First - The history of my transportation vehicles over the few years.

Our current daily driver is, "Magnum“ an all black 2006 Dodge Magnum, AWD with factory 20in wheels and low profile tires, a 5.7 Hemi V8. blacked out LED headlights, blacked out LED tail lights, custom grill. cold air intake and some custom exhaust work ... so far.

Our Previous daily was a 1992 Dodge grand Caravan. This vehicle was purchased from Wille Dodge in Victoria in 1997. Our friendly name for him was Wille, (pronounced Willy) Wille was starting to suffer a little from the very popular Dodge paint peal problems and had to have ta new coat of light metallic blue. Then in 17 he died after many years of service. The computer had failed so no brains left. This was at the same time they discovered I had oral cancer and needed surgery.

Sue's daily driver was a white 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier. But it suffered catistrophic engine failure around the same time they discoverd she had lung cancer.

Next in the garage was the old workhorse. My 1976 Ford Econoline 250 1 ton Van. I bought it brand new in 1976 and customized it gradually over the next couple of years into a show vehicle. It was not my daily driver at that time as I also had a 1972 Toyota Celica complete with a radio phone. (our name for this one was The Little Red Telephone Booth) The Ford Van was purchased with a 460 CID engine, factory Captains chairs, air, and a Motorola AM,FM, 8-track. A shift Kit was installed in the C6 trans, headers and side pipes, and a 396 timing gears and chain option. This increased the power considerably and improved the mileage slightly if I drove on eggshells. (NEVER) I installed a sunroof, portholes, supervisor and flairs on the fenders to cover the 12 X16.5 tires on new chrome mags. The interior was paneled inside with cedar veneer with a stucco roof. The cabinets with louvered doors were topped with a rich royal blue ceramic tile. The round tabletop in the back was designed to fit into the bench to form the bed. This van soon became known to the family as "The Beast" it has a huge hearty roar. Over the following 3 or 4 years we toured many Van Fairs for show Vans that were all the rage in the late 70s and early 80s. The Beast sports many dashplaques. In 1998 I had the exterior completely restored and the interior detailed back to original condition. Again this past summer (2006) we did some further serious modifications to the engine. In the 98 restoration we did little in modifying the engine but did an rebuild including new rod shells, and internal berrings. This summer we replaced the ignition system by upgrading to a MSD wire set and MSD Ignition module and MSD distributor. I also replaced the fuel pump, water pump and other engine parts that may be ready to fail. I also replaced the intake with and Eidelbrock intake manifold topped by an Eidelbrock carb. It is now a very quick piece of heavy iron. I still drove it on occasions but at today's gas prices it is now getting close to $200 to fill it up. NOTE... The beast is now sold.

My other fun toy was "Honda" a 250 twin Motorcycle. (SOLD) Next on the list of Vehicles is our lawn tractors. the 98 Ariens has recently beewn relieved of lawn duties by a 2006 Lawn Boy rideon with the zero turn function. We affectionately call it Mowit. ( Sue works at Mouat's Hardware store here on Saltspring). Mowit has been retrofitted with a huge horn that sounds like a auga horn. The Ariens now has been dubbed with the name towit. as it does a much better job of climbing the hills here with the trailer behind it. For many years here we have had a small aluminium boat as well. It used to be called Evenrude but more recently its called Johnson since it has had an engine change a few years back. Johnson gets used in summer to go fishing, crabbing and exploring in the harbour. In winter it does duty to fill in when we get snowed in

In 2006 another addition to the family was Sunshine. We fell in love with a 1978 Bright Yellow Triumph Spitfire. The paint was lovely she drove a rode well so we picked her up for a fair price. Later we found it not such a fair price, but still not that costly. After having the brakes redone it was found it was difficult to get it in and out of reverse. I removed engine and transmission in our garage at home here and replaced the transmission after finding the first reverse lay gear totally stripped. It has proven a good show car for Sue and she has taken it out to several show and shines this past year. (SOLD)

The latest addition to the Garage is Bennie. A 1976 Mercedes Benz 280 SL Convertable. This car is in full show condition . It was inhearited from Sue's Dad. This vehicle is now sold too, so we are down to two vehicles.

