Last updated on July 5, 2023
Today’s car is a right hand drive 1962 Morgan 4/4 Roadster Le Mans TT Special that I have now owned for 1 year. It is finished in British Race Green with a tan leather Interior, and green carpet. It is powered by a 150hp inline 4 cylinder Ford Kent Crossflow Engine that has been bored out to 1760cc with a Kent 244 Fast Road duration cam, and a Weber Alpha Sport electronic fuel injection (EFI) system. Mated to a Ford 5-speed manual transmission with the 0.82 5th gear reduces the 4.10:1 rear end gear ratio to 3.36:1 in fifth gear. Slowing this baby down are non power assisted 11″disc in the front and 9″ drums in the rear. The front suspension has sliding pillar set up with king pins, coil springs and Spax shocks and in the rear it has longitudinal semi-elliptical leaf springs and Spax shocks.
This car was built as a tribute to the first Morgan to compete at Le Mans in 1938. A well know racer himself Henry S. Morgan (HSM) the founder of the company had his personal car modified for then the 25 year old Ms. Prudence Fawcett and her co-driver Geoffrey White to compete in the 1938 Le Mans 24 hour endurance race. Prudence the first person ever to drive a Morgan at Le Mans and only raced once. She finished 13th overall and 2nd in her class.
The components that were ordered from Morgan UK to emulate the 1938 Le Mans TT Special consisted of the aluminum body, flat radiator, cycle fenders, separate headlights, outside exhaust, fuel racing filler cap, aero wind screens, etc. and shipped to Morgan Japan. In Jun 2004 Morgan Auto Iwase Ltd. Tokyo, took on the body conversion and completed it in June 2005. I consider this a re-bodied car using factory parts. This body style is known as Skimpies. Less than 10 were known to be built, 3 prior to WWII and 6 after the war. It is believed that there are only 4 know to exist today.
I bought the car from my good friend Dr. Ron DiSalvo prior to his passing. With great compassion we nicknamed Ron, “Zio”, which means Uncle in Italian. I named the car Zio in reverence to Ron and what his friendship and this car means to me.
This is a great car and very fun to drive. It is quite quick with 150 hp at the rear wheels and weighing approximately 1300 pounds. It is a great car to take to British car shows, Cars and Coffee events or just cruising up the coast with like minded friends. Thanks for riding along. Frank
To read more about Ron please click this link. Ron Di Salvo
