Help - Oddball request

So we are talking EV powerplant and some sort of defunct European marque - or British? If before Brexit, I guess they are synonymous.

In the UK there are a few names that come to mind. I got it - Hillman. It's the new Imp..... :) Maybe not. First car I drove and first I wrote off in a fiery head on crash.

On a different tack, did you ever take a look at https://www.caradisiac.com/virago-cars-coupe-l-ecossaise-inconnue-8571.htm Different concept and a shame that it didn't get any further. I worked on a business plan with my brother who tried to take that mainstream.
 
Beachy...maybe give Flatlands Engineering a call in Norfolk, they're buggy specialists and UK based.

PS That is one cool buggy
 
NoRiders said:
Beachy...maybe give Flatlands Engineering a call in Norfolk, they're buggy specialists and UK based.

PS That is one cool buggy

FUNNY YOU SHOULD SAY THAT NR !!!! [ And thanx for the kind words. ]

I ordered a body from them and my pal from Germany drove over and collected it 2 weeks ago !

He wasn't going to make it at first, saying he had no interest in that model for 4-5 years and the mould was "tired" Anyway I persuaded him and he really did us a favour with the last listed price [ 4 years old ! ] AND he made it in less than a week. Unfortunately he does not have the moulds for the gullwing top.

Purely by coincidence the day after I sent the deposit, my German pal found an abandoned kit 15 miles from where he lives !!! What's the chances eh ? So he bought that as well as it had the windscreen [ Renault Dauphine ] and more importantly the posts. The guy also thinks he knows where to locate a secondhand gullwing hardtop.

Teazer - the rolling chassis is from a company that already makes an electric sporting car - but the body style is so fugly it isn't true. Probably why they are happy for us to develop our own car using their base. I did some development work for them 8 years ago - and my German friend currently makes components for some of their mainstay products.The major plus is that their car already has full EU type approval. They are a large company and have been involved with electric vehicles for over 15 years.

The performance is truly astonishing as stated ........ 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. With that power configuration, top speed is a pedestrian 110 mph. Range is pretty good - 150 miles on max performance.

The defunct marque is EUROPEAN - think low volume exotic.
 
"The defunct marque is EUROPEAN - think low volume exotic."


that brings us back to leyland.....convertible marina perhaps
 
spotty said:
"The defunct marque is EUROPEAN - think low volume exotic."


that brings us back to leyland.....convertible marina perhaps
I thought the Marina was a South African car and Leyland Australian. I get confused with all the Austin and Morris iterations.
 
Marina was made in the UK and was an ugly failure of a car - and very British leyland. Could have been exported fully assembled or CKD for build in other countries. Leyland used to include MG, Austin, Morris, Riley, and others that I can't recall right now.
 
teazer said:
Marina was made in the UK and was an ugly failure of a car - and very British leyland. Could have been exported fully assembled or CKD for build in other countries. Leyland used to include MG, Austin, Morris, Riley, and others that I can't recall right now.

ALL best forgotten !!!! Some of the models were made under licence - I seem to recall Israel being involved with one model ? In the old days of a separate chassis most UK manufacturer's exported rolling platforms or cab / chassis' / CKD

BL gathered ALL the old individual marque names [ and rights ] and slapped various badges on different models. Hence you had variations such as Morris, Austin, Wolseley, Riley and MG all on essentially the same car ! Some had slight sheet metal changes [ usually the grill ] and cars like the MG, Riley might have twin carbs. Is it any wonder the British car industry went the same way as the bikes ?
 
And the Roots Group was no better, but I did enjoy my Imp Sport or was it a Sunbeam? No. My first car was a modified IMP with sport cam and twin crabs and really suspect oil drain to the block. I later had a red coupe so that must have been the Sunbeam.

So long ago and best forgotten.

Now back to our regular programming. European and small numbers would suggest Alpine or Alpina but they are still around.

How about Adler or Borgward?
 
teazer said:
And the Roots Group was no better, but I did enjoy my Imp Sport or was it a Sunbeam? No. My first car was a modified IMP with sport cam and twin crabs and really suspect oil drain to the block. I later had a red coupe so that must have been the Sunbeam.

So long ago and best forgotten.

Now back to our regular programming. European and small numbers would suggest Alpine or Alpina but they are still around.

How about Adler or Borgward?

I was a sales manager for a while at a Triumph, Rover, Rootes dealership. Sunbeam Stiletto - can't remember any more. Remember the horrible [ and dangerous ] camber on the front axle ? At one stage I marketed a de-camber kit. Must have save countless accidents ! I did end up with a wicked Imp "Q car" - VAN ! All the suspension mods - plus a Shorrock supercharger. Tee hee.

I had a couple of Alpine GTA Turbo's - vastly underated. I briefly had a 110, which I sold to my brother in law. No, and no.

Think of the smaller countries that produced off the wall cars.

BTW - the white Coupe was a car I collaborated on in the early 80's - Alfasud powertrain.
 

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This is all your fault. Why did I have to remember that Imp obsession I used to have. Funny thing is that they looked much better in my memory than in pictures I found on the net. Funny how that works.

That was the first car I wrote off. Head on collision and it burst into flames with me still inside. That was an exciting few minutes coming to and getting out of the car since the doors didn't want to open... Fortunately my burns weren't bad but not even the paint was left on the car. Who thought it was a good idea to have teh gas tank in the front of a car?
 
teazer said:
This is all your fault. Why did I have to remember that Imp obsession I used to have. Funny thing is that they looked much better in my memory than in pictures I found on the net. Funny how that works.

That was the first car I wrote off. Head on collision and it burst into flames with me still inside. That was an exciting few minutes coming to and getting out of the car since the doors didn't want to open... Fortunately my burns weren't bad but not even the paint was left on the car. Who thought it was a good idea to have teh gas tank in the front of a car?

Errrr - VW Beetle ......... sitting over your lap !! Many others I'm sure were basically not fit for purpose in the day.Glad you managed to escape = otherwise we wouldn't have the benefit of your sage words here !!
 
julian.allard66 said:
The white car looks similar to an AC ME3000

Sent from my SM-T560 using Tapatalk

Looks quite like a Panther Solo - but we designed it 4 years before !!! Oh, and the chassis was far superior.
 
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