Great British Cars often forgotten

[dinkel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjZfIihYnOU

Dino meets TVR Griff. In Belgium so I'm going to meet these guys.

[Hugh Jarse]

hidetheelephants said:

GTRene said:

wow, great little fast car this Vixen GT

Pretty car. This is what the AC3000 should have looked like.

Thanks for the pics, great car.

[mneame]

Allan L said:

Well, I suppose you might forget Lea-Francis but I can't as this one's mine:


and this is what it looked like at the 1938 Motor Show:

Very nice.

My uncle had a 1948 2 1/2 litre sports. Part of the number plate I think was LEA. I've been trying to track it down after it was sold at auction a few years ago. No luck as yet. Next step it to get in touch with the owners club.

[Etypephil]

Roy C said:

sinbaddio said:

How about the Atalanta, built in the UK in the 1930's, albeit only 20 around made and now being revived in Staffordshire!



http://www.atalantamotors.com/template-988bef.html...

After WW2, Atalanta Motors was acquired by R.G. (Dick) Shattock, who eventually produced some of the first fibreglass car bodies.

Trevor Wilkinson used RGS Atalanta bodies to clothe three TVR chassis, sold as the TVR Sports Saloon.

Edited by Roy C on Tuesday 17th November 12:49

I remember RGS Atalanta advertising fibreglass bodies in 1950s / 1960s car magazines "suitable for fitting to larger chassis, such as Jaguar". The body was a good looking two door 2+2 coupe, I never saw one on the road though.

ETA; I couldn't find any photos of the coupes, but these are interesting:

https://www.rgsatalanta.com/

http://www.thecarnut.com/Atalanta.html

Edited by Etypephil on Tuesday 9th July 15:42

[nicanary]

Here's the coupe bodyshell.

[Etypephil]

nicanary said:

Here's the coupe bodyshell.

Thanks, I knew that I wasn't imagining it.
Where did you find that?

[Pothole]

NormanP said:

As the Wikipedia article cited above discusses, the Austin A40 Sports was built by Jensen, a little brother of the Jensen Interceptor (no, not the one you’re thinking of…the 1950 model, so another often forgotten car) - same designer, Eric Neale:

Edited by NormanP on Saturday 24th October 10:26

Edited by NormanP on Saturday 24th October 10:31

What a sad face...

[nicanary]

Etypephil said:

nicanary said:

Here's the coupe bodyshell.

Thanks, I knew that I wasn't imagining it.
Where did you find that?

Google Images. I entered RGS Atalanta coupe, and there it was.

[dartissimus]

sinbaddio said:

How about the Atalanta, built in the UK in the 1930's, albeit only 20 around made and now being revived in Staffordshire!



http://www.atalantamotors.com/template-988bef.html...

My Grandfather had one of the 17 Atalantas built with the Lincoln V12 engine, a 4 seat drop head, possibly like this



Would be worth millions today

[Sebring440]

Pothole said:

NormanP said:

As the Wikipedia article cited above discusses, the Austin A40 Sports was built by Jensen, a little brother of the Jensen Interceptor (no, not the one you’re thinking of…the 1950 model, so another often forgotten car) - same designer, Eric Neale:

Edited by NormanP on Saturday 24th October 10:26

Edited by NormanP on Saturday 24th October 10:31

What a sad face...

It's cringing at being posted on PH!

[Mr Tidy]

Just noticed this thread now it's been resurrected.

So maybe this qualifies, a Gordon-Keeble from 1965. I believe it's Number 48 of 99 - but rumour has it whoever bought what was left when they stopped trading made No. 100 from the left-over bits!

[a8hex]

Mr Tidy said:

Just noticed this thread now it's been resurrected.

So maybe this qualifies, a Gordon-Keeble from 1965. I believe it's Number 48 of 99 - but rumour has it whoever bought what was left when they stopped trading made No. 100 from the left-over bits!

Sadly the Top Gear (pre May & Hammond) article about the Gordon-Keeble doesn't seem to have made it onto YouTube.

[Andrew Gray]

Mr Tidy said:

Just noticed this thread now it's been resurrected.

So maybe this qualifies, a Gordon-Keeble from 1965. I believe it's Number 48 of 99 - but rumour has it whoever bought what was left when they stopped trading made No. 100 from the left-over bits!

Beautiful

[Shezbo]

Andrew Gray said:

Beautiful

Got to agree, one of THE best cars ever....period!

[Sticks.]

I don't know much about these except they were built in Bexhill. Elva, Bexhill museum.





https://www.elva.com/

[Allan L]

mneame said:

My uncle had a 1948 2 1/2 litre sports. Part of the number plate I think was LEA. I've been trying to track it down after it was sold at auction a few years ago. No luck as yet. Next step it to get in touch with the owners club.

I had a 1950 2½ Sports in 1959-66 (Photo below)
The only 1948 2½ litre Sports Lea-Francis I know of was the prototype, registration GKV904. LEA would be a West Bromwich registration but probably later than 1948 - I have no record of a Lea-Francis with such a registration, but The Club may have.

[HealeyV8]

NormanP said:

Often forgotten, but remembered this week: won Car of the Show at the NEC Classic Car Show. Jensen P66 (the prototype ditched in favour of the Interceptor designed by Touring) http://www.classicandsportscar.com/news/classic-ca...

|http://thumbsnap.com/57inelB7[/url]

Theres two in that picture, you can see the back of a Jensen Healey another "often forgotten".

[slurpysi]

Who remembers the Cipher, shown at the 1980 Birmingham motorshow;




Reliant based, I believe 7 were made in total, plus 3 more with different running gear / styling including this Lada based example I am currently restoring;

[TCEvo]

slurpysi said:

Reliant based, I believe 7 were made in total, plus 3 more with different running gear / styling including this Lada based example I am currently restoring;

Anymore info/pics on your car - not come across that sort of combo & sounds very interesting.

[alfaspecial]

slurpysi said:

Who remembers the Cipher, shown at the 1980 Birmingham motorshow;




Reliant based, I believe 7 were made in total, plus 3 more with different running gear / styling including this Lada based example I am currently restoring;

I remember the Cipher. I remember reading an article in what must be the first car magazine ( "Car"!) that I purchased.......
When you are young and impressionable these things tend to 'stick in the mind'.
IIRC the article began "Of all the ways that man has devised of throwing good money after bad, low volume car production ......."

It was a great design, lightweight Reliant 850cc aluminium engine with up-to-the-minute (1980) styling in a no-rust glassfibre body.
But there was no money for development / production due to the recession..... and the fact that HMG has just 'got their fingers burnt' with DeLorean fiasco.

One of those many what-might-have-beens.