Special Shite - few more on page 2

[barrett]

(Some car content, for those feeling down about the last few days....)

 

Most of you probably know I have a love for the obscure and unloved, surpassing even what is considered 'normal' for the average shiteist. One of the things that really floats my boat is the '50s-'60s British 'specials' industry. I probably got into these cars in my pre-teens, picking up odd bits of info here and there and pouring over grainy photos in old C&SCs with enigmatic captions like "Ultra rare Falcon 515 is only known survior". Over the years I've picked up a bit of knowledge about these old things, the larger names are now more-or less 'proper' classics but, as is often the case with the super-obscure, decent period photos are quite hard to come by, so I was chuffed when I stumbled on some old scans of early '60s car mags containing some great period adverts. Thought some of you lot might like to see them too, so here ya are!

 

One of the interesting things about this whole industry was the cross-breeding that went on. One of the early Ashley shells, which was moulded from an aluminium Elva and sold as the Super Sports, was taken by one of the MDs when he set up Falcon cars a year or so later. The shell was then sold as the Falcon MK2 and later the Competition. This shot must be after that happened, as it's not listed here

 

Asheley later dropped the 750 to concentrate on the 1172 and thier lucrative hardtop range, which they sold for Spitfires, Spridgets, MGBs and others. The 1172 shell was used by Reliant as the basis of the Autocars Sabra, and after a nice restyle became the Sabre - which of course led on to the Scimmitar

 

The Falcon range is one of my favourites, by the time this Caribbean was launched (as the MK3, originally) they were way ahead of many other companies, offering fully moulded inner shells and whatnot, which eventually led them to launch the 515 as a fully-built car, unfortunately only 25 were built and it killed the company. i believe the Peregrine used a MK3 shell mounted on a spaceframe chassis - that was 'well weapon'

 

Another fairly long-lived marque were Fairthorpe, who were again ahead of the game by offering all the components to build a car rather than just a shell. Lots of the bits were modern Standard-Triumph parts as opposed to 30s Ford or Austin gubbins, and with a bit of effort you could build something like this

Although you'd have to know what you were doing, as it arrived looking more like this

 

One of my all-time favourite cars, the Rochdale Olympic - world's second glassfibre monocoque. A factory fire destroyed lots of bodies that were already on order, and bankrupted the company. A real 'what if' situation

 

Marcos weren't really 'kit' manufactures but I feel this pre-Dennis Adams GT is worth a mention. Before Jem Marsh started building 'production' cars, Speedex, of course, were the builders of the Scirroco shell, which was a fairly handsome FHC.

 

Another company to later enter into the 'fully built' market, again with disastarous results, were Tornado. Before that they built a range of slightly odd looking shells, including a mini estate version of the Typhoon called the Sportsbreak

 

Amongst all the well-known names, there were hundreds of also-rans. who's ever seen an Estate Car Conversion by Naco? not I

 

If anyone has any more period pics of 'specials' please post them up, the weirder the better!

[scaryoldcortina]

Boss idea! I'll have a dig and see what I can find.

for now, here's a fairthorpe electron in the flesh, at a vintage rally 6 years ago.

 

actually, remembering that album means I have a new thread to start

[Negative Creep]

I know most of them appeared in my "Worst Cars Ever Sold in Britain" book. Could scan it in if you want..........

[trigger]

I just want to say take note guys, that's the kind of thread AS needs, well done Barret!.

[Alexg]

Great thread! This is what I like to see

[garethj]

An earlier thread about cars like this

 

Clicky linky

[barrett]

Thanks guys!

 

STB - that is great, the EB is one of those cars i'm always surprised to see even a single survivor. Didn't they later do a nice looking coupe with a wrap-around rear window?

If you can dig up the AKS picture that'd be great, I know there are a handful of those still about including a really tasty dark blue example running an MGA Twin-can engine!

[garethj]

A few others....

 

 

 

 

 

[trigger]

I saw a Tornado Tempest last year at a show, I'm sure i read somewhere that they are Ford 100E based.

 

1961 Tornado Tempest by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1961 Tornado Tempest by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[garethj]

 

 

 

 

[garethj]

Arse, do I have to resize all those scans?

[messerschmitt owner]

berkeley B95 & T60 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

Not specials - proper manufactured cars but these are Britain's first fibreglass monocoques!

[seth]

Here's some more hot Tornado action for you Barret, from Croxley green in 2007.

 

 

I've started leafing through the old Practical Motorists I picked up the other day and was intending doing the odd scan from them. I shall bear the specials in mind as I like them too

[Mr Lobster]

(Some car content, for those feeling down about the last few days....)

 

Thank you! It is appreciated

 

I do like the idea of these though. Your own car is a bit worn out so you go off and buy a sporty body to stuff over your Ford Pop mechanicals.

 

I suppose the idea is the same as those kit cars using XR2s and the like as donor cars now.

[Tayne]

.

[barrett]

Nice one Tayne, although I don't think any of those are technically 'specials'. Gilberns were, I think, sold almost complete with just a few components unattached to get through the tax loopholes. I think the same might be true of Peerless but I was under the impression they built completed cars only. Swallow was a pukka company too, the Doretti's were handbuilt quite laboriously. Both Peerless and Swallow were 'sanctioned' by Standard-Triumph to use the TR engines.

