AN American car buff picked up his Morgan Plus Eight this week - 30 years after placing his order.

Patrick Madden is a real-estate attorney from Detroit, Michigan, the heart of America's mass-production motor industry.

But despite that, or even because of it, he became fascinated with the hand-built sports cars from Malvern as long ago as 1969, when he saw one at a Jaguar show in the States.

"I hadn't seen anything like it," he said, "I asked if they were still being made."

They were, and a few years later he placed his order for his own Morgan Plus Eight, paying a deposit of £25.

"I figured I would get a pro forma letter back from a secretary, but I got a letter signed by Peter Morgan himself," he said.

This started a correspondence that has stretched to the present day - not affected by the fact that Mr Madden never took delivery of the car he ordered all those years ago.

"Life moved on and it just never happened," he said.

Part of the problem was that for some time, Morgan cars had did not comply with strict rules on emission and bumper design which had been introduced by the United States federal government.

But then, a couple of years ago, Mr Madden heard the Pickersleigh Road-based car builders were discontinuing the Plus Eight model, and this spurred him into renewing his order.

He has visited Malvern several times as his car was constructed, and yesterday he stood proudly beside the completed two-tone-painted roadster at the Morgan factory's dispatch department.

"I'm really pleased with it," he said.

Now, while Mr Madden flies back to the States on Tuesday, his new car will be carefully crated up and shipped by water, either to New York or direct to Detroit.

l Looking forward to getting behind the wheel: Pat Madden with his new Morgan. Picture by Jay Watson. 18163701