory opened the new Morgan Visitors Centre and Museum, and welcomed 10,000 visitors. They were able to see the factory at its busiest ever, producing nearly 700 cars during the year – a production record.

Charles Morgan, grandson of the company’s founder HFS Morgan, said: “2009 has been the best year for me ever, and I would like to thank all of those who have helped make it such a happy and successful one.

“2010 should be just as exciting thanks to the launch of the new Aero SuperSports, the activities we have already got planned and the chance to build on what we have achieved this year.

“I am so lucky to be able to say all this in the current climate.

“I just think that finally the outside world has begun to understand that our philosophy has been, and remains, the correct one.”