1930 Morgan Super Aero with custom van body. Photos by author unless otherwise indicated.
Ron Garner has a taste for the unusual, as demonstrated by his four-plus decades of Morgan ownership. While his current collection includes both three- and four-wheelers, none stands out in a crowd quite like his restored 1930 Morgan Super Aero trike with a custom-built van body, affectionately dubbed the Porta-Pub for its built-in beverage-dispensing apparatus. Ron brought his one-of-a-kind Morgan to the 2014 Hemmings Motor News Concours d’Elegance (where he took second place in the Prewar European class), and his rig proved to be among the most popular cars on the show field.
Ron, starting the Matchless V-Twin to the delight of the crowd.
In the early 1970s, while still a graduate student in Los Angeles, Ron acquired his first Morgan. Fortunately, the car was not a pillar of reliability, which introduced Ron to a cast of characters in the Southern California Morgan community, including Gerry Willburn. It also showed him the diversity of Morgan vehicles, but one in particular stuck with him: A British auto parts delivery van built upon a 1930 Morgan Super Aero, powered by a 42-hp, 1,000 cc Matchless V-Twin, shifted through a two-speed transmission.
42 horsepower to move 850 pounds sounds reasonable enough.
The van body was the creation of Alexander Fraser, who started an auto parts business in Purton, Wiltshire, England, during the 1960s. To handle the Morgan’s increased weight, Fraser replaced the original AJS engine with a 42-horsepower Matchless MX4 V-Twin, added stouter front wheels and hubs from a later-production three-speed Morgan and fitted hydraulic brakes to the front wheels.
Equipped with many parts from his own catalog, the Morgan served as a rolling billboard for Fraser’s vintage parts business. Not content, or perhaps financially unable, to sell from a high street shop, Fraser fitted a trailer hitch to the Morgan and took his wares on the road throughout England, bravely towing a four-wheel gypsy caravan behind his distinctive trike.
An in-period image of the Morgan towing the gypsy caravan. Photo courtesy MadAboutMorgans.
Fraser and the Morgan parted ways in 1970, and by 1972 the van had hopped the Atlantic and crossed the continent, winding up in Southern California. Fast-forward to 2006, when Ron and his wife Kathi, now living in Hull, Massachusetts, ran into old friend Gerry Willburn at a Morgan gathering in Maine.
Somewhere along the line, Willburn, still in Southern California, had become the third American owner of the Super Aero van, which lay disassembled in the midst of a long-forgotten restoration project. Despite this obvious obstacle, Kathi knew how much her husband still wanted the Morgan, and wasted no time brokering a deal with Gerry to buy the boxes of parts that made up the van.
The Morgan during its years with Alexander Fraser. Photo courtesy MadAboutMorgans.
After shipping the crated Morgan from California to Massachusetts, a serious restoration effort began in 2007. Lost over the years was the Morgan’s radiator, which necessitated the laborious task of building one from scratch, complete with a newly fabricated radiator surround. The bonnet had to be recreated as well, as did the trike’s ash wood body frame, long since damaged by insects and wood rot. The effort would take four years to complete, and the initial end result was a conventional “beetle back” 1930 Morgan three-wheeler.
The van body, which remained in remarkably good shape over the decades, was repainted and fitted to the Morgan circa 2012. With no need to peddle auto parts, and with a daughter and son-in-law who brew beer, the choice of what to do with the van seemed obvious: Mount a few five-gallon kegs, cool them with dry ice, install taps below the suitably appropriate portrait of Queen Victoria and turn the van into a “Porta Pub” for friends, relatives and concours-goers to enjoy. (Editor’s note: On the day of the 2014 Hemmings Concours d’Elegance, the taps were dispensing apple cider and iced tea. At least that’s what Ron told us.)
Queen Victoria, looking less than amused.
Ron admits to driving the Morgan on a regular basis, though he hasn’t tested its claimed top speed of 85 MPH and won’t tow a trailer, despite the existing hitch. As Ron said to us, “Even without the trailer, it barely stops,” and Ron’s not one to press his luck. It took him more than three decades to land this particular Morgan in his garage, and another four years to get it restored; rebuilding it again isn’t on Ron’s bucket list.
For more on the 1930 Morgan Super Aero van, visit Ron’s website, MadAboutMorgans.com.