CLASSIC KITCARS & SPECIALS
These features will take you back in time with fascinating articles on old kitcars, personalities and generally interesting companies that worked within the specialist car and sixties motorsport movements. I really hope you are enjoying them. Not all of them are kitcar-related per se but they all celebrate the underdog and often feature the wonderful world of sixties motorsport.
A lot of classic clubmans motorsport features highlight underdog artisans that we hope will appeal to you dear reader, the sort of companies that we’ve often all heard of but on whom detailed information is often hard to find. Shorrock. Wade Turbochargers, Jack Knight Developments, Cannon Cars, Tom Killeen and David Ogle. The sort of companies and individuals that our specialist and kit car forebears from the sixties would have been very familiar with.
CKC&S 1 – YOU CAN READ A NEVILLE TRICKETT CAREER HISTORY AND TRIBUTE BY CLICKING HERE.
CKC&S 2 – YOU CAN READ THE STORY OF THE BONITO, SERAPH AND EXCALIBUR BY CLICKING HERE.
CKC&S 3 – YOU CAN READ THE STORY OF THE FLEUR DE LYS RANGE OF VINTAGE KIT VANS CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
CKC&S 4 – HERE YOU CAN READ THE CAREER STORY OF HOT ROD KING – Eddie ‘Mr Ed’ Wimble.
CKC&S 5 – HOW IS YOUR KITCAR’S WINDSCREEN MADE? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.
CKC&S 6 – A FEATURE ON THE LITTLE HILLMAN IMP-BASED NYMPH BY PETER BOHANNA AND ROBIN STABLES. CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 7 – CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT PHILIP COLES’ NOVA BUILD STORY
CKC&S 8 – YOU CAN READ A NEWARK 2022 SHOW REPORT HERE
CKC&S 9 – HERE’S A BLAST FROM THE PAST – THE IMPERIAL ROYALE – CLICK HERE TO GO THERE
CKC&S 10 – A LOOK AT A REAL ‘ONE THAT GOT AWAY’ IN THE FORM OF THE MGP SILURIAN TOURER – CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
CKC& S 11 – This time we take a look at the ill-fated Nyvrem Nirvana CLICK HERE to find out more.
CKC & S 12 – This week in CKC&S we have the fascinating story of Lyncar Motor Company including Wilt ‘the Stilt’s’ Searcher 1. CLICK HERE to read that one.
CKC&S 13 CLICK HERE to read a story about Tom Killeen’s Scorpion K19
CKC & S 14 – CLICK HERE to read the story of the beautiful Harold Biggs Special
CKC & S 15 – This time we have a look at the history of Lenham Motor Company – CLICK HERE to read that one
CKC&S 16 – This week’s feature takes a look at chassis fabricators par excellence Arch Motor & Engineering Co Ltd better known as ‘Arch Motors’. CLICK HERE to read that one.
CKC&S 17 – One of the best of the Lotus Elan ‘specials’ built over the years has to be the ELAN-BRM. STEVE HOLE tells the story – CLICK HERE
CKC&S 18 – CLICKING HERE will take you to a feature on sixties motorsport engineering supremos, Jack Knight Developments, who also looked after a lot of specialist car manufacturers of the day, too.
CKC&S 19 – This week in Classic Kit Cars & Specials I’m delighted to say that we have a lovely little look back at a delightful three-wheeler called the D.R.K and its wonderful back story. CLICKING HERE will take you there.
CKC&S 20 – A little story on a historic little marque called Alexis Cars and their intriguing and very pretty, Alexis GT. CLICK HERE for that one.
CKC&S 21 – When Colin Chapman’s Team Lotus team were flying high in F1, they didn’t really have the resources to devote fully to their F2 and F3 efforts, which were run by a ‘junior’ squad called Ron Harris Team Lotus. A fascinating man with a fascinating story. CLICK HERE to read this one.
CKC&S 22 – CLICKING HERE will take you to CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS and a look at the incredible yet ultimately ill-fated Jem Futura that first saw the light of day at the Racing Car Show in January 1971.
CKC&S 23 – If you CLICK HERE you’ll be transported to a feature on one of the sixties’ foremost motor racing schools, MOTOR RACING STABLES.
