You can't fault their ambition....

[RedSparrow]

I still find it hard to believe that at no point in the planning or design of this no-one stopped and said 'hang on, is this really a good idea?'.

At least some of the other Duttons have a point to them.

 

Anyone have an idea of the price of a new equivalent Metro or similar at the time?

[RedSparrow]

I still find it hard to believe that at no point in the planning or design of this no-one stopped and said 'hang on, is this really a good idea?'.

At least some of the other Duttons have a point to them.

 

Anyone have an idea of the price of a new equivalent Metro or similar at the time?

[kplenagh]

It get's better.

 

The Dutton Sierra

[kplenagh]

It get's better.

 

The Dutton Sierra

[Spiny Norman]

Here's another one from Dutton, the Cantera.

It looks OK-ish from the front, there's a sort of Capri-esque vibe to it, but what the fuck happened at the B pillar? It looks like whoever designed it started too near the middle of the sheet of paper and got to the edge sooner than he'd expected!

[Spiny Norman]

Here's another one from Dutton, the Cantera.

It looks OK-ish from the front, there's a sort of Capri-esque vibe to it, but what the fuck happened at the B pillar? It looks like whoever designed it started too near the middle of the sheet of paper and got to the edge sooner than he'd expected!

[chaseracer]

This, my friends, is what happens when you combine the manufacture of shit 'cars' with membership of a far-right 'political party': the "Schwäche-durch-Elend-Wagen"...

[chaseracer]

This, my friends, is what happens when you combine the manufacture of shit 'cars' with membership of a far-right 'political party': the "Schwäche-durch-Elend-Wagen"...

[Mash]

I've always had a pathological hatred for all kit cars, these just serve to confirm that. The Dutton range is truly awful but I've never heard of the Rico before. I really would love to have been in on some of the design meetings.

[Mash]

I've always had a pathological hatred for all kit cars, these just serve to confirm that. The Dutton range is truly awful but I've never heard of the Rico before. I really would love to have been in on some of the design meetings.

[chaseracer]

There may have been designers, but it's unlikely they ever met!

[chaseracer]

There may have been designers, but it's unlikely they ever met!

[AeroNautiCal]

There may have been designers, but it's unlikely they ever met!

 

Or designed!

[scaryoldcortina]

I seem to remember (from an interview/feature in an old KitCar mag) that Tim Tim Shite but Right-Wing did all his own designs.

[gtd2000]

How these "designs" ever made it past being a dubious scribble on a fag packet is beyond me.

 

I drew cars with more style in primary school and I can't even draw properly...FFS!!!

 

The Dutton Sierra looks fantastic by comparison

[kplenagh]

I've got to say, whoever was pumping money into this venture has no regard for their finances, and balls for thinking it would work.

[Albert Ross]

Dutton Phaeton. I had the misfortune of having to carry out an MOT on one of these years ago. It failed.

Dutton Melos. Me also at a loss..... Or should it be a melon?

Dutton Legerra. This is a mystery to me... RS200/Daihatsu Copen/Mercedes SL.... did they all take their styling from this car?

Dutton Malaga. I'm assured this isn't a Phaeton. Honest. Nice front "spoiler"..... RGA?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Old Tim Dutton made a lot of money flogging these shit heaps, though fortunately he lost most of it again later on with a hopeless amphibious car project and I think someone sued his pony ass over something, can’t remember quite what though.

 

It’s surprising how many of the Sierra, Phaetons and Melos models are still out there waiting to donate their crossflow engines to more worthy causes nowadays, he must have churned out loads of em back in the day. They used to be a very popular cat piss tarp ornament a few years back, most housing estates has one or two festering somewhere.

[panhard65]

I am the lucky owner of a legerra and once you sort out all the crap design faults it isn't that bad. Yes it still looks ugly but it is rather fun. Mine has had the whole chassis strengthened as it was flapping about in the middle. Then I had to extend the steering column so that it is nearly comfortable to drive. It even has a hardtop not that it makes any difference the bloody thing leaks like a sieve !. Any one want to buy it !! It's best bit is the 1700 crossflow engine but unfortunately it is on a 4 speed box and way under geared. The previous owner told me that if you tried really hard pulling away you could get the front wheels off the ground !!. It is screaming its head off at 85 though. Good fun on the twisty bits though

[RedSparrow]

There was a website somewhere that a disgruntled amphicar customer made. Apparently he bought one to do tourist trips on a lake and it was a piece of shit. It was one of the Suzuki based ones.

[cort16]

Just change the V to and I on the registration plate and you're about there.

 

[gtd2000]

Back when I was a young lad, the local "petrol head" nutter that ran the village garage had a Dutton Phaeton.