In my early days, post graduation from high school I purchased my own first Car, a 1958 Triumph TR3A. I spent a lot of time and money on this car. Repainted it from grey to Metallic BRG, I totally reworked the engine to 2.4L ported and polished, 3/4 cam, planed head, balanced and blueprinted. etc etc. It was a very quick car. I spent a lot of time at the Local SCC race track, Westwood, watching the races there and along with some other members of our club, The Totem Triumph Club, signed up for driver training. I along with others in the club members were always frustrated to see the Morgans at the track run rings around the TR3s, as both had the same engine. GB Sterne was always there showing off his white Morgans with the black Wings. I lusted after a Morgan at this time. I made several trips to Sterne Motors, near Boundary Rd. and East 12th in Burnaby. I just could not quite afford a New Morgan, and used ones were hard to find. When the family came along, the only one who would take a trade-in on my TR3 was Thomas Motors, on a new 68 Triumph GT6 right out of the showroom. It was a nice looking car. .After driving the TR3 the GT6 was like driving a marshmallow. It also had several leaks. I installed a sway bar and different shocks to try and help with the marshmallow to little avail and the leaking back window and side window did not seem to stop even after 3 trips back to the dealer while under warranty. This car was eventually sold off and the Little Red Telephone Booth (mentioned earlier) soon became the family car. LRTB did not last long. It was a 1972 but by 1978 although the engine was still running strong the fenders were falling off from rust. A Rabbit had to come to the rescue from this Japanese tin made from old beer cans.

Several Chevette daily drivers went by and by 1998 I was on the search now for my dream car. I had been through 2 wives. and 30 years of work, taken an early retirement, and I needed a break. ... it was my turn. My second wife used to get so frustrated with me when I spent so much time on the computer. She used to say to me "If that thing ever learns how to ____ I am leaving". However she also used to say. "If you ever buy a Morgan I will love you forever." She got frustrated I guess, because neither happened.

In the spring of 98 I saw an add on the internet for a Morgan in Portland Oregon. I emailed the owner immediately and hopped in Wille and drove down to see it. He took me out to the garage, I entered the door, took one look and reached for my check book and made the deposit.

"Don't you want to drive it" asked Mark.

"Nope I know its what I want." I checked the speedometer which read 33,503 miles.

"Well its been race prepared and is pretty loud"

"Even better" I replied.

I was back in two weeks to bring the Morgan back to Canada. It came with a lot of its history in a file folder. Sales slips, licence and registration papers from over the years. I followed up with a build record from Peter Morgan.


Morgan +4 Roadster.

Build date Jan 13/1960

Chassis # 4399

Coachwork # 3127

Engine # 20026

Colour - Broken White.

Darinton Exhaust

Air filter, disk brakes, wire wheels and Brooklands wheel.

British Columbia Specifications

Distributed to Sterne Motors, Sidney BC

In the documents, with the car, it showed it was owned by Spencer Mitchell of Kenniwick Washington. From 1964 to 1978. I contacted Spencer and he told me some of the early history. So originally it was shipped to Sterne Garage Sidney. Now this would have been when GB Sterne had his garage and dealership at the Chevron Station in Sidney BC Just North of Victoria and only a few Kilometers from here on SaltSpring Island. Sterne was the agent for Morgan for the Pacific Northwest so many of his sales went to Alberta, Washington, Oregon and into Idaho. Some have even ended up in Northern California. Morgan was most probably race prepared by GB Sterne upon its arrival in Sydney, but I am unable to confirm this yet. Morgan went to a car dealer (Max's Autohaus) in Richland Washington and sat in the showroom. Spencer remembers it well in the showroom but did not buy it right away. He tells me it was purchased first by Harry Cornberg of Richland. In its first 4 years it was repainted blue. In 1964 Harry Cornberg traded it in on a Buick. Spencer was the longest owner of the car. In 1978 he repainted the car with its present silver and black. He also added the roll bar and the Brooklands racing windscreen. He sold the car to a Jim "Mush" Michaels of Richland Wa, for 8000 USD. Michaels sold the car in 1991 to Mark Wiggington of Portland. I purchased the car in May of 1998.

