Morgans for a Lifetime: In Prose and Poetry
by Larry Ayers
“A True Morgan is a Three Wheeler”
Two or three chains attached to a frame
And then three wheels that do the same
A steering wheel with three small levers
Provides control if you’re a believer
Morgan produced the most popular three-wheeler ever, making them for over 40 years. Mid-1930s the trikes were joined by four-wheelers. Learning to drive a Morgan trike is akin to figuring out how to coordinate head, hands, and feet driving a Model T. The Morgan has a hand-operated throttle with two foot pedals, one for the single rear wheel brake, the other the clutch. Handling must take into consideration the wide-spaced gears and high-ratio steering, not to mention on bumpy surfaces your steed’s likely to hop and jump around.
This book is author Larry Ayers’ celebration of the quirky, sometimes cantankerous world of all things Morgan, particularly the trikes. Yet, it is unusual among the automotive genre of literature for, as the subtitle describes, all between the covers is In Prose and Poetry.
Ayers was motivated to undertake writing the over fifty poems and short stories as a way of productively coping with the enforced “hibernation” dictated as the pandemic ensued. He began one poem this way:
Covid-19 is now having its way
It’s keeping the Morgans at bay
They can’t come out and play
Not until it nearly goes away
And concludes with:
Your Morgan again will run
Find its place under the sun
Meanwhile just try and be safe
When you rejoin the human race
Readers will clearly understand the joys, pleasures and experiences owning, driving, racing and restoring Morgans is for Ayers.
Once satisfied with what he’d written, the over 50 pieces were grouped into seven sections under headings such as “History”, “Restoring”, “Adventure” and others. Some are whimsical, others more serious. Some are boy meets girl with a Morgan as the catalyst. Another begins with a Morgan trike owner out for a drive in the country and finds himself turning onto a private lane in order to inform the property owner his sign saying “Morgan since 1907” is off by a couple of years only to discover the Morgan the sign referred to wasn’t a car but a breed of horse. Morgan achievements are recounted too. One in particular tells such a story and concludes with “Who would have thought a Morgan with only three wheels could set a two-way run averaging 142 mph on the salt?” Others clearly communicate that today tuned trikes can and do beat four-wheeled cars in vintage racing.
Four-wheelers aren’t neglected, nor are the collectibles, Morgan people and the culture for all, and more, are considered in prose or poetic offerings.
Copyright 2021 Helen V Hutchings (speedreaders.info)
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