Review of ‘A Morgan-JAP Anthology’ – by John Chatwin

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Posted on January 31, 2017 by admin

When I was asked to review this book I was perhaps less than enthusiastic, for being an avid user of JAP engines for over half a century, indeed serving my apprenticeship at a JAP agency and owning various models of these engines throughout this time, I assumed that there would be very little in the book that I hadn’t either read or even had first hand experience. Well, what a mistake that was!

Although Robin has naturally included a lot of what I already knew, he has managed to unearth a vast amount of matter that over the years has either been forgotten or just discarded as historic trivia. Some of the photographs have not been seen for a long time and may be quite new to many readers. On first reading some of the charts and drawings may be glossed over, but make no mistake they will be re-visited many times in the future and will I’m sure justify their worth.

In particular I enjoyed Trevor Seymour’s conversion of an industrial target trolley engine into a Morgan power unit of which any owner would be proud. It almost makes one wish to embark on such a project oneself.

Over the years I have broken many JAP engines and burned copious amounts of midnight oil repairing them for the final time, but however many times I’ve thrown my hands up in despair, they have never lost their attraction. This book has shown me why I have been smitten for so long.

As I said, I thought I would find it difficult to review. Well I in one respect I was right, I read it cover to cover in one sitting and just could not put it down. This is not just another reference book, it is a jolly good read that any enthusiast, Morgan, JAP or otherwise, really must have on their bookshelf.

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