Have You Seen This Car? Long Lost 1937 Dublin-Built Morgan 4/4 | Season 5 – Episode 47
Wheels Jun 13, 2025
Have You Seen This Car? Long Lost 1937 Dublin-Built Morgan 4/4 | Season 5 – Episode 47
Here on Ireland Made – Stories of Irish Transport, we’re stepping into the role of detectives as we set out to uncover the whereabouts of a long-lost Dublin-built Morgan 4/4.
Ian Booth recently reached out to us in the hopes of finding his father Sidney’s long-lost 1937 Morgan, a car rich in both personal memory and Irish motoring history and last seen in 1960 outside a shop in County Wicklow.
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MORGAN IN IRELAND
In April 1937 Gorman Brothers Garage, located at the corner of Upper Rathmines Road and Maxwell Road in Dublin, imported the first Morgan 4/4 “Completely Knocked Down” CKD kit car to be assembled in Ireland. The Irish Free State Government CKD scheme was as an attempt to build up local light industry. Chassis, bodies and drivetrains were imported duty-free with tyres, interiors, glass etc. sourced locally.
Known for their V-twin 3-Wheeler, the Morgan 4/4 (four wheels, four cylinders) was its first four-wheeler and remained in production up to 2018. Equipped with a 1,122cc Coventry Climax engine producing 34 bhp, the 4/4 had a rail frame chassis with an ash body and steel body panels.
Four Morgan 4/4’s were assembled by Gorman’s in 1937 and Sidney Booth’s Morgan, registration ZC 2138, chassis number 329, was the first of them.
SYDNEY BOOTH’S MOTORING LIFE
Ian’s father, Sydney Booth, started work in 1926 at 16 years of age for £1 a week. Eleven years later in 1937 he was able to buy a Morgan 4/4 for £295 from the O’Gorman Brothers.
According to the Booth family history, Sydney had quite a job getting the purchase price together, borrowing from friends and family he was so determined to get the car.
TEAM MORGAN
Chassis numbers 329, 330, and 331 were imported as a batch by O’Gorman’s in 1937 and formed a ‘team’ to compete in various events. Ian is almost certain of this, as his father recalled that Des McCracken was one of the three drivers. However, Sydney Booth’s car, chassis number 329 had arrived first—to test, through competition, whether the Morgan 4/4 could prove itself in motorsport.
LIVING WITH THE MORGAN
Ian told us that on at least one occasion, while his father was courting his mother, she was shocked to see the speedometer reach 83 mph (133 km/h) on the Dublin road toward the Big Tree at Loughlinstown.
Ian can remember his father telling him that he used to get a “tune up” done before a competition and on one occasion he took the car for a test run up Mt. Merrion Avenue, as he said “peak revs in all gears” creating such a racket with a straight through exhaust that a Garda on hearing it stepped out and stopped him. However on this occasion he was let off with a warning.
Ian tells us that his father was likely advised on the purchase by Jack Smith (Rosemary Smith’s father), for whom his sister Kitty worked as a secretary and bookkeeper. The same Kitty would later become Sydney’s navigator in car trials.Sydney must have been a quick learner and a strong competitor, as the results from the car trials show:
LMC Social Trial 1938 3rd Prize S. Booth
LMC Night Trial Nov. 1938 S. Booth First Class
LMC GVB Cup First Class S. Booth 1939
LMC Lincoln Cup Trial 1939 S. Booth First Class
LMC Lepler Cup Trial 1939 S. Booth 2nd Class
As Sydney was fairly cash strapped he was unable to join the other Morgan 4/4s on the “team” events when they competed in motor racing on the Tallaght circuit although Ian’s mother remembers that her husband competed in the Enniskerry hill climb. The start of WW2 put an end to the Morgan adventures of Sydney Booth and he had to sell the car at a loss.
LAST SIGHTING
Years later, in 1960, Sidney Booth caught one last glimpse of his beloved Morgan, parked outside what was then McDonnell’s or Donnelly’s vegetable shop—now long gone—on Castle Street in Bray, County Wicklow. He approached the owner with an offer to buy it back—but was politely turned down.
Now we reach out to you—our followers and fellow enthusiasts. Ian has carried a long-standing itch to solve the mystery: whatever happened to his Dad’s 1937 Morgan 4/4 ZC 2138? Was the car once part of your family’s story, or spotted in an old photo? With your help, we just might be able to trace its path.
Can you help us solve the mystery? Email Kevin Reid at [email protected]
Sources of Information and Photo Credits:
Bonhams Auctions
Morgan research – Brian Manning
If you have an idea for a story, please email Kevin Reid [email protected]
Each week, we journey across Ireland to uncover and share the hidden history and often overlooked stories of our transport heritage. These journeys take time and fuel—and they all add up. If you’ve enjoyed our stories and would like to support this work, please consider subscribing for just €2 a month at www.irelandmade.ie. Your support helps keep the wheels turning and the stories coming.
Thank you for being part of the journey
Check out our previous Dublin-built Morgan story “Des McCracken’s: 1937 Leinster Trophy Winning Morgan 4/4 Goes to Auction | Season 4 – Episode 52” https://youtu.be/KNF3CRvDYG4?si=P3t04nTi57OsxdIK
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