Morgan and Pininfarina's Midsummer Dream

One of the most impactful elements of Midsummer is its use of wood on the exterior of the body. Whilst wood is commonplace within Morgan sports cars, its role has remained exclusively within the body frame of each vehicle, acting as a 'buck' for aluminium body panels to be hand-formed over. This use means it has always been hidden from view.

Taking inspiration from marine applications, beautifully sculpted wooden structures surround the cabin and create the necessary shoulder line. Hand formed using high-quality and durable teak, hundreds of individual layers of wood are delicately laminated together to complete each section. Selected with meticulous attention-to-detail, each layer of teak is no more than 0.6mm thick. Each vehicle will feature nine individually crafted teak sections, taking more than 30 hours to skilfully create, and utilising 83m2 of sustainably sourced teak. 

The inspiration behind the name Midsummer is two-fold. Most prominently, the term Midsummer indicates the height of the summer, a celebration of the season which provides optimal weather conditions to experience an open-top barchetta. Observing the mid-point of the season is a practice that dates to the neolithic era, a time in the calendar providing the central point to which an abundance of traditions have emerged.

As ancient as the solstice tradition is its geographical namesake, Midsummer Hill, which forms part of the Malvern Hills - a sprawling hill range that is woven into the very fabric of Morgan. It is from the summits of these hills that - looking in a westward direction - you can see the hamlet of Moreton Jeffries, birthplace of HFS Morgan in 1881. Looking east is Malvern College, where the first Morgan car was invented. And of course, Pickersleigh Road, the historic home of Morgan since 1914.

The Midsummer will retail for around R3.6m (before taxes and import duties) and depending on final chosen specification. It is powered by a 3.0L BMW-sourced straight-6 engine.