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The works at Malvern Link

Inside the factory

Photographs from two visits to Malvern Link: 1972 and May 2004.

Cover: The line where the wings are fitted. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.

These are photographs from my visits to the works at Malvern Link in 1972 and May 2004. I tell the story of my first visit in the Saga. Morgan builds every car in three materials, ash, aluminium and leather, so the May 2004 photographs follow the shops as a car comes together: first the wood, then the metal, then the chassis, the engine and the seats. Morgan, 21st Century Coachbuilding

At my May 2004 visit, the cars being built were the Plus 8 with its Rover V8, the Aero 8 with a BMW V8, and the V6 Roadster. Wikipedia, Unsigned company history

Morgan’s own pictures stay on its pages: its coachbuilding page (opens in a new tab) shows the wooden body frame being built, and its Midsummer announcement (opens in a new tab) shows the 2024 coupé. Its Our Story page (opens in a new tab) is the place to start for the works today.

My first visit

1972

The works at Malvern Link, on 12 April 1972.

The front of the Morgan works, with a car and a red telephone box beside the entrance
The front of the works. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
The arched entrance and Morgan sign above the factory door
The front door of the Morgan works. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A narrow lane beside the Morgan works, with several Morgans parked along it
Outside the Morgan factory. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
The rear of the Morgan factory, seen across the road
The rear of the factory. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
Workers among partly assembled Morgan bodies in the wood-framing shop
The wood-framing shop. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
Wooden Morgan body frames stored together inside a workshop
Wooden frames awaiting installation. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
Several engines laid out on the workshop floor, waiting to be fitted to Morgans
Engines awaiting installation. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
An early Plus 8 chassis under construction inside the Morgan works
An early Plus 8 chassis. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
Partly assembled Morgans on the factory floor, with a tall heater among them
Panel installation, with the coal-fired heater. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A worker fitting an outer panel to a partly assembled Morgan
Skinning the doors. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
Rows of body panels stored upright in the workshop
Wings awaiting attachment. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A worker fitting a bonnet to a partly assembled Morgan inside the works
Fitting the bonnet. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A row of partly assembled Morgans inside the works
Ready to attach the dashboard. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A light-coloured Morgan on the factory floor, seen from the front
Ready for upholstery and trim. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.

A return

May 2004

The shops as a Morgan comes together.

One

The works

The red-brick front of the Morgan works at Malvern Link, with a Morgan sign above an arched door
The front of the works at Malvern Link. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
Old Morgans, including a red three-wheeler and two blue four-wheelers, parked in a workshop hung with photographs
Old Morgans kept inside the works, a red three-wheeler among them. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A faded banner on a workshop wall reading “My heart belongs to Morgan”, over a drawing of a red Morgan among sunflowers
A banner from the 1960’s, still on the wall: “My heart belongs to Morgan”. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.

The works at Pickersleigh Road have been Morgan’s home since 1914. Morgan, 21st Century Coachbuilding

Two

The frame shop

Workmen at benches in the frame shop, with a pale wooden body frame in the foreground
Making a wooden frame. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A pale wooden frame fixed to an Aero 8’s aluminium body on trestles
The wooden frame on an Aero 8 body. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A wooden frame with an aluminium panel fitted, for a 4/4, on a trestle
The wooden frame and body for a 4/4. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A bare wooden frame for an Aero 8 on the workshop floor
A frame for an Aero 8. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
Rows of wooden frames and wheel arches in the frame shop, a workman at the back
The frame shop. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A long workshop with wooden frames in front and racks of timber behind
Another view of the frame shop. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.

Morgan says English ash is used for the frame of every Morgan, designed on a computer and made by hand, and that the aluminium body panels are formed over it. Morgan, 21st Century Coachbuilding

Three

Sheet metal

A workman cutting an aluminium sheet on a bench
Cutting out body panels. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
The sheet metal shop, with rolling machines in the foreground and men at benches behind
The sheet metal shop. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A bare aluminium body with its wings off, on a trestle, with workers behind
Fitting the sheet metal. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A man in a dark overall shaping a metal fuel tank at a bench
Making a fuel tank. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.

Four

The wings

A long aluminium wing laid across a Plus 8 on trestles
Fitting a wing to a Plus 8. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
Racks of aluminium wings beside a half-built Morgan with wire wheels
Wings waiting to be fitted. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.

Five

Chassis and engines

A bare chassis on wheels with a wooden floor being laid, in the chassis shop
The chassis shop, laying down the floor. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
An Aero 8 chassis on a red scissor lift, with its BMW V8 fitted
An Aero 8 chassis with its BMW V8. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A Rover V8 engine in a Plus 8 chassis, with wire wheels and aluminium bulkhead
A Rover V8 in its chassis. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
Rows of V6 engines on the workshop floor, a man at work among them
V6 engines waiting to be installed. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
The rear of a galvanised chassis with a gearbox and gear lever, for a V6 Roadster
A V6 Roadster chassis. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.

Six

The seats

A yellow seat being fitted into a body with its panels open
The first fitting of a seat. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A smiling woman at an industrial sewing machine, with cut leather and panels on the bench
Cutting and sewing the seats. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A workbench in the upholstery shop, with tools, seat frames and racks of material
The upholstery shop. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.

Seven

Out of the door

A long shop floor with rows of bare aluminium bodies on trestles
The shop floor, with its rows of bodies. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A man waves from the driver’s seat of a black Plus 8 as it is driven onto a trailer ramp, in front of a brick wall
Melvyn Rutter collecting the last Plus 8 made. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A car transporter loaded with Morgans beside a white Morgan, outside the works
A shipment of Morgans leaving for Melvyn Rutter. Photo: Tony McLaughlin.
A man in a cream jacket and khaki trousers stands in front of the arched door of the Morgan works
Me at the door of the works. Photo: the McLaughlin family.

The company history puts the last Plus 8 in April 2004. Unsigned company history

Sources

Where this comes from

Where the few facts on this page come from. The photographs are the family’s own.

  1. Morgan, 21st Century Coachbuilding

    Morgan Motor Company, “21st Century Coachbuilding”, morgan-motor.com (read 4 October 2026). Checked 4 October 2026.

  2. Wikipedia

    Wikipedia, “Morgan Plus 8” (text CC BY-SA 4.0; facts cited, not reproduced). Checked 4 October 2026.

  3. Wikipedia

    Wikipedia, “Morgan Aero 8” (text CC BY-SA 4.0; facts cited, not reproduced). Checked 4 October 2026.

  4. Unsigned company history

    “Morgan Motor Company History”, an unsigned history in the company’s voice (about 2006), copied as a PDF by a Norwegian Morgan club. Checked 4 October 2026.

    Origin unconfirmed. It reads as Morgan’s own website history, but the original page has not been found. It has errors (it puts the 1939 Le Mans car first in class, when the results say second), so nothing here rests on it alone where it matters.