CKC&S 24 – This week we take a look at the intriguing story of the MAYA GT and its CAMBER GT brother. Ill-fated projects with an intriguing story. CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 25 – CLICK HERE this week to visit the latest feature in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS which looks at the Rudolph Classic Roadster, known in the UK as the Evergreen Roadster, a very tasteful replica of the VW Typ 14 Karmann-Ghia convertible.
CKC&S 26 – Delighted this week to pay homage to a very influential company of the sixties that produced alloy wheels, steering wheels, driving gloves, sill kick-plates and countless other go-faster parts! CLICK HERE to visit that one.
CKC&S 27 – A nice little profile of a very talented designer called Alan Ponsford. Best known within the bus and coach spheres he also just happened to design the brilliant AVA K1 back in the mid-eighties – CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 28 – Although we’ve probably all heard of Allard Motor Company and their cars like the J2X it’s the company’s lesser-known activities that have always interested me. They did offer a couple of their cars in kit form, the drag racer Dragon and the subject of our CKC&S feature this week, the Ford Anglia conversion kit, the ALLARDETTE. Read all about it HERE.
CKC&S 29 – This week’s feature in Classic Kitcars & Specials takes a look at a very important accessory from the sixties that every wannabe boy racer wanted fitting to their engine – the Shorrock Supercharger.
We take a look at the company’s history and also the involvement of Sydney Allard. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 30 – Not a kitcar of course but the Citroën Bijou was an incredibly low-volume car for a mainstream manufacturer and had a fascinating story that we think you’ll enjoy. CLICK HERE to go there.
2023
CKC&S 31 – This week’s subject in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS is the industrial designer David Ogle. We’ve surely all heard about the company’s design work and of course, the Ogle Mini but the founder’s history is lesser known. An amazing chap, he tragically died in a road accident in May 1962 in the prototype Lightweight GT version of the Ogle SX1000. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 32 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we take a look at the work of the talented engineer, Geoffrey Rumble who was the man behind Dastle racing cars and later on, RaceBox trailers with his son, James. CLICK HERE to read that one.
CKC&S 33 – A perfect example of core CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS subject matter this week in the shape of trials king, Mike Cannon whose cars dominated that scene in the UK for many, many years. The majority of his cars were sold in kit form too. Even now you’ll see Cannons competing on the hills and although maybe not be as competitive nowadays they are still being enjoyed.
Cannon hated fuss and detailed information is very hard to find even on the ‘interweb’ so sit back and enjoy this look at a very underrated and modest engineer who delighted in describing himself as ‘a bit of a dabbler’. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 34 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we turn our attention to a gifted artisan of GRP called (‘the other’) Jim Clark who worked within our industry for many years and who built his reputation in top-line motorsport in the sixties and seventies when he worked for Lotus (where he was given the ‘other’ Jim Clark nickname and then Specialised Mouldings. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 35 – This week we take a look at the considerable business career of Sir Jack Brabham outside of Formula One and building Brabham racing cars with his friend Ron Tauranac. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 36 – This week in CLASSIC KITCARS & SPECIALS we take a look at the career of Brian Hart; racer, tuner, F1 engine builder and very talented engineer. He cut his teeth racing and winning championships in one of Len Terry’s Terrier kitcars that he built himself and his story is a fascinating one. CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 37 – This week’s CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS takes a look at the unsung work of the amazingly talented Cyril Malem who amongst many other activities was the custodian of various Siva models in the late seventies. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 38 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we pay tribute to the late John Parradine, manufacturer at various times of the Deltayn Proteus, Pegasus and JJR 525. A thoroughly decent bloke who deserved huge success, particularly with the Pegasus. He got so close, too. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 39 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look back to a man who lived, breathed and fabricated thousands of exhausts and manifolds in his career – Mike the Pipe, aka Mike Randall. A craftsman of steel he could bend and shape all manner of exhaust systems. Even today people are still trying to find out where he is based! CLICK HERE to read more.
