Morgan's New Pininfarina Coupe Hides A BMW Six And A Wooden Frame | Carscoops
The open-top Midsummer sold out fast, so Morgan reworked it into a sealed grand tourer with a dramatic glass-and-steel roof
17 hours ago
Morgan is digging further into bespoke commission work with the reveal of the Midsummer Coupe. Built as an ultra-exclusive fixed-roof take on the 2024 Midsummer Barchetta, the model will run to just nine client cars, every one of them already claimed.
The project kicked off when a Morgan customer asked whether the Barchetta could be reworked into a coupe. Rather than bolting a hardtop onto what already existed, the British firm treated it as a fresh coachbuilding exercise from the ground up.
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The coupe was shaped with Pininfarina, the same partner behind the original Midsummer. The roof changes the proportions, and the designers tied it into the tail with a roofline that slopes away cleanly toward the back. Most of that roof is glass, which floods the cabin with light and keeps the addition from feeling heavy.
Morgan
Beyond how it looks, Morgan says the roof brings “greater refinement, improved weather protection and enhanced touring capability”, letting the Midsummer Coupe be used “across a broader range of conditions”. The pitch is a car you can actually take somewhere when the weather turns.
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The door handles are integrated into the aluminium beltline, matching the spine. The model retains the front end, hand-formed vented fenders, and polished stainless steel details of the Barchetta, but rides on a unique set of forged 19-inch alloy wheels with a multi-spoke design.
The roof required a “significant structural development and a fundamentally different approach to vehicle architecture”, leading to increased rigidity. The new panel incorporates “billet-machined aluminium A-pillars, bonded structural glazing and countersunk riveted construction”.
The penalty for the fixed roof is small, with the Midsummer Coupe coming in only 2.5% heavier than a Supersport wearing a hardtop. Strip away the hand-shaped aluminium, and you’ll find a wooden frame, exactly as Morgan tradition demands.
Morgan
Inside, the two-seat cabin mixes leather, wood, and aluminum, and the reshaped roofline opens up a bit more room behind the headrests. Each of the nine owners gets to spec their car to taste, which is rather the point of the exercise.
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Under the skin, the special build retains the traditional Morgan platform and the BMW-sourced 3.0-liter inline-six engine.
Morgan kept the Midsummer Coupe’s price to itself, but a nine-car run paired with the bespoke build should put it comfortably above the 50-unit Midsummer Barchetta, which opened at around £200,000 ($260,000). The prototype shown here isn’t one of the nine customer cars, and it’s bound for display at the Louwman Collection in The Hague.
Morgan
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Thanos Pappas
Associate Editor
Thanos Pappas, a product design engineer by trade, has been wading through automotive journalism for... Read full bio