The Morgan Aero8: Back to the Future
Category: Rides...
Posted Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 09:19 AM [GMT-6]

One of the few network TV shows we set aside time to watch every week is CBS's "NCIS," which stars Mark Harmon along with a great ensemble cast. If you're familiar with the show, you may also know that one member of that cast is David McCallum, who plays the chief medical examiner, Dr. David Mallard (from whence cometh his rather ridiculous nickname, Ducky). You may also remember that Ducky drives a restored Morgan automobile. I don't recall the model, but it purportedly has the original wooden frame. It's a beautiful car and very British in demeanor, although it's obviously been modified in some fashion as it seems to run just fine in the rain, and we all know that British electrical systems don't do that in real life. ;-)

I don't think it's widely know that the Morgan Motor Company continues to build cars in the UK and the company's design philosophy hasn't departed much from those original roadster-style models. But that doesn't mean the company is allowing its designs to stagnate. The Aero 8 shown below is an example of how a classic can be updated while retaining the qualities that made it a classic to begin with.

As the name suggests, the car is powered by a 4.4L V8 engine making 325bhp and 330ft-lbs of torque. It weighs in at a relatively svelte 2,500 pounds and tops out at 162mph. (By the way, isn't it interesting that almost all the specs for this British car are given in non-metric measurements?) I didn't try very hard to find current pricing for the Aero 8; according to this article, the base price for the 2004 models was $95,000, but that's probably changed. I did note that one may choose from among 30,000 shades of colors for the car's exterior. That seems to be a bit overkillish, but that's just me.

On a related note, if you want to see what happens when you drop a Corvette V8 into a rather pedestrian Morgan Plus8, you can get your enlightenment here.

Technorati tags: Morgan Aero 8 | NCIS