CKC&S 40 – This week’s CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS takes a look at the colourful character that was Guy Salmon one of the UK’s most successful cars dealers and the man behind the Guy Salmon Mini GT in 1971. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 41 – The subject in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS this week is one of the great tuners of the sixties, The Aquaplane Company. If you had a Ford or an A-Series engine and/or a Special powered by same, they had a whole catalogue of go-faster goodies with which to tempt you! CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 42 – This week we look at another of the great sixties tuners, this time a company with a Ford bent – Superspeed (Conversions) Ltd, run by John and Mike Young. A fascinating story that took in car sales, motorsport, general tuning work while they converted Ford road cars into very rapid machines. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 43 – This week we have a feature on one of the sixties’ most important engine tuners and speedshops, Nerus Engineering Company, who certainly had one of the loyalist followings. They were one of the Rye, East Sussex area automotive specialists and had a fascinating story. CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 44 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look at one of the pioneers of the aftermarket steering wheel boom of the sixties, Peter Springall and his later associations with Alexander Engineering (Springalex) and ACMC (Tema). CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 45 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS, we focus on the amazing story of the equally amazing Desmond ‘Dizzy’ Addicott. We know his name for being the man that really spawned the Mini Marcos and Mini-Jem thanks to his D.A.R.T Mini Special but there was so much more to him than just that and that was just the very tip of the iceberg. A truly incredible man, a real boy’s own hero if ever there was one. CLICK HERE to read more.
CKC&S 46 – This week in Classic Kit Cars & Specials, we look at George Robinson’s Vegantune operation and primarily their VTA twin cam engine. Possibly best-known to kitcar enthusiasts for their brilliant Evante we felt it time to look at their engine prowess. CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 47 – This week in Classic Kit Cars & Specials, we head across the Atlantic to look at the story of Charles ‘Honest Charley’ Card Jr, the pioneer of automotive mail-order as we know it. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 48 – This week in Classic Kit Cars & Specials – and inspired by seeing Lawson Cooper’s stunning – and the only one left – Beaujangle Can-Am at Malvern we tell the story of the Manchester-based early seventies kitcar maker Beaujangle Enterprises Ltd. CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 49 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look at a new autobiography from Ian Flux called ‘For Flux Sake’. A long overdue story of a top club – and international – racing driver – CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 50 – This time, we explore the history of Charles Lucas and Roy Thomas’ Titan racing car marque. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 51 – The subject in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS this time is the incredibly underrated designer, Paul Bailey. CLICK HERE
CKC&S 52 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look at the Reynard Inverter, the legendary designer’s ‘semi-retirement’ project, a road-legal trackday car that Reynard himself drove in the 750 Motor Club’s Bikesports series between 2011-2014. Around 11 were sold. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 53 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look at the Ginetta G10 V8 and its sister four-cylinder model the G11. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 54 – This week we take a look at the very interesting Roy Winkelmann Racing team that did Formula Junior and Formula 2 in the sixties and is also credited with ‘discovering’ a brilliant young Austrian driver – and later posthumous F1 world champion – Jochen Rindt. CLICK HERE to read more.
CKC&S 55 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look back some 52-years. Motor-racing and beach buggies are often mentioned in the same sentence but on December 27, 1971, as part of the Christmas meeting at Brands Hatch, there was a seven-lap Beach Buggy race, waved away by a pre-Knighted Stirling Moss! CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 56 – This week in Classic Kit Cars & Specials we tell the story of the brilliant little FERVES RANGER CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 57 – This time in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look at a great old kit and specialist car marque, TRIDENT CARS and their Venturer, Clipper and Tycoon models. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 58 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS STEVE HOLE tells the story of the little-known sixties LANDER R6 kitcar and the company behind it. CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 59 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look at the work of the skilled engineer, Alan Fraser who ran some hugely successful tuned Hillman Imps during the sixties before launching the ill-fated Fraser GT, designed by the gifted, yet underrated Tom Killeen. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 60 – Delighted to be able to tell the story of the iconic metal bashers par excellence Grand Prix Metalcraft in Classic Kit Cars & Specials. An incredibly versatile company who were involved in all forms of sixties and seventies motorsport, while also involved in the specialist car industry. CLICK HERE to read our tribute.
