Although Rover's attempts to acquire Morgan in 1966 had proved fruitless, it nevertheless granted the sports car manufacturer access to its newly acquired, ex-Buick, lightweight aluminium V8 with a view to cementing a supply contract.

Hired by the Malvern works to assess the powerplant's merits, race engineer Maurice Owen lost little time in shoehorning one into a Morgan Plus 4 chassis.

With trials of the resultant prototype successfully undertaken in 1967, the Plus 8 debuted at the following year's Earls Court Motor Show.

Built along familiar Morgan lines, its ladder frame chassis was equipped with independent 'sliding pillar' front suspension, a leaf-sprung rear axle and front disc and rear drum brakes.

Supported by an ash frame, its swooping bodywork looked as traditional as ever but gave no clues as to the new model's performance potential.

Initially equipped with a four-speed Moss gearbox but later Rover four- and five-speed units (the latter from 1978), Autocar magazine foun...