overriders

Owners of older Morgans often inquire where they can source replacements for their over- riders, a popular Morgan option from the 1950s-1970s. These original overriders are very different from those used by the Company since 2002 when they were reintroduced with the LeMans '62 series. Unlike these recent overriders, the originals are not aluminum, they are chromed steel, much smaller and contoured. Many owners of much later cars, retrofit these originals at the rear and remove the bumper (the original overriders fit without any modification to the later bumper brackets). The overriders (12 oz each) weigh considerably less than the later stainless bumpers and have a pleasing aesthetic effect.

For many years, the accepted lore was that the overriders were sourced form the later version of the Morris Minor. Sadly this is not true. Sad.. because the Morris Minor is a well-beloved car still and there is a constant supply of relatively inexpensive parts for it because of the level of demand. The Morris Minor overriders are indeed shaped exactly like those fitted to Morgans BUT the bracket welded in at their back is set at the wrong angle for a Morgan. If the bracket is removed and repositioned for a Morgan and re-welded. the process ruins the chrome finish. If they are found in a state where they need to be chromed, then the welding won't cause further damage.

Retro-fitting these large overriders to earlier cars looks decidedly odd as the earlier cars are much slimmer than the new models. Owners of models made between the two overrider eras normally choose to fit the earlier overriders at the rear.

Up to 1952/3 The earlier 4/4 Series 1 and Plus 4 Flat Rads never had any bumpers except some of those made for the North American which were fitted at the US/CDN dealers.

Post 1953 The cars had a chromed bumper of straight profile rounded off with a starting handle hole in the middle on the front and "shell" shaped overriders at the rear. Front bumper was standard, optional extra at the rear.

In the early 60s through to October 1976 Cars were fit with used the Ford 100E chromed bumper as standard on the front with the Morris 1000/Standard 10 profile Overiders (although the inside fitting bracket was reangled) ..these overriders were standard at the rear and the rear bumper was an extra ($30 in 1974 !!..now they are $1000+).

1977 to the early 1990s saw the alloy square profile bumpers fit on front & rear (produced in Bromyard at a factory run by the well-known Jeremy Holden's father)

From the early 1990s to 1993. Morgan tried a similar bumper in chromed steel. These were poorly plated and the metal rusted badly

From 1993 Stainless steel bumpers with open ends identical to the earlier alloys

From 1998 The stainless bumpers had the ends closed.

In 2002 The current type of overiders were first fitted on the "Le Mans 62".

In 2003-2015 These overriders became standard on all Classic models from 2003 with full bumpers being a listed extra.

In 2016 Classics from 2016 have no stock overiders or bumpers as standard. Both bumpers and the newer overriders are now listed extras except for some of the many "limited edition models". These specifications are for Europe.