About Our 1920 Morgan Grand Prix
My 1929 Aero, which made way for the Grand Prix, and is now happily living in southern Ontario
The Grand Prix is Bob Barclay’s second Morgan, this one shared with Clint Lefevbre, his son-in-law. The first was the Aero shown in the picture on the right. The Grand Prix started its present life as a collection of parts, originally assembled by prominent Morgan Three Wheeler Club member Derek Evans of the U.K. Derek had promised a kit of parts to Vince Maiello of New York State, and on Derek's passing Brian Clutterbuck (then Chairman of the MTWC) packaged all the parts and arranged for shipment to the U.S. Vince had the parts for some time before very kindly passing them on to Clint as a generous re-gifting. Bob rolled up his sleeves and went to work. Check out the Restoration page to get an idea of what needed to be done.
A date of 1920 for the car has been established by the number 4321 stamped on the nose of the bevel box. The serial number on the JAP small port KTW dates the engine to 1920. The twin brake drums on the rear wheel are consistent with the Grand Prix model, but the car has front-wheel brakes, which would not have been fitted at that time. There are plans to locate more appropriate wheels with no brakes at some future date, and to fit up the rear brake hand linkage.
The Grand Prix is what it is: there is no intention to pass the vehicle off as 'original,' so all we can say is that most of the parts originated from the early 1920s, and what is added has been done in as authentic a manner as possible. For vehicle registration purposes we were obliged to provide an exact date. 1920 keeps officialdom happy.