Americans Can Once Again Buy These Weird Wooden Sports Cars
Bust out your tweed jacket, fire up that pipe, and ready your monocles. Your favorite ash-framed British eccentromobile is back!
Being able to declare your brand-new car in 2024 is "coach-built at Pickersleigh Road," that half of its body structure is made of hand-assembled ash wood framing, and that you can order it with 15-inch wire-spoke wheels—something not possible for Americans since 2005. Only now, it is again. Morgan, the British manufacturer that current sells the three-wheeled Super 3 here and nothing else, has finally been approved to sell its four-wheeled Plus Four to Americans in extremely limited numbers.
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The automaker famous for its old-looking, old-acting, but otherwise modern sports cars gained regulatory approval to sell up to 325 Plus Fours annually as part of the FAST Act (Fixing America's Surface Transportation), via a rule allowing for a set number of factory recreations of vehicles sold in America at least 25 years ago. This lets Morgan skip out on the rigorous safety and emissions testing required of fully federalized vehicles, though the automaker did ensure the Plus Four's BMW-sourced powertrain complies with CARB Special Purpose Motor Vehicle regulations.
Should the Plus Four's unique combination of old-timey vibes, contemporary BMW running gear, and customization possibilities appeal to you, the order books are now open. The Plus Four will start at $84,995 before destination charges and other fees, and it'll be deliverable through one of Morgan's 12 U.S. dealerships. As Morgan points out, it has no "bespoke department," because every vehicle it makes is hand-built and custom-tailored to its buyer's wishes. Considering that, the price tag almost seems cheap—name another hand-built car with this level of personalization that you can buy for under a hundred grand—nay, two hundred grand!
It's worth reminding everyone the Morgan Plus Four isn't "new," and we're not just talking about its resemblance to something from the 1930s. This version of the Four debuted in 2020, and it has a new aluminum structure and is powered by a BMW-sourced turbocharged 2.0-liter I-4 matched to either a manual transmission or a ZF eight-speed automatic. (Look closely at the images of the interior of the green-painted, automatic-transmission example above, and you'll probably recognize the BMW-style electronic shift lever poking out of the otherwise ancient-seeming milieu.
The Plus Four isn't the only version of this bodystyle Morgan offers; there is a Plus Six with—you guessed it—a six-cylinder engine, with a slightly wider body, but it's not on offer here in America. Still, the Plus Four is a riot to drive, and for the few hundred buyers each year able to snag one, they'll have a smashing good time in it.
A lifelong car enthusiast, I stumbled into this line of work essentially by accident after discovering a job posting for an intern position at Car and Driver while at college. My start may have been a compelling alternative to working in a University of Michigan dining hall, but a decade and a half later, here I am reviewing cars; judging our Car, Truck, and Performance Vehicle of the Year contests; and shaping MotorTrend’s daily coverage of the automotive industry.
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