The Max power Morgan

It usually requires specialist knowledge to confidently declare that the Morgan in front of you is a Plus 4, rather than a Plus Four, or even a Plus Six. You need to know the tells; you need to know what to look for.

Unless it’s a Morgan Aero 8, that is. This was the first untraditional Morgan since the glassfibre +4+ of 1963 and the first Morgan with aluminium through the ash frame.

Morgan would have expected some push back as it prepared to reveal such a different Morgan, but there was a heavy dollop of Marmite to its design. Despite its impressive top speed of 170mph, it still hasn’t been able to leave those questions behind.

The Aero dawned the new millennium at Malvern, and like every Morgan it was the root of numerous offshoots. They keep growing, too, as the GTR showed last year during the Undercover Assembly. One of the most notable was the Aeromax, visually similar to the straight Aero but more expensive and, importantly, rarer.

Some of its fame can be credited to its rear design, which would stunt-double for any Batmobile. Sharply curved in and out to a point, a curious rear hatch is formed, too. The two centre-hinged panes of glass are bespoke and therefore hugely expensive to replace if you shut them with a touch too much force.

But they are a spectacle and an ice breaker, if it needed another.

To all intents and purposes, rear aside, it is an Aero 8 Coupe before such a thing existed.

The Aeromax could conceivably be considered Morgan’s attempt at a supercar. Limited production – only 100 followed a bespoke commission for a collector – and six-figure price tag are two supercar boxes ticked. Independent suspension is another rarity in this era of Morgan and earlier, too, and a big-capacity V8 drags it along. Hence at the Poster Cars & Supercars Assembly a rare right-hand-drive Aeromax unsubtly claimed the central spot of the Paddock.

Bicester Heritage also has an unexpected connection to the car beyond Morgan’s Bicester Works looking after it for a few weeks. “I was actually at Sports Purpose looking at a 964 RS and unfortunately it sold,” explains the owner. “As with all these things, you end up on AutoTrader with money in your pocket and I thought, ‘Oooh, I fancy that.’

“I’d always liked the Aeromax, and thought it was a stunning car when it came out. So I ended up buying this without even test driving it. I’d never even driven a Morgan before, and that first drive home was an experience on slightly damp roads. This is not a car to play around with because you’ve got no traction control, and though you have a limited-slip diff and anti-lock brakes you don’t have a lot of steering angle to play with. So if you’re getting out of line, you want space…

“You’re very low and your backside is basically on the rear axle, with that long sweeping bonnet in front of you, which is just amazing.”

Slipped into the garage, the width of which dictated what could substitute that elusive 964, the pandemic meant he and the Aeromax didn’t escape as much as hoped. And a growing family means a 964 is back on the radar again.

“Not an RS this time, just a Carrera 2,” he says. “With four seats, I can take the kids when they’re a bit older. I nearly bought a C4 20 years ago when it was £16,000 – £1000 over my budget. I ended up with an Audi S3 instead, which was a great car and which started my love affair with fast Audis.”

The Aeromax, which was in the Power House at the Scramble, is back on the market – and he’s expecting the pang of regret to come with the sale.

“This was different, special, and just for me,” he says. “They only built 100 and 19 in right-hand drive. Richard Hammond had one but sold it to a guy in Australia, who’s now got permission to be buried in it. So that’s never coming back. I think [Hammond] has regrets about selling his. They’re beautiful. Nothing looks like this.”

Visit morgan-motor.com for the listing