The Morgan Midsummer is a six-cylinder Pininfarina barchetta, with teak
British sports car maker joins forces with Italian design house for a limited-run coachbuilt special
Morgan has collaborated with Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina to create the Midsummer, a limited-run barchetta based on the British marque’s latest CX-generation platform. Combining over two centuries of coachbuilding expertise, it features entirely bespoke bodywork and interior elements to make it one of the most exclusive Morgan models produced to date. Pricing hasn’t been disclosed, but with just 50 to be produced, we can’t imagine it’ll come cheap.
Based on the same bonded aluminium architecture as the latest Plus Six, the Midsummer comes equipped with that car’s BMW-derived 3-litre turbocharged six-cylinder and eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. Output and performance figures haven’t been revealed, but expect it to at least match the Plus Six with 335bhp, 369lb ft of torque and a 4.2sec 0-62mph time.
> Morgan Plus Four receives chassis and design tweaks for 2024
Performance isn’t the focus here though, but rather the striking coachbuilt body. While its design remains typically Morgan, exaggerated proportions, the removal of the windscreen and aero-informed surfacing reference Pininfarina designs of the 1930s and ’40s. The bodywork is entirely hand-formed from aluminium, with 250 hours of work going into every example.
Spanning its length is a stainless steel sill courtesy of Pininfarina, highly polished to allow it to reflect the light of its surroundings. The headlights are Morgan’s latest units, now with silver inserts, and the tail lights are incorporated into the extended rear within subtle chamfered light pods. The most notable design element, though, is the inclusion of exposed teak on the exterior, seamlessly combining over 400 individual layers of the hardwood (each up to just 0.6mm thick) to form a striking structure that surrounds the cabin and acts as a distinctive shoulder line.
Design aside, the Midsummer also receives adjustable Nitron dampers, tuned and manufactured specifically for the model. It gets its own set of 19-inch wheels too, now forged to bring weight from 13kg a corner to just 10, helping to contribute to Morgan’s 1000kg dry weight target. Also new for the Midsummer is an increased tyre profile, with its Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tyre designed to reflect the aesthetic of models of old – this is something that will trickle down to the rest of the range in time.
The teak theme continues in the cockpit, with even its dashboard using 126 layers of wood for its creation. The overall interior design is familiar, but Morgan has made an effort to set it apart from the firm’s regular models with a forged aluminium centre to the steering wheel and handmade, off-white analogue dials, the incorporation of which required a re-evaluation of the car’s electrics.
The Morgan Midsummer will make its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, but if you’d like to get your hands on one, it’s already too late – all 50 examples had already been accounted for before its reveal. The first examples will enter production in Q3 2024.