CKC&S 61 – This week we look at one of the ‘Big Three’ Mini A-Series tuners (along with Speedwell and Downton) of the sixties (they also worked on MGB, Anglia, Imp, Austin 1100 and more) – TAURUS PERFORMANCE TUNING. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 62 – This week we have a tribute to gifted designer Tony Hilder’s career in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 63 – This week we take a look at one of the 356-inspired ‘specials’ from the fifties with this one coming from Dannenhauer & Stauss, a Stuttgart-based Volkswagen coachbuilder. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 64 – This week in Classic Kit Cars & Specials we look at the Elva BMW MkVII S and particularly an example owned by a pre-knighted Stirling Moss in which he competed in the FIA Cartier Championship for Historic Cars in 1987. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 65 – This week in Classic Kit Cars & Specials we tell the story of one of the UK’s largest purveyors of Beetle tuning and performance parts, Cartune, which still exists to this day. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 66 – This week in Classic Kit Cars & Specials we tell the story of one of Marcos’ lesser-known models CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 67 – This week in Classic Kit Cars & Specials we look at the origins of the Triplex name and how they amalgamated with, first Pilkington and then Indestructo Glass to dominate the UK marketplace for windscreens and other automotive glazing. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 68 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look at a curious little mid-engined two-seater from the seventies that hailed from Suffolk. It wasn’t a kitcar but was very specialist and deserved to do better than the handful of sales it actually got. CLICK HERE TO GO THERE.
CKC&S 69 – Sad to hear of the death of the legendary designer Marcelo Gandini this week. CLICK HERE to read a little obituary.
CKC&S 70 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS it’s a look at a high-profile sixties motorsport personality, director of Ogle Design and chicken farmer, John Ogier. His is a fascinating story. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 71 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we focus on a tiny kitcar that a pre-knighted Stirling Moss owned and loved, the TiCi commuter city car designed by Anthony Hill. CLICK HERE to go there NOW.
CKC&S 72 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look at the activities of legendary bike racer, tuner, engine builder, motorcycle dealer, team principal and rider sponsor, Geoff Monty. A remarkable chap he was also one of the few official Unipower GT sales agents, based in Edenbridge, Kent. CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 73 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we look at the first proper motorsport sponsorship deal when Yeoman Credit teamed up with British Racing Partnership in 1959, which saw their cars re-branded with Yeoman logos and the team re-named Yeoman Credit Racing Team CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 74 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we focus on a company called Officine Nardi. If you have an MX-5, your car might have come with the optional beautiful walnut-rimmed Nardi steering wheel upgrade? However, there was so much more to the Italian company than that. CLICK HERE to find out more.
CKC&S 75 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we take a look at a very talented and notable motorsport engineer called David Lazenby, who worked for Lotus (race team and Lotus Components), founded Hawke Racing Cars and Pace Products. CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 76 – This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS we feature the UK’s first Porsche 911 replica. You are thinking Covin, right? Well, although that was the best and best-known of the three air-cooled replicas of the iconic 911, the first came from a company called AMPLAS in the form of the PULSAR … CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 77 – In CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS this week we look at a very famous racing driver school, founded by a chap called Bill Knight, set up at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France. Between 1963 and 1998 they were responsible for around thirty future F1 drivers including world champions like Alain Prost and Damon Hill CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 78 – In CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS this week. Ever wondered why the iconic Le MANS running start disappeared after the 1969 race? STEVE HOLE tells the story of John Woolfe. PRESS THIS LINK!
CKC&S 79 – This week in Classic Kit Cars & Specials we look at the Guyson E12 and the other considerable motorsport activities of the company behind it GUYSON INTERNATIONAL. CLICK HERE.
CKC&S 80 – This time in Classic Kit Cars & Specials we look at the amazing land speed record breaker on two-wheel Burt Munro whose ‘up to 1000cc’ world record in 1967 still stands… CLICK HERE to go there.
CKC&S 81 – This week we fondly remember Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground used by us and lots of other magazine for feature-work using the four-mile circuit over the years, while also looking at its early history as an RAF base. CLICK HERE to find out more.
CKC&S 82 – This week we pay a fond tribute to one of the kitcar industry’s greatest-ever designers, DENNIS ADAMS, who sadly died recently. CLICK HERE to go there.
