Something of a mystery. For a point please tell me the name of this car and what engine it used. Any other information as to who built it will be greatly received and rewarded with another point!
Experts?
Pros?
Ford engine?
Unusually for this sort of car, it's not Ford powered
The badge on the radiator grille looks like a seahorse.
Was it called something like the Hippocampus GT? :D
Hmm..was it powered by a common engine, such as Austin, or a more obscure make?
I think the badge is a seahorse, yes but I don't think it has a link to the name of the car! :D
The engine that powered it is from a common make, though a little sportier than an Austin unit
Triumph engine?
Not that
MG engine?
Yep, MG engine it is!
Now for the difficult part - what's it called?
Harding?
Not Harding.
Sparrowe?
Is this a Fairlite, the marque made by the Walklett Brothers before it became Ginetta.
It is perhaps a G3 from 1961? Reverse-issue 'TPK' registration numbers commenced in March 1961.
Not a Sparrowe and not a Fairlite. As far as I know this doesn't use any of the proprietary bodies of the '50s, but is completely homebuilt. You're right about the 1961 date though!
I have to say I haven't seen this car before but it could be hiding somewhere in my magazine library :-\
Hmmm..
What put me on to Fairlite was that I found a picture of a Fairlite G3 convertible with the registration number 240 TPK.
Since the puzzle car has the very next number 241 TPK I thought it figured that it was probably registered at the same time most probably by the same people! Also the puzzle car does look broadly similar to the Fairlite at the front, although with a coupe body I figured it was some kind of prototype (for the G4?) that never took off.
So if it's not a Fairlite that's some coincidence that it's the very next registration number..
So is it a Ginetta?
Quote from: Carnut on October 15, 2011, 08:18:04 AM
So is it a Ginetta?
Or are you saying it's not any 'known' make but a complete one-off built by an enthusiast?
It wasn't registered as a Ginetta, that's for sure. As I said it is something of a mystery to me. I got this picture from the son of the chap in the photo who was the car's second owner for a time in the mid-late '60s. He isn't sure of it's provenance but it's assumed to be a totally home built effort.
I personally don't really see too much similarity with the G3/ Fairlite, the grille opening on this car is much higher up and of a completely different shape, though it is very unusual that it is only one registration number away from that car pictured, however TPK is (I believe) a Surrey registration and Ginetta cars were based in Suffolk in 1961, so it's unlikely that car was an ex-works car. Like I said, a bit of a mystery!
PK was Surrey, yes, which I thought a bit odd for the Fairlite.
Personally I think the grille opening is a bit similar to the Fairlite - although it is higher up it's generally the same shape.
I think the fact that it's a consecutive number must be relevant though, otherwise it would be just too much of a coincidence that two different glass fibre specials that are similar-looking were registered by different people at almost exactly the same time on the same day... Hmmm, as I said before!
So it would seem the fact that this car is registered consecutively with a Fairlite is pure coincidence, nothing more, as it has nothing whatsoever to do with any Fairlite or Ginetta!
Seems it's the one and only 'Turandot', a Ford 100E-based special with an MG TC engine, made in 1960/61, and a very professional effort it looks too!
I wonder if it survivies?
Yes, that's the one, well done! Unfortunately I've no more information about it, it would be great to think it still existed somewhere but that does seem unlikely after all these years
Quote from: barrett on October 27, 2011, 03:07:29 AM
Yes, that's the one, well done! Unfortunately I've no more information about it, it would be great to think it still existed somewhere but that does seem unlikely after all these years
I don't really believe in coincidences, and wouldn't be surprised if the fact it's consecutively registered with a Fairlite G3 might be because the bloke who built it also built himself a Fairlite around the same time and registered both of them whilst he was at it.
Unfortunately Surrey County Council, like some other councils, handed over all their historical vehicle registration records to that behemoth the DVLA in Swansea to put on to their shiny new computer. Trouble is, once the DVLA had transferred the records (ONLY those cars still in use though..) they proceeded to destroy all the old records going back to 1903, an act so criminal someone should have been thrown into the Tower of London for it.
The sensible councils kept their own historical records, and it is possible to find out from quite a few of them who registered what car and when, going right back to 1903. Not Surrey, however...