Orangey-copper paint. Big, shiny wheels. Eyes staring at you from beyond darkened spectacles. And wood, wood everywhere. The Morgan SP1 is the car of the future you wish you could imagine. But it's real.
Created as a specially commissioned one-off for an undisclosed customer, it showcases the Morgan Motor Company's Special Projects 1 showcases the best of British bespoke craftsmanship. No, it's not a "custom build," you silly American. It's bespoke crafstmanship.
No, seriously. In the video above, you can hear a guy talk about how he started as an apprentice in the tin shop, which is so twee and yet incredibly authentic that I'm pretty sure the next Wes Anderson film is going to be set in the Morgan factory.
But it really isn't all talk. Just look at that steering wheel. That wood is so polished it might as well be a gem in the Tower of London, that dashboard so smooth it must've been sanded by one guy for days.
It is, in short, everything I knew, deep down in my soul, that I always wanted, yet couldn't bring forth from my brain case to elucidate. And still, there it is, in the flesh.
All of the bodywork you see is aluminum (or rather, aluminium) all beaten and worked through a traditional English Wheel, as one would do back in the day. All the leather inside is hand-stitched.
All the engine is, well, it's a 3.7-liter Ford V6. But you try to go and pay for a brand-new custom engine for your new custom Morgan.
But everything really is unique, and tailored to not only reflect the tastes of the person who commissioned it, but the life they lived. Being a Morgan, the frame is mostly made out of Ash wood, but it's been combined with African Bubinga Red Hardwood, as a gesture towards the continent in which the customer made most of their money.
And it'll keep getting more unique as time goes on, if that's at all possible. The leather has been purposely designed to age and distress, making its pattern special to this particular car, instead of just getting all shiny and breaking like in your old Acura Legend.
I am a huge fan of Morgans, and everything they stand for. But this one might just be the best example yet.