Morgan Plus 8

Paul Katsus is an Electric Service Consultant for a large electrically utility company. Paul Katsus loves sports cars and sometimes loves to share information on little known car manufacturers and rare car models. One of these is the British car manufacturer; Morgan Car Company which has been building cars for one hundred years. The Morgan Plus 8 model is a sports car built in Malvern, Worcestershire, England by the specialty car maker beginning in 1968. The Morgan Plus 8 gained an instant following and its enduring popularity has been credited with saving the company and keeping the company famous. There Morgan Plus 8 doesn’t look like any other sports car being built today. It is a carryover of the long lost era of basic, road legal race cars. Its appeal lays in the fact it is unique and very British in character.

In its present form, it is powered by a BMW sourced V-8 with 362 horsepower and 370 ft. lb. of torque. With its advertised curb weight of 1,876 lb., it is easy to see why the Morgan Plus 8 is one of the fastest British sports cars. It has an advertised 0-62 mph of 4.2 secs and an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph. On top of all that performance, the Morgan Plus 8 can still return a 32.2 mpg rating on the highway.

Determined US Morgan fans were not deterred by US Emission standards roadblocks to buying their beloved Morgan’s. As a result, from 1974 to 1992 cars were converted to run on propane as a way to pass the strict US emissions standards. In 1993 when Rover Group had re-certified their V-8 engine for use in the Range Rover SUV sold in the U.S. Morgan decided to use this engine in the same tune and with the same anti-emission devices. But, as US safety regulations continue to change, Morgan was again challenged in 2006 to meet stricter structural requirements which were announced by the NHTSA in 2000.  The final nail in the coffin came when the law on airbags would not be exempted for Morgan and their appeal was denied and the importation of traditional (classic) Morgan’s ceased.

Porsche 928

Porsche 928

 

 

Paul Katsus is a car guy like many of us, with a budget that does not match his dreams. One car that Paul Katsus has always wanted to collect was the Porsche 928. Was the first V-8, front engine Porsche ever made. The Porsche 928 was manufactured from 1977 to 1996 (sold In the US until 1994 but continued until 1996 in Europe). The V-8 powered 928 was originally intended to be a replacement for the flat six cylinder Porsche 911. The original premise for the 928 was that Porsche management decided that the six cylinders 911 had come to the end of its product life cycle.  To be competitive with the other high end sports car manufacturers of Europe, a new model was needed.  The 928 was intended to be the flagship of the Porsche lineup and thus commanded a much higher price than the 911. To the conservative Porsche crowd, the styling proved to be divisive, with some believing it too trendsetting and others loving it. The front engine V-8 car was a radical departure and just not Porsche enough for the true believers of the brand. The 928 V-8 produced a modest 240 horsepower when it was introduced. These horsepower numbers grew to 310 hp on the S and S2 models. The S4 model was 316 hp and the top of the line GTS model V-8 output increased to 340 hp.  In the U.S. 85% of all models sold were automatic transmissions, with the remainder being five speeds.

Jensen Healy – British Sports Car Classic

 

Paul Katsus is an electrical utility professional employed by a large electrical utility in the Houston Texas area. Although not a professional car collector, Paul Katsus has enjoyed sharing his knowledge of sports and muscle cars. One such interesting sports car from the past, the Jensen Healey deserves not to be a footnote in automobile history. Produced in the 1970’s, the Jensen Healy was a British 2-seater convertible sports car produced by Jensen Motors in West Bromwich, England. The Jensen Healy was produced from 1972 thru 1976. There was a fastback version of the car, known as the Jensen GT which was produced from 1975 -1976. The first Jensen Healy model was the Mark 1 and was manufactured from March 1972 through May 1973, with a total of 3,347 Mark 1’s produced.  The second model followed was the Mark 2 Jensen Healy and was produced from August 1973 through August 1975, a total of 7142 Mark 2 were sold making it the highest sales volume Jensen of all time. A grand total of 10,503 (10 prototypes, 3,347 Mk.1 and 7,146 Mk.2) were produced by Jensen Motors. The last Jensen Healy was the Jensen GT Fastback mad from 1975 to 1976 which had a total output of 473 examples.

When it was launched in 1972 the Jensen Healy was a fast luxurious convertible sports car that was positioned in the automotive market between the Triumph TR6 (it was lighter and had 40 more horsepower than the TR6) and the Jaguar E-Type. With its 50/50 weight balance, the car was well received by the automotive industry for its exceptional handling. It was powered by a lightweight high output (for the time period) Lotus engine. The lightweight all alloy Lotus 907 engine not only attributed to the ideal weight balance but also provided more than ample acceleration. The engine that was produced by Lotus and suppled to Jensen was a two liter, dual overhead cam; sixteen valve all alloy power plants with a 7,000 RPM redline. The engine produced 144 horsepower and would had a zero to 60 mph sprint in 8.1 seconds and a top speed of 119 mph. The cars curb weight was at 2,408 pounds, with a wheel base of 92 inches. This Jensen engine produced by Lotus was the first mass produced multi-valve engine in the world.