 

I'll keep the full name out for legal purposes but suffice to say ("J") he's dead now, killed on a motorcycle, which wasn't surprising, based on his motorised antics in the late 70's and early 80's

 

J had a series of cool looking cars such as Lotus Elan, Dolomite Sprint etc., but one day a Dutton Phaeton appeared at the garage...when it arrived it (according to the source) had a Triumph Herald engine installed and this was not deeemed to be suitably fast.

 

The Dutton was re-born with a Ford 3.0L V6 engine and based on obesevations of the car driving by at ridiculous speeds, looked like great fun!

 

I was quite into canoeing as a lad and J was also in the local club. He dropped in to see my dad about the next meeting and I picked up the courage (I was only 14 or so at the time) and asked J if he could take me out for a spin in the Dutton at some point.

 

He smiled and said "jump in"...off we shot and the first thing I noticed was how close to the ground we were, then I noted the flimsy coat hanger wire and plastic doors..by now we were doing an insane amount of speed but the "speedo" only registered 40 I shouted to J "is your speedo accurate?", "yes" he replied, "why do you ask?" I said, "The speedo says were are only doing 40MPH but it feels way faster than that!". J laughed and pointed to the speedo on the right hand side of the steering wheel which indicated somewhere around 125~130MPH "That's the rev counter ya fucking idiot" he laughed!

 

By now feeling very concerned I was keeping an eye on the speedo and we hit a long straight - J pulled on the handbrake and we spiralled round and round eventually shooting off 180 degrees back in the direction we came in a cloud of smoke. By the time I got back to the house for J to meet up with my Dad, my legs were twitching with fear and I vowed never to ask J for a spin in the Dutton!!!!

[cobblers]

There was a website somewhere that a disgruntled amphicar customer made. Apparently he bought one to do tourist trips on a lake and it was a piece of shit. It was one of the Suzuki based ones.

 

 

Something to do with this? (apologies for daily mail link)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... judge.html

 

According to Judge Paul Batty, QC, it was "nothing short of a floating coffin". "This vessel was an absolute disgrace," he said.

Today, 56-year-old businessman Tim Dutton-Woolley, the man responsible for making the bizarre £34,000 vehicle, was facing jail after being convicted at Carlisle Crown Court of breaching trading standards laws.

Adjourning sentence for reports, the judge told Mr Dutton-Woolley he was "glib, dishonest and worthy of a significant sentence" that could be much more serious than a fine.

[Rebuilda]

Leave my shite alone ya buggers.

Dont give a shit what you nay sayers think, I'm happy with my fleet thanks very much, ya miserable lot...

 

Although I agree about the Cantera and the Rico, really must have been some good weed floating about back then.

[madmartin]

How about some of you remove the blinkers there were a lot of bad cars around in the 80's anyone remember the Morris Marina? how bad was that, it wasn't just kit cars , so compared to leyland offerings Duttons were not so bad, when done to a good standard and less prone to fail MOT either

 

The Phaeton and Melos are actually not bad looking cars, comparitable to any other kit car of their time , If i had a Marina i would have scrapped it and used the parts in a dutton , top gear were right, how do you make a marina go faster? shoot it out of a cannon

 

so leave duttons alone , they are part of our history not everyone is contented to drive a bog standard mass produced car , kit car owners tend to look after their cars and keep them in better condition than anyone who drives a bog mobile (mass produced car ) and just drives it from a to b

[Mr_Bo11ox]

kit car owners tend to look after their cars and keep them in better condition than anyone who drives a bog mobile (mass produced car ) and just drives it from a to b

 

Come on man we're talking about Duttons here, theres half a dozen moss-covered garden 'ornaments' hiding under manky tarpaulins for every MOT'd and usable example

[madmartin]

that may be true, but how many other cars such as barn finds are there out there? its all marques ,and ages quite a few of the older kit cars have already gone, mostly because the escort parts are worth far more than the car, then you get the illegal trade in dutton v5's to avoid more modern cars having to go through IVA for every car out there thats got a doodgy vin, thats a dutton scrapped ,thats how i view it.

the marque has a basement bargin label because of past mistakes , you only see the truely bad ones not the good ones in case you havnt already guessed i am an dutton owner, why did i buy a dutton? because i can make a decent car for the same cost than if i had bought something else , its basic, yes, but no worse than a locost or robin hood ,

o

[Albert Ross]

Erm... I married a Dutton. They're very expensive to keep, and demand constant attention.

[RedSparrow]

Hey we're just having a chat about them lads. Why not start a thread about your cars? I for one would be interested.

[gtd2000]

Other than my experience in a Dutton as a terrified 14 year old I did eventually have a drive of a 3 Litre Ford V6 powered Phaeton in the early 1990's.

 

I had a grin like a Cheshire cat for about 30 minutes after I got out of it - bloody amazing thrill it was

 

The guy that owned it, eventually raced it at Ingliston.... and crashed on the first bloody bend...lol