The Morgan Midsummer is a very special seasonal treat. The result of a collaboration between the venerable British sports car manufacturer and the legendary Italian design house Pininfarina, the Midsummer is described as a barchetta, a truly handmade vehicle that is as much about celebration of material and form as it as about the joy of driving.
For Morgan, the project brings together a number of running themes. For a start, the manufacturer’s parent company is now the Italian firm Investindustrial, a portfolio-driven conglomerate. A pairing with a well-established Italian icon like Pininfarina seemed like a good fit.
In addition, the act of expanding the Morgan design remit offers another perspective on a timeless form. The UK-based company is unapologetic about its commitment to a sports car shape that disappeared from our roads half a century ago, pointing out that it also does left-field high tech (the electric XP-1 prototype) and the outlandish Plus Four CX-T off-road racer, as well as the minimalist Super 3, even if the latter is built alongside the ash-framed, classically styled Plus Four (recently overhauled), at the Morgan factory where ancient tooling sits alongside modern methods.
Meet the Morgan Midsummer, a celebration of ‘eccentric elegance’
To the untrained eye, the Midsummer might look like more of the same. In the flesh, it really is a very refined piece of design indeed. Just fifty examples will be built (unsurprisingly they have all been spoken, thanks to advance previews for favoured customers), each of which will be graced by Pininfarina’s exquisite hand-formed aluminium body.
This in turn is wrapped around the teak frame that gives the cabin its visual structure. Unlike in regular Morgans, where the wood is buried within the body and trim, the Midsummer leaves the teak exposed. Made up of 400 individual layers, it forms an enclosure that is both nautical and modernist, evoking a post-war Italian speedboat or one of Carlo Mollino’s furniture pieces.
The word ‘barchetta’ means ‘little boat’ and was often applied to open post-war sports cars. The Midsummer’s open bodywork is pared back and minimal, with the sweeping wheelarches filled by large disc wheels. Small race-style individual windshields emphasise the visceral experience of driving, heightening the sensation found in all Morgans; this is very definitely a fairweather machine.
More than anything else, you wouldn’t want to let the exquisite interior get rained upon. Meticulously trimmed and detailed, the combination of teak, leather and a body-coloured dashboard with new analogue dials is both timeless and simple.
For the Italians, you get the sense that the project has been a chance to indulge in some naked Anglophilia. Described by Pininfarina’s Giuseppe Bonollo, SVP Sales & Marketing as a ‘new masterpiece emerging from the seamless synergy between our teams and the shared passion of both brands’, the Morgan Midsummer is blend of ‘British heritage with the timeless Pininfarina design’.
It’s also the first production car to bear the 'Pininfarina Fuoriserie' badge, meaning ‘out of series’. This celebration of ‘eccentric elegance’ has been bestowed with a very non-automotive name, one that not only celebrates the best time of year to use the car, but also a nod to Midsummer Hill in the Malverns, the spiritual landscape of Morgan, as well as a dash of pagan celebration.
For Jonathan Well, Morgan’s chief design officer, the project has confirmed the flexibility of Morgan’s design language, showcasing how the brand can evolve in years to come, as well as indicating that limited editions are not just the preserve of global supercar makers.
‘Midsummer – whilst also being Morgan’s first exterior-form collaboration – represents a significant milestone in our product design history,’ Wells says. ‘Our product portfolio offers an intriguing diversity; from the elegance of Plus Four and Six to the adventurous Super 3 and CX-T. As we look towards broader visual experimentation across our model range – it has been an enriching experience to collaborate with Pininfarina.’
Morgan Motor Company, Morgan-Motor.com, @MorganMotor
Pininfarina, Pininfarina.it, @Pininfarina_official