[Tayne]

,.

[warren t claim]

I would of thought that the Ford sidevalve engine would of been a bit pants for a sportscar.

[michiel]

Nothing to add but 'yay, great thread!' for now...

[barrett]

Well I'd never seen any of them before that show.

 

sorry, I didn't mean to sound blunt. Those pictures are great, Peerlessesesesss are one of my 'dream garage' spafftargets. THX 4 contribootin

[garethj]

Peerlessesesesss are one of my 'dream garage' spafftargets.

They are ace, the registration of the one in Tayne's photo is only 7 away from my own - 740 EPP

 

Here's how they were made:

 

 

 

 

[CreepingJesus]

Excellent thread, and you don't find articles like that ^ much these days! No wonder there were so many small 'special' manufacturers around, when the whole process is demystified in that way. It just lays out how it's all done. It actually answered a few questions about building GRP shells I had!

So I've got a stricken Mondeo, and the skills (ish!). All I need is...

[ashmicro]

Although not strictly a "special", I helped a guy build a Marlin kit car from a mark 2 Capri donor, many years ago. Satisfying when it was done, but a royal PITA, and I'm not sure I'd like to do it again.

 

 

That Piper car is ace BTW.

[Justin Case]

Great thread, thanks for posting

I would of thought that the Ford sidevalve engine would of been a bit pants for a sportscar.

Didn't the original Lotus 7 have one

 

Would very much like one of these, as they were only built about a mile down the road from where I live, but the last one that was up for sale went for £16k at a classic auction:

 

[Espacetic]

The ever so stunning EB Debonnaire....

 

 

This one belonged to Mr Edwards (EB was Edwards Brothers) and now lives with his son in Shrewsbury.

It was previously silver and runs a tuned Mexico lump.

[Espacetic]

Another pretty car, the Rochdale..

 

 

[messerschmitt owner]

when I lived in Scotland, I went to look at a Trojan in Portobello, the owner had a Peerless and a Warwick.

 

According to the song by the Valves, there ain't no surf in Portobello!

[Espacetic]

According to the song by the Valves, there ain't no surf in Portobello!

 

Spotted in Portobello last week...

 

 

[barrett]

Okay, here are a few more on the same theme;

 

This is the aforementioned Falcon 515, the car that killed the company. I think this one in the ad is the aluminium-bodied prototype reg. no. FAL 515

 

next to that is the Elva courier ad, most notable for featuring the uber-rare hardtop version. Very pretty cars, built for a time in Hastings. The tubular chassis they were built on is known as the 'Hastings chassis'. Not really a 'special' as such, as they were sold nearly completed, but a rare case of a company leaving the component-car arena and actually succeeding, for a time at least. Elva were always a more 'serious' marque though, with the focus more on competition cars.

 

The Super Two was one of the most basic specials, but it was quite a serious bit of kit if put together properly. Super Accessories, the parent company, had a natty line in go-faster bits for Ford engines and these, coupled with the light weight of the Super Two gave it a real edge. Not exactly a looker though eh?

 

this Tornado ad really illustrates how flimsy these cars were under the fancy GRP overcoats.... scuttle shake much?

 

Here's the Falcon Mk2 that was originally an Elva and and an Ashley... you can still buy a car built using these moulds today! Interesting for me is the mention of the 'Watling chassis'. Watling are my Holy Grail of specials, so far I've not been able to track down any photographs worth seeing and only a tiny fraction of information. It's like they never even existed, which is a shame as the cars seem like they might be very pretty. Watling were actually a caravan makers who branched out into other GRP products in the mid 50s and built baths, caravans and sportscars all under the same roof. Up until now I had no idea they produced a chassis....

 

Here's an interesting one - Microplas Mistral bodies were worn by some of the most successful sports racing cars of the decade, and for a time they were the biggest special body supplier. The very first TVR actually used two front ends of a Mistral shell bonded together

 

Here's the next generation of Marcos GT, still slightly awkward looking but a big improvement on the car on pg.1 of this thread. Jem Marsh altered the moulds for this car to produce an open 2 seater sportscar but due to a total lack of demand had to convert them all back to hardtops before he could sell them. I think that could've been seen as a warning that the company would never truly succeed, but I'm glad he persevered!

 

Finally, a couple of Ashley Spridget conversions. these kept the company afloat long after the specials boom had died out and are now highly desirable

[Rusty Pelican]

Fantastic thread , should be made into a book , anyway when I worked for a paper wholesalers I used to deliver to a Jill Bullen as she had a small printers in her shed for doing cards and the like , Her Husband was John Bullen , one of the Tornado cars founders , he has sadly died but the other one ( cant remember his name ) is still around and localish to me , met him a few times and he does drive a Tornado , Jill had a Tornado in her garage but it was unroadworthy at the time , their son was going to get it going but im not sure if it ever happened .

Jill is still around and lives in a village between Shaftsbury and Salisbury .