The world-wide financial crises combined with the 1975 oil crises caused tremendous financial strain on Jensen Motors. The sales of the much larger and high end Chrysler V-8 powered Jensen Interceptor model crashed due to the dual financial crises. To compound Jensen Motors problems even further, in 1975 the Jensen Healy GT fastback model was rushed into the market. The expenses of bringing this new model market created a strain to the already cash strapped company. Jensen Motors could not recover from all of the financial setbacks and was forced to liquidate in 1975 and close forever in May 1976. Paul Katsus would remind readers that Jensen Motors not only created the Lotus powered Jensen Healy but also the Chrysler V-8 powered Jensen Interceptor. Paul Katsus would like to encourage readers to read up on other British cars such as MG’s, Jaguars, Triumphs, Aston Martins, Rolls Royce’s, and Bentleys, just to name a few.

Jensen Interceptor

Paul Katsus is a Service Consultant for Centerpoint Energy based in Houston, Texas. Paul Katsus is not an expert on classic cars but he has done a lot of research on all types of muscle and classic cars. The Jensen Interceptor is a little known British car  produced by the Jensen Motors Company, that produced hand built cars with American V-8 engines. Jensen Motors used Chrysler V8 engines for the Interceptor, starting with the 383 cubic inch with four barrel carburetor. Most were produced with the Chrysler TorqueFlight automatic transmission but 22 were built with the optional 4 speed manual. Both came standard with a limited slip differential. in a conventional Salisbury rear axle. In 1970 the 383 c.i. produced 335 hp, but in 1971 the engine was detuned to run on regular gas and the horsepower dropped to 270 hp . So in 1971, Jensen chose to use the 440 cubic inch V-8.

For 1971, Jensen offered two 440 c.i. engines. The standard engine came with a 4-barrel carburetor and produced 305 hp . The optional engine was a 440 cubic inch engine sporting three 2-barrel carburetors and produced 330 hp. This engine was only offered in 1971 and was the most car Jensen ever produced. There were only 232 cars ever built with the 440 “Six Pack” making this one of the most collectable models ever made by Jensen.

Change came again in 1972,  when the 440 c.i. engine with three 2-barrel carburetors were no longer produced by Chrysler Corp.  Once again a high performance Chrysler V-8 engine was de-tuned. The 440 c.i. engine the detuned  440 was reduced to 280 hp. This horsepower reduction continued throughout the 1970’s as Chrysler continued to offer a high performance 440 c.i. engine, up to 1976 when it only produced 255 hp.

Combined with problems with its Jensen Healy sports car and a world-wide recession in 1975, the company had fallen on hard times. The Jensen Motors Company  was eventually  placed into receivership. The remaining collectable of cars and parts were used by build out the 1976 model year. The production of the Jensen Interceptor ended in 1976.Paul Katsus would hope that this automobile blend of American muscle and hand built British luxury will not be lost to history.

Ferrari Daytona

The Ferrari Daytona is the favorite classic sports car of Paul Katsus, and the favorite of many Ferrari collectors. Paul Katsus would encourage all readers who follow classic cars to research all the accolades this car has received.  The  official factory name for the Ferrari Daytona was the 365 GTB/4. The  Daytona name was courtesy of the media rather than Ferrari in honor of Ferrari’s 1-2-3 finish in the February 1967, 24 hours of Daytona Race in Daytona, Florida, USA. The cars were produced from 1968 to 1973. The Daytona was introduced in 1968 to replace the 275 GTB/4.  The engine output was a healthy 352 horsepower and the car could reach 174 mph. The 0-60 mph time was a quick 5.4 seconds. New safety regulations in 1971 called for a new headlight setup to replace the headlights behind a fixed plexaglass cover. The issue was resolved by the installation of retractable pop-up twin headlights. On a TV talk show the Daytona designer, Leonardo Fioravanti, was reported to have stated that he designed the car in seven days. The total the number of Daytona’s from the Ferrari experts is put at 1,406. This total number of cars includes 158 right-hand-drive coupés, 122 factory-made Spyders, and 15 special competition cars in three series with modified bodies and in various high output engines.
The Daytona received instant worldwide media fame when in 1971 Brock Yates and Dan Gurney (famous race car drivers of the day) competed in the Cannonball Baker Sea To Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. Hollywood was quick to immortalize the race and the Daytona with the movie “The Cannonball Run” starring Burt Reynolds. In this United States coast to coast car race, the Ferrari driven by the pair of  professional race car drivers won with an average speed of 80.1 miles per hour completing the New York to Los Angles run (2,878 miles) in 35 hours 54 minutes. It was Dan Gurney, who stated to the media”We never once exceeded 175 miles per hour”
The fact that the Daytona was voted top sports car of the 1970s by Sports Car International magazine in 2004 is testament to its elite status of one of the finest sports cars ever produced by Ferrari. Add to this that Motor Trend Classic named the 365 GTB/4 and GTS/4 as number two in their list of the ten “Greatest Ferraris of all time”. Paul Katsus would encourage all readers to pull out the stops to see one of these magnificent automobile masterpieces.