► Morgan and Pininfarina’s Midsummer revealed
► Hand-built aluminium bodywork, visible wood structure
► ‘Barchetta’ sports car limited to 50 units, all sold
Morgan has paired up with design house Pininfarina to create the Midsummer – a two-seat ‘barchetta’ model that’s designed to be ‘a celebration of coachbuilding.’
The Midsummer’s sleek, swooping bodywork is made of hand-shaped aluminium to create a smoother and more aerodynamic car that’s still distinctively a Morgan. The brand says each car’s body panels take 250 hours to create.
Pininfarina and Morgan designers have injected the Midsummer with much more modern design details, including almost monobloc-like forged 19-inch wheels and much more contemporary lights front and rear. That said, the Midsummer’s extended tail is meant to be a nod to Pininfarina designs of the 1930s and 1940s.
Inside, the Midsummer liberally uses exposed wood to furnish the car’s structure, incorporating nine hand-hewn sections of teak. Morgan says it has wanted to make more of a song and dance about the use of wood in the Midsummer as, usually, the material ‘has remained exclusively within the body frame of each vehicle, meaning it’s always been hidden from view.’
Elsewhere inside, the Midsummer benefits from bespoke-design dials and details including a forged aluminium steering wheel and a Sennheiser audio system.
The base structure of the Midsummer is a Morgan Plus Six, meaning there’s a potent 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six under the bonnet mated to an eight-speed auto – both originally derived from BMW. Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tyres are wrapped around those monobloc wheels.
And you can’t have one. Morgan is making just 50, and they’ve all been sold. Wanna see one up close? Morgan says it’ll bring one to the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed.