unidentified kit car, could someone please oblige

[Guest benno]

Hi,

 

A friend has been offered this car but he wasn't sure of value, I don't even know what it is so wondered if anyone on here had any idea?

thanks

 

Ben

 

 

 

 

[srad34]

Hmmmm,

I would offer: 

A Half a pack of jaffa cakes and playworn copy of Escort 'big Juggs' Vol 10. 

 

How could they refuse

 

On aserious note, I have no idea at all HTH 

[nigel bickle]

Is it a Burlington Arrow?

 

Value? Whatever you're prepared to pay -I'd say!

[Ratdat]

The leaf spring front end is a bit of a puzzle. 

[burraston2006]

Is it a leaf spring? Looks like it could be a damper to me. However my mechanical knowledge extends to taking the chod into a garage and saying it makes a funny noise!

[a60rod]

Not as silly as it sounds but what end is the engine? There seems to be an unnatural overhang at the back which would suggest a VW air cooled lump up it's 'arris.

Think along the lines of the Bugatti copies. Hideous things with nothing under the bonnet.

[a60rod]

Didn't Mk1 Trannies still have a beam axle and leaf springs?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Must admit I thought it might be a Burlington Arrow too, normally theyre not as gawky-looking as this but I wouldn’t put it past someone building one to modify the plans themselves before they start cutting the shapes outta plywood, Mind you theyre Triumph based aren’t they so wouldn’t have a leaf sprung front end. I reckon it’s a home made ‘special’. Value £0

[NorfolkNWeigh]

The leaf spring and ride hight, made me think Sherpa.

This is the only Sherpa based kit I could find in 20 seconds of looking

Apparently made by the Sherpley Motor Company!

[Partridge]

Benno, do you actually know for a fact what engine it's running?

[vulgalour]

I've done considerably more internet hunting and come to the conclusion that I can tell you a lot of things it isn't, but not what it is.  I'd suggest commercial based and as others have mentioned, the leaf sprung front, five stud wheels and number of other kit car manufacturers using them as donors would hint at something Sherpa based.  Beyond that I cannot help.

 

I'd offer whatever the wheels are worth on it and no more.  Unless there's a badge on that grille or a plaque somewhere giving the game away we may never know what this is.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

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[dugong]

I'd offer whatever the wheels are worth on it and no more.  Unless there's a badge on that grille or a plaque somewhere giving the game away we may never know what this is.

 

This.

[Guest benno]

It says Jaguar on it apparently but I don't think it's fooling anyone

[vulgalour]

Could be a chopped about Vincent MPH then at that.

 

[Junkman]

Between the springs, the Sherpa axle is an inverse arch, whereas the Transit axle is straight. You can see this in the above photo of the Sherpa.

The small wheel lug circle would hint to Sherpa, the Transit has a relatively big one.

[vulgalour]

It could also be a Gazelle... I hope it isn't.
 

[michael1703]

Despite looking like it was made by characticus potts ,that's worth £800-£1200 easily, has it got v5 though? Lack of reg plates might point to not having one

 

Does look commercial but the studs are very close

 

Could it be an omg ovroader chassis, no front diff but could be an old landy/rangie underneath

[panhard65]

I would say it's home built and if there is no V5 it is spares only. Homemade specials without paperwork are a nightmare. Been there and done that, a poor dutton would of had to die for the one I bought to make it back on the road.

[garethj]

Despite looking like it was made by characticus potts

 

That's what I first thought.  This is how Ian Flemming saw it in the book

[Cavcraft]

There were quite a few kit cars that had that look about them, so we could probably sit here all day guessing. As someone else said a reg number would cement it. You might get somewhere from a chassis number if you write to DVLA, if its something really obscure I would think nobody else will know from chassis numbers.

 

As crap as it looks I still reckon its probably not quite crap enough to be a home made job, or at least if it was then whoever built it must have been reasonably good at that sort of thing.

[vulgalour]

I decided to have a look at some old Jaguar chassis, and guess what?  Front leaf suspension.

 

 

 

 

I'm not saying it is something as exotic as a 30s Jag chassis, I haven't the expertise to do that, but there are similarities enough that it's got me wondering if someone bought a rotten old heap with a solid chassis in the 70s and gave it a new lease of life.  If there is a proper car chassis hiding underneath with the ID intact it may be a viable punt, I think more investigation is required.

 

Here you can see some of the proportions the builder looks to have been aiming for, particularly the cycle arches.  Strip away the spare wheel and some of the extraneous bits and replace with cheaper, easier to get/make parts and it starts to look more like the above so maybe that's the direction they were heading?

 

 

[Rocket88]

5 stud bolt pattern looks about Jaguar size..........................

[anonymous user]

I think it's a Hardly-Likely Lightweight Racer; these were produced in small numbers by the Hardy brothers at Ilkley, it was meant to be a Hardy-Ilkley, but an unfortunate spelling mistake at the patent office put paid to that.

 

The original cars had a cast-iron chassis based on one from a Hardy Brothers threshing machine, but this proved prone to cracking in use due to the lack of suspension damping, or even suspension for that matter, hence the switch to Sherpa running gear.

 

The bodywork was mostly outsourced to a local funeral director, apart from the wings taken from the Hardy Brothers pig trailer.

 

Experiments were undertaken using the trusty BMC B series engine in its various forms, including the 1500cc diesel, but in the end a source of cheap engines was found in Romania, whilst capable of high revs and good low-down torque the draw-back was a tendency to explode if the vodka/paraffin starting mix was incorrect, this means that survivors are incredibly rare and practically priceless.