Sunday , February 9 2025

Special edition Morgan Plus 8 announced – 50 years on

Morgan Plus 8

Morgan is to celebrate half a century of the iconic Plus 8 with a 50th Anniversary Special Edition.

Just 50 examples of the car will be made and it will be the last to feature the mighty 4.8-litre BMW V8 engine.

Due to be revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in March, the Plus 8 50th Anniversary Special Edition will be more luxurious than the standard car and “include specific design details that celebrate half a century of Plus 8 production”.

At just 1,100kg, the Plus 8 is one of the lightest V8 passenger cars in the world and is capable of 0-62 mph in 4.5 seconds and has a top speed of 155mph.

First conceived by Peter Morgan, the head-turning Plus 8 prototype was revealed to the public at the Earls Court Motor Show of 1968.

With a Rover V8 engine and a Moss gearbox, the original Plus 8 was based on a Plus 4, however, it was proportionally bigger and featured a large number of changed or upgraded hand-crafted parts.

The British coachbuilder’s first Plus 8 production model, MMC11, was one of the most successful cars that the company has ever built, and it was made for 36 years.

Approximately 6,000 Plus 8s were built at Morgan’s Pickersleigh Road factory until the model was discontinued in 2004 when the production of Rover V8 engines ceased.

In 2012, the Plus 8 was reborn into the Morgan range, on a lightweight aluminium chassis with the powerful 4.8 litre BMW engine, as used in the Aero range.

With a restyled body, the new Plus 8 was proportionally larger and significantly quicker than any ‘classic’ Morgan before it.

About Gareth Herincx

Gareth is a versatile journalist, copywriter and digital editor who's worked across the media in newspapers, magazines, TV, teletext, radio and online. After long stints at the BBC, GMTV and ITV, he now specialises in motoring.

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