Following an email from a Fairthorpe enthusiast on the other side of the world asking about Fairthorpe Rockettes here is a picture of one my father and i rebuilt for John Bonnett. The car had been fitted with a road/race spec 1600 Ford engine on twin Webers. When John decided it was time to part with the car we bought it and put it back to a 6 cylinder Vitesse engine and overdrive gearbox before selling it on. It was a very potent machine with the Ford engine but it was smooth and had plenty of torque with the Triumph engine, ideal for covering long distances at pace (it sounded good too!) This picture was taken in the late 80`s at a Sandown Park kit car show and yes that is me with a bit more hair!
This is the third time I've tried to post a comment so probably all three will spring out of the ether.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the picture of my Rockette has brought back some good memories particularly of the wonderful job Frank and Martin did with the restoration. And also what a gent Frank was and very good company too.
I used the car for competing in Classic Trials and in 1987/8 it was so well developed that it wiped the floor with everything in its class which so annoyed the Spridget drivers that they ganged up and we were thrown out. Not a standard production car they said and I couldn't argue with that. But it was good while it lasted!!
Many thanks for your kind comments John, it would be nice to know where your Rockette is now as it appears the registration number has been transferred on to something a bit more mundane. Thanks for sending me your file on the car, i will be posting some information/pictures from it on here in the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteAll the best.......Martin
It would be great to see your fathers 3 headlamp Rockette on the road again, I know Andy has had it for a number of years awaiting it`s turn to be restored. It always generates a lot of interest when discussed, I wonder how many were produced with the 3rd headlamp?..........Martin
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