Someone at Morgan seems to have stumbled upon a few Plus 8 models that were squirreled away and went unused for the last three years. At least, that’s how Morgan framed the release of its most powerful car ever, the Morgan Plus 8 GTR. So the V8 Morgan is coming back for a small run, but it’s limited to the number of chassis the coachbuilder retrieved from a third-party. Morgan says it’s making only nine of these and hasn’t mentioned anything about pricing.
Every Morgan Plus 8 GTR will be a custom model, so those that follow could look different. And I’m not really buying the whole, “Hey, everybody, look what we found,” schtick. Maybe it’s meant to drum up excitement for the last V8 Morgan, but I just don’t think it’s needed because the Plus 8 GTR is glorious:
The car doesn’t need more hype; it has all the hype thanks to its design. I mean, I get that Morgans are cool in any guise — even off-road — but this thing dials it up with its Yas Marina Blue finish and white wheels. Oh, you wanted five-spokes? Yas, please.
All of that, and I haven’t even touched the engine: a naturally aspirated 4.8-liter V8 sourced from BMW. The BMW N62 that Morgan fit in the Plus 8 GTR made 357 horsepower originally, but it’s been tuned to make almost 370 HP here.
I’m supposed to be most excited about the engine but I just can’t get over the styling, probably because it feels so deliberately ’90s. This first release in the run is based on Morgan’s Plus 8 race car that competed in the GT Series in the ’90s, known as “Big Blue.”
The Plus 8 GTR does an incredible impression of the GT car, but it somehow manages to update the design for the better. The only thing the new car is missing is that big wing. Otherwise, it’s a stunning rendition of a road-going, GT series Morgan, which isn’t something I was aware I wanted until right now.