Spencer Mitchell -

“ My first memories of the subject 1960 +4 Morgan roadster was on the showroom floor of the AlanMax AutoHaus in Kennewick, WA , U.S.A., the car was brand new and had been acquired from Sterne Motors in Vancouver B.C. Max Schulze, one of the owners of the dealership, was a racing buddy of G.B. Sterne and had brought in several Morgans, including the 4/4 he raced, to sell. I was about 19 at the time and was interested in the imports at the dealership, they sold Roots Group cars. Volvos, DKWs, and others in addition to the Morgans. In 1958 I had bought a 1949 MG TC that had been owned by Schulze and had joined the local Sand & Sage Sports Car Club, a member of the ICNSCC (forgot what this stands for but I think it was or is the International Conference of Northwest Sports Car Clubs). I had read a book called, The Red Car, about a kid who bought a TC, and have been addicted to European sports cars all of my life. Back to the Morgan, it was a beautiful white colour when it was new and I was told it was modified somewhat. It had banana headers, a special intake manifold and air cleaner, and a few other things I can't recall any more.

Schulze's real job was working for a contractor at the Hanford site near the Tri-Cities in Washington State (the Tri-Cities is comprised of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland and is in South-eastern Washington). You may recall it as part of the Manhattan Project and was responsible for plutonium for WW II atomic weapons and those produced later. Max had many friends who worked at the site and many purchased cars from him and went on to become part of the early sports car environment in the Tri-Cities. He sold the Morgan to another site employee, Harry Cornberg. I am not sure exactly when Harry bought the car or how long he owned it, but I guess it wasn't exactly his cup of tea . He had it painted a metallic blue/silver color and eventually traded it in for a new Buick at a Pasco dealership. My wife's father was a mechanic at the dealership and I remember seeing the car on the lot during one of my visits there. I do not recall when Cornberg traded the Morgan in or the date it was later sold.

When the car was sold by the dealership it was bought by Dr. Copper, a Pasco chiropractor, and was driven by his son. Sometime in late 1964 I saw a used Morgan for sale in the classifieds of the Tri-City Herald, the local newspaper. I called and spoke to Copper's son and decided to look at the car. There were not a lot of Morgans in the Tri-Cities so I wasn't too surprised when I recognized the car. It didn't look the worse for wear and after some haggling I purchased the car for $600.00. I think that the young man wanted a car more suited to activities related to his dating.

Over the next couple of years I drove the car at club events and started to think about racing. A good friend of mine, Robert (Mush) Michaels, was a mechanic at a local import garage in the Tri-Cities and oversaw my adding a roll bar and an electric fuel pump, it wasn't too complicated in those days to go racing . My plan never came into being however, I joined the U.S. Air Force in late 1966 to comply with my obligation during the Vietnam era.

My first assignment after basic training was at Goodfellow AFB, San Angelo, Texas. I went home on leave during the summer of 1967 and drove the Mog back to Texas. The trip took my wife and I through Reno and Las Vegas and over Hoover Dam. While the car was in Texas I finished adding the forward support to the roll bar and autocrossed the car at a local event in San Angelo. From Texas my next assignment was overseas in Pakistan. In December of 1967 I began the trip back to Washington with my wife and the Morgan. We had made it as far as Kemmerer, Wyoming when traveling became so dangerous and slow that we decided to store the car for the remainder of the Winter. We took the train on home, my wife and her sister returned to pick up the car the following Spring while I was overseas. My wife had a tonneau cover fitted to the car while I was gone, it was designed to fit with the roll bar.

I returned from Pakistan in 1969 and was stationed at Hill Field, near Ogden, Utah. I had the Morgan with me for most of this last assignment while in the Air Force.

