Monthly Archives: February 2021

The Bristol Bullet was set to be a Morgan Plus 8-based retro drop-top powered by a BMW V8—except now we’re getting nine 2022 Plus 8 GTRs instead.

Founded in 1945 primarily to keep the Bristol Aeroplane Company’s crew busy after the war, Bristol Cars went from using pre-war BMW technology to producing some of the most quintessentially British motorcars ever made, all hand-built to Rolls-Royce-rivaling standards. Bristol maintained a single dealership on the corner of London’s Kensington High Street and Holland Road, and this conservative attitude towards sales slowly and steadily pushed it into bankruptcy by 2010. The group that bought Bristol’s assets promised a new speedster by 2015, powered by a BMW V8 and limited to 70 units to celebrate Bristol’s 70th anniversary.

“Project Pinnacle” led to a drivable Bristol Bullet prototype presented at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed, only for the new venture to go silent afterwards and into liquidation in 2020. Yet back in 2015, the new Bristol company purchased rolling chassis from Morgan for the Bullet—specifically, the Plus 8 bonded aluminum platform fitted with a 370-horsepower BMW V8. As with Les Edgar’s revival of TVR, the Bristol rebirth looked great until it didn’t. 

The Bullet itself made perfect sense. A hot limited-edition speedster with BMW powered just like the original Bristols, except styled somewhat like a late 2010s restomod AC Cobra. Given the size and enthusiasm of the British collector car market, the entire 70-car run could surely sell out in no time. 

With its suitably long hood, fine leather inside the two-seater cabin, AP Racing brakes and German V8, the Bullet could have been a proper dream machine.

Two years ago, the Morgan Motor Company had to move on to a new aluminum platform that used turbocharged straight-six BMW engines to keep up with our times. However, when nine of its old Plus 8 rolling chassis went up for sale when Bristol closed, Morgan quickly realized that nine track-focused specials based on that older tech could be built for 2022. The resulting Plus 8 GTRs would feature a naturally aspirated V8 under a new aerodynamic Plus 8 body that pays tribute to Charles Morgan’s mad “Big Blue” endurance racer from 1995. 

As Morgan put it: “The project has only been possible because of the recent availability of a number of Plus 8 rolling chassis, which have been re-acquired from a third party following a discontinued project.”

Big Blue was Morgan’s test bed for the then-new bonded aluminum chassis that made the Aero 8 and other roaring V8 sports cars possible. This new run of nine 2022 Plus 8 GTRs will be what the Bristol Bullet couldn’t, only with a roof and the rest of Morgan’s bold design.

Production of special-edition Morgan Plus 8 GTR will begin this summer, limited to nine examples

www.autocar.co.uk/ 18 February 2021

A special-edition Morgan Plus 8 GTR will be built this summer, three years after production of the standard car officially came to an end.

Morgan says the GTR will be a “gloves off” version of the Plus 8, with the project made possible after several chassis earmarked for a discontinued external project were reacquired from a third party.

Only nine examples of the Morgan Plus 8 GTR will be built, but the British firm is set to reveal several other special edition models in 2021.

Power will come from a 4.8-litre BMW N62 engine, although Morgan has suggested that output from the recommissioned units will be higher than the 362bhp achieved in their original specification. Six-speed manual and automatic transmissions will be offered, although allocations for these are fixed for the production run.

The chassis are completely unused, having been built by Morgan before 2018. The company says some mechanical components will be upgraded for use in the Plus 8 GTR.

“Reviving a V8-powered Morgan at the current time may not seem like the obvious choice for a manufacturer firmly focused on new platforms and powertrains,” said Morgan’s head of design, Jonathan Wells. “However, when the opportunity presented itself to recommission a number of rolling chassis and create an exciting special project such as Plus 8 GTR, we embraced it fully.

“This project has allowed Morgan’s design and engineering teams to revisit some of their favourite elements of past Morgan models, as well as experiment with some features that we hope will appear on future Morgan cars.”

Morgan’s design and engineering teams have been told to “let their imaginations run wild” for the GTR, with inspiration coming from the ‘Big Blue’ GT series racer of the 1990s. That vehicle was used as a test bed for the bonded-aluminium chassis tech that later replaced Morgan’s traditional steel chassis in 2004.

With a full unveiling due before the car enters production this summer, sketches show the GTR sporting a high shoulder line “not seen on a traditional Morgan body for decades”.

The wheel arches have been resculpted and the five-spoke centre-lock wheels are a nod to the Plus 8’s racing heritage. The rear end, front wings and front splitter have all been reworked, with a hard-top replacing the original fabric item.

Every example of the GTR will be handcrafted using traditional coachbuilding techniques, but in a break from tradition, production will take place at the Morgan Design and Engineering Centre (M-DEC) rather than at the Pickersleigh Road factory.

Customers will be given the chance to create a bespoke Plus 8 GTR with the help of Morgan’s design team.