1954 Morgan 4/4 "Interim Cowl" Ex-Pat Kennett

By 1953, Morgan realised that they needed to modify their design as the 'flat rad' cars were beginning to look a little too 'pre-war'. Always the innovator, Peter Morgan smoothed the front of the cars into what has become known as the 'Interim Cowl' look with a semi-lunar panel containing the Morgan badge at the top of the radiator stone guard grille. The headlamp pods were also lowered and the new look generated the 'Coffee Can' nick-name. The factory laid down 20 sets of the new bodywork, but it apparently only produced 19 cars, as there was still one of the 'half-moon' grilles left at the factory in 1978. The family, however, felt that they hadn't got it quite right and so, in 1954, they introduced a curved stone guard without the semi-lunar metal sheet at the top and the badge was placed on the cowl where it has basically remained to this day. This car is one of very few survivors with this important historic front end treatment.

 426 AMX left the Malvern factory on 17th February 1954, being dispatched to Motourists Limited, and was registered by them two days later. The car returned to the factory for work regularly up into the mid-1960s. A well known car in-period, it was 'fiercely campaigned' by the late motoring journalist, Pat Kennett, and features in many books about Morgan, including the official Morgan 100 Years by Charles Morgan and Gregory Houston Bowden, and is also illustrated in Ken Hill's defining work on the marque. Pat is best known as the only man to win a Grand Prix in a Morgan when he took victory in the 1963 El Gran Premio Nacional de Panama driving a Lawrencetune Super Sports.

This venerable +4 is now fitted with a competition-tuned TR4 engine, as opposed to its original Standard Vanguard unit, although that is available to the successful purchaser, by separate negotiation, if required. The car has been unused since before the pandemic but was recently recommissioned and, we understand, runs well. Naturally, it will need a thorough checking over before use but, happily, is accompanied by a good history file recording some of the work carried out prior to the current owner’s purchase in 2013. During his tenure, the car has been sprinted and hill-climbed with the VSCC and at Chateau Impney Revival events, as well as being rallied to France and used at Goodwood Revival as a 'cameo car'. In former ownerships it was a celebrated and hugely successful trials car, taking many awards at some of the classic events, including the 2006 Morgan Sports Car Club Ruth Atkinson Trophy.

Offering superb provenance and a potential gateway to many enjoyable events, this is a significant piece of post-war Morgan history and a rare opportunity.