Once home again I met a young man by the name of Bob Simmons, we both were interested in Porsches. He had a restored Speedster for sale, I saw his ad in the newspaper and went to look at the car. I didn't buy his car (should have) but we became friends. He offered to paint the Morgan and that was enough to start me on a minor restoration project. I decided that silver with black fenders would look good with the red leather. This paint was applied in 1972 or 1973. After the colour was applied we went ahead and finished with a clear coat. We think that the weather was too cool when it was applied and a sort of crazed look appeared on areas of the paint. The wheels were also painted and the Semperit tires mounted. I added a different tailpipe set-up, made replacement floorboards and believe that I also refinished the dash. While traveling through California over the years I had stopped off at Isis Imports in San Francisco a couple of times and had purchased several new parts for the car, among these were new tail lights, door hinges, door latches, aluminium running board strips, fender mirrors, etc., many of these items were mounted about this time. Later I also attached the hood strap, Brooklands windscreen, fold down windscreen brackets, small British flags and the little sparkplug holder under the bonnet. I recovered the door panels and also installed the leather door top cushions (not sure what these are actually called). I believe this is also when I replaced the sealed beam headlights with some more unusual ones. Somewhere along the way I added a Koni steering damper, probably removed a long time ago.

Soon after the work on the Morgan was more or less complete, my interest in Porsches started to take off. I became very involved in PCA , at one time in the mid 1970's the Morgan shared a garage with a 1963 356B Super Coupe (which I sold last year) and a 1967 912 soft window Targa (which won it's class in the concour at the 1975 Porsche Parade in Seattle).

The last time that I believe I actually drove the car under it's own power was about 1978. After that time it was stored in a couple of different garages until I sold it in the late 1980's. On one of my trips to Isis I purchased a new grille, but had never attached it. The original had a deep scar on the chrome and some other minor defects. I sold the car to my old friend, Mush Michael, and told him he could take the new grille only if he would give me the original to keep. It is on the wall of my garage today. Since I am a packrat, I still run across the original tail lights, door latches, interior rear view mirror and other odds and ends left over from my work on the car.

Mush Michaels-

Hi Marv;

I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I am the one who owned the 1960 Morgan that you now have. To answer your questions, I will try to help you.

1. I did absolutely nothing to the car while I owned it. I owned it for about 5 years. 1989 to 1994 I think.

2. The number 114 was not on the rear bumper while I owned it.

3. The engine was blue when I had it.

4. The engine race prep was done in England. I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the shop that did it. It had headers, a different intake manifold, and the ports were cleaned up a little. All this was supposed to add 10 horse power.

Spencer sent me his history letter that he sent you. The only thing he had that wasn't exactly true, was that the car was painted white. It's original colour was ivory, I guess that's British white. Looked a lot more like yellow.

I bought the Morgan with the idea of going vintage racing. Things change you know, so I decided to sell it. I guess we all have to grow up sometime.

One last comment:---I drove it about 50 miles, wish I still had it.

Mush Michael

Since I purchased Morgan in 1998 from Mark Wiggington, in Portland Or., I have had very few problems with it ,considering the age. It took me several months to determine the gender, and we finally decided that Morgan is male. I have installed a pair of vintge Lucas driving lights and a badge bar. Recently I had to replace the electric fuel pump. Winter of 2006/7 Jim Walters went to work on the engine as Morgan was suffering from a litle incontinance. Several thousand dollars later Morgan now sports an full rebuilt and modified engine. The 88mm wetliners and pistons were fitted and a mild Shadbolt racing cam. The engine was painted back the factory black. Note… Jim tells me this engine was not modified in any way from the factory, It has a Derrington Exhaust (Headers) which is a factory option, and Derrington is listed on the build records.

Spring of 2009 Morgan got a new paint job. It is still silver/black but with a surprise if you look closeup. It is what I call "Midnight Pearl Black.

I have had the oil filler cap, and radiator cap chrome plated. Stainless covers for the starter and generator,and stainless braid hose covers installed.

New stainless door sills and 2 stainless prop rods for the bonnet.

Headlights - I still have the Lucas Tribar headlights, which I finally found the correct lamps for them. But I usually run with standard seal beams in fear of getting stone damage to the very expensive tribars.

2014 I had complete new upholstery work done. Seat back, seat cushions Door panels (with pockets) and tops, drivshaft tunnel, and carpets.

2015 The stearing box sprung a nice leak. Jim Walters to the Rescue again. A healthy sum later the slop in the stearing wheel is gone but Morgan has a new problem, called the Malvern Dance, where the front end will take off in an uncontrolable bouncing. A damper kit was added to the steering tie rod. Now he is smooth again.

Morgan is an absolute pleasure to drive, and draws attention from young and old alike.