Fans of British Motoring rejoice! Morgan announced they will be unveiling the 50th anniversary of the Plus 8 at the Geneva Motor Show. Over 6,000 examples of the Plus 8 have been built over the last 50 years, and this special edition will be the last to feature the BMW 4.8 Liter V8. The press release states that each example will be numbered and badged to denote its significance.
If you have never driven a vintage Plus 8, you might wonder why it sounds so American. Under the hood was the venerable Rover V8. It can be found under the hood of many British classics because it is nearly indestructible. But it started life as the 1960 Buick 215, one of the first all-aluminum V8 engines. Rover bought the tooling and design from GM and the Plus 8 used them until the engine was retired in 2004. Without an engine, the Plus 8 was also retired in 2004, and it wasn’t until 2012 that BMW stepped up with a suitable lightweight V8.
Late model Morgans are still handbuilt and follow the same body lines laid out by Peter Morgan. European manufacturers are being forced to downsize their V8 engines to lower the road taxes for their customers. So BMW is going to smaller V8 engines with forced induction, something that would not jive with the classic Morgan design. The press release also says it will be the last naturally aspirated Plus 8, so in an ideal world the next Plus 8 will arrive with the supercharged LT5 from the Corvette ZR1. Right?
Tell us what their next engine should be in the comments below and stay with us for complete coverage of the Geneva Motor Show.
