Discussion
A friend of mine sent me this account of his early days building a Special , which we thought might be of interest on here, and im as intrigued as he is, to know if it's likely that his car had a little TVR DNA.. ?
"Way back sometime in 1955 and when i was 17 , i decided i would have to build my own sports car if i wanted one - a Ford Special perhaps.
I couldn`t afford a Lotus 7 or "Rochdale" or "Ashley" kit cars.
After looking in various magazines and pricing "bits", i stumbled across an advert in "The Lancashire Daily Post" for an abandoned car project in Blackpool, due to the owner emigrating.
I think the seller was a Mr Patterson or Patten? and he had amassed this load of Ford Pop bits along with a brand new Ford chassis, etc, so i went along to see him.
He told me that if i was interested, he could organise the supply of a second hand fibreglass body, that had been used on some other project, and that it would be "cheap" but would need work to fit the Ford chassis.
I bought the project and brought it home to Preston, where i began assembling it, incorporating various Morris bits, seeing that i was an apprentice mechanic at Loxhams Morriservices (Prestons` Morris, Wolseley, Riley & MG Dealership).
We are not as skilled as we think we are aged 17 or 18, but i somehow got it built and was on the road two years later.
The photo`s show :-
A couple of the newly completed "Special" on the banks of the river Ribble at Preston.
The car during build.
One of me sat in the car, in the driveway of our house.
Note the reconstructed "nose" on the RGS shell , with the wider air intake prior to fitting a new type of "crossflow" rad` - to help with the usual overheating problems !!
Sometime later a chap told me that the fibreglass body i was using was an RGS Atlanta shell supplied by a chap called Dick Shattock, based somewhere in the Midlands.
Also, that there was a bloke in Blackpool who had a car with exactly the same bodyshell, and that he was using it to clothe some experimental multi-tubular chassis that he was building ??
Apparently these chassis were being designed to accept all Austin A40 bits !!
I often wonder if this Blackpool chap could have been Trevor Wilkinson before he started TVR .
I never thought about it at the time, but it is more than likely that the body shell i bought all those years ago was one that Trevor had "hacked" around for some of his projects.
Thinking about it now, it`s unlikely that anybody else in the Blackpool / Fylde region , would have a "used" RGS fiberglass body for sale him.
Fiberglass was still in its` infancy in 1955 and was only being used for lampshades and machine guards, etc, as i found out when i needed resin & mat !"
"Way back sometime in 1955 and when i was 17 , i decided i would have to build my own sports car if i wanted one - a Ford Special perhaps.
I couldn`t afford a Lotus 7 or "Rochdale" or "Ashley" kit cars.
After looking in various magazines and pricing "bits", i stumbled across an advert in "The Lancashire Daily Post" for an abandoned car project in Blackpool, due to the owner emigrating.
I think the seller was a Mr Patterson or Patten? and he had amassed this load of Ford Pop bits along with a brand new Ford chassis, etc, so i went along to see him.
He told me that if i was interested, he could organise the supply of a second hand fibreglass body, that had been used on some other project, and that it would be "cheap" but would need work to fit the Ford chassis.
I bought the project and brought it home to Preston, where i began assembling it, incorporating various Morris bits, seeing that i was an apprentice mechanic at Loxhams Morriservices (Prestons` Morris, Wolseley, Riley & MG Dealership).
We are not as skilled as we think we are aged 17 or 18, but i somehow got it built and was on the road two years later.
The photo`s show :-
A couple of the newly completed "Special" on the banks of the river Ribble at Preston.
The car during build.
One of me sat in the car, in the driveway of our house.
Note the reconstructed "nose" on the RGS shell , with the wider air intake prior to fitting a new type of "crossflow" rad` - to help with the usual overheating problems !!
Sometime later a chap told me that the fibreglass body i was using was an RGS Atlanta shell supplied by a chap called Dick Shattock, based somewhere in the Midlands.
Also, that there was a bloke in Blackpool who had a car with exactly the same bodyshell, and that he was using it to clothe some experimental multi-tubular chassis that he was building ??
Apparently these chassis were being designed to accept all Austin A40 bits !!
I often wonder if this Blackpool chap could have been Trevor Wilkinson before he started TVR .
I never thought about it at the time, but it is more than likely that the body shell i bought all those years ago was one that Trevor had "hacked" around for some of his projects.
Thinking about it now, it`s unlikely that anybody else in the Blackpool / Fylde region , would have a "used" RGS fiberglass body for sale him.
Fiberglass was still in its` infancy in 1955 and was only being used for lampshades and machine guards, etc, as i found out when i needed resin & mat !"
If you have a copy of Filby's The Early Years see pages 22 and 25 very similar RGS body on a TVR chassis.
The front wheel arch and vertical vents in front of the scuttle are very similar.
According to Filby the car was the 17th TVR built reg EFV 748. Filby also says there were 3 Sports Saloons built may be it was part of that run or even the body of car in the book.
If you look at your second photo it shows remnants of a square number plate on the right hand front side. The photo in Filby page 22 shows a similar square number plate in the same position. There also seems to be the same twin stripes and a very similar aero screen support to the hillclimb car. The offside wing also seems to be cut away where on the TVR the side exhaust exited.
The car is entered at Barbon Hill Climb 1955 number 55 there may be a record of the entry list. Maybe a coincidence but looks very similar.
Anyone know the history / owner of the car in Filby's book.
Rob
The front wheel arch and vertical vents in front of the scuttle are very similar.
According to Filby the car was the 17th TVR built reg EFV 748. Filby also says there were 3 Sports Saloons built may be it was part of that run or even the body of car in the book.
If you look at your second photo it shows remnants of a square number plate on the right hand front side. The photo in Filby page 22 shows a similar square number plate in the same position. There also seems to be the same twin stripes and a very similar aero screen support to the hillclimb car. The offside wing also seems to be cut away where on the TVR the side exhaust exited.
The car is entered at Barbon Hill Climb 1955 number 55 there may be a record of the entry list. Maybe a coincidence but looks very similar.
Anyone know the history / owner of the car in Filby's book.
Rob
Edited by RobMk2a on Thursday 16th April 18:46
Edited by RobMk2a on Thursday 16th April 18:55
Edited by RobMk2a on Thursday 16th April 19:00
If you search on a thread about RGS Atalantas or TVR Soorts Saloons you will see this photo posted by Rich Carter.
This car has the same reg as the RGS hill climb car in Filby's book but the photo is 1959 with a different body. Is it the same car / chassis after the body was sold to your friend,
Rob
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