Morgan’s signature Three-Wheeler has been a two-stage reboot, with its roots stretching back to the dawn of motoring in Britain.
HFS Morgan began refining his idea to skirt car regulations by creating a three-wheeled machine from 1908, built from the bones of a Peugeot twin engine and home-made chassis. The Runabout was born, growing to JAP-powered Super Sports and its outbound V-twin engines. The Three-Wheeler that was revived by Morgan in 2011 was a like-for-like modern interpretation, with the fabulous Mazda five-speed gearbox mated to a S&S-made 115bhp twin.
The Three-Wheeler truly became modern in 2022, the first all-new Morgan for two decades. It evoked the F-Series Three-Wheeler of the 1930s, with the V-twin swapped for a Ford (tick) and slipped backwards beneath a bonnet (tick). With three cylinders, the Super 3 as it became known had an engine character of its own.
Frame-mounted headlights refer back to the original, but its head of design Jonathan Wells preferred to look slightly to the future for its overall direction. “It felt natural to derive influences for Super 3 from the succeeding decades its 1920s-inspired predecessor was paying homage to,” he said.
“During the ‘jet age’, the balance of form vs function was equalised. It was within these decades that the most aerodynamic forms were, not only required, but also admired.”
The new Super 3 will be part of the Reboots & Restomods display alongside a 1936 Morgan Family – a crossover between the first Three-Wheeler and the F-Series.
Beneath its bonnet, a nod to the then-forthcoming F-Series, is a sidevalve Matchless 990cc engine that was an optional upgrade from the entry level JAP.