Grease your nipples!

Bob Balding has been in contact to inform me of a discovery he has made whilst working on his MK1 EM. Bob`s car (see the `Frank the Fairthorpe` post) has some damage to the lower wishbone and trunnion on one side, this seems to indicate a previous vertical link failure. The suspension on the front is modified Standard 10 and like the later Triumph Herald/Spitfire units they require periodical lubrication, either with grease or EP oil depending on who you speak to. If this is not carried out the vertical link could wear badly or seize causing it to fracture where it meets the top of the trunnion. The result is a suspension collapse, i have had this happen to me on my first car which was a Herald.

As you can see from Bob`s pictures the collapse has ground the lower wishbone and the bottom of the trunnion which is missing it`s base and grease nipple. What is surprising is that it passed an MOT with this damage late last year! Bob is fitting a new trunnion but is looking for a replacement lower wishbone, either from a MK1 Electron Minor or a Standard 10 which could then be modified to suit. If you can help please contact me and i will put you in touch with him.

American racer located..

Following on from my recent post regarding the yellow racer in America which was pictured with blood shot eyes and a tongue hanging out i had an email from Rich Campbell to tell me he had tracked the car down. He placed an ad with the pictures in Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car magazine and was contacted by Larry Newberry who is the current owner of the car along with two other Fairthorpes. Rich is hoping to visit Larry at some point in the future, hopefully i can post some more pictures and information if Larry is agreeable. A fair number of Fairthorpes were exported to America and several have followed in recent years, if you have any information/pictures past or present let me know and i will pass the information on to Rich who is researching the all things Fairthorpe in America.

Fairthorpes in print

In this months Classic & Sports car magazine Adrian Mancha`s Fairthorpe EM is featured in the `Lost & found` section on page 28. An email from Adrian this week has given an update on his progress since he bought the car to last years Fairthorpe Gathering. He says the radiator is built, mounted and piped as is oil cooler, all brake lines / master cylinders mounted, carbs rebuilt and fitted, exhaust flange cut out on water jet and he hopes to have the manifold built by the end of the week and the shocks are ordered. For more details on the car you can find a lot more information on previous pages of this blog.

4346MV more history but still in hiding!

Over the Christmas period i had an email from Glynn Hobbs regarding my plea for any information on the current whereabouts of 4346MV a mk2 Electron Minor which was fitted with a 1600 Fiat Twin cam engine and 5 speed box. Glynn says he owned the car many years ago having swapped a Land Rover series 1 with Chris Harré-Young to get the car and he used it in Hill climbs and sprints, obviously having a lot of fun with it. It is still on the DVLA website although not licenced since 1986 so the car remains on the missing list! More information and pictures of the car in it`s previous colour when owned by Chris can be found on the previous page (click `older posts` at the base of this page).

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

I`d like to wish all the Fairthorpe enthusiasts around the world a very Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year. If you have a car that needs restoring or just a bit of tinkering to get it back on the road 2012 is `the year` to make it happen. Fairthorpes are appearing at events in increasing numbers so why not come and join in, i will be adding a list here shortly of all the main events Fairthorpes will be taking part in during 2012.
If you would like any advice or encouragement drop me a line and i will be pleased to help. I hope you have enjoyed the blog over the last twelve months, there will be plenty more next year, if there is something you would like to see on here to do with Fairthorpes let me know.............Martin

Pictures of the week, MKV Electron Minor.

This weeks car is the MKV Fairthorpe Electron Minor of Barry Stock which is fitted with a 1300 Spitfire engine. Barry won the furthest Travelled Fairthorpe to this years Gathering at Donington having driven from his home in Ammanford in Wales. The car was registered in 1971 and was previously owned by another club member Alan Lowes, as can be seen from the pictures the car is in very nice condition and unusually for an Electron Minor the MKV`s were built as a 2+2`s. The MKV is a rare beast, i have only seen pictures of 3 cars and probably only a handful were made.

Picture of the week...... American racing Fairthorpe.

This weeks pictures are of a Fairthorpe EM race car in America, they were taken a number of years ago and obviously the owner has a good sense of humour! The car was owned by Bill Clark, then a member of the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club, does anyone know of Bills current whereabouts and whether he still owns the Fairthorpe, his last known address was in Nashville Tennessee.

Electron Minor lost in France!

A while back on the blog i was asking if anyone knew where the MK1 Electron Minor 6037EV was now, the car is seen above alongside my car 789ERO 20 years ago. Following a dig through the Fairthorpe club archives i found the car on a membership form which had a date 10 years after i last saw the car. The guy was only a member for one year so i called the telephone number to enquire if he still owed it. The car was long gone, he had bought it in a dilapidated state having been left open to the elements for a number of years. The hardtop and wire wheels which had been on the car when we sold it were gone and all the trim was soggy and rotten. He had given the Fairthorpe a make over, removing the racing roll bar, respraying it a light blue and having it all re trimmed. The car was then sold to a guy in France but he had no contact information, as he had just bought the car to do up and sell on. The trail looked like it had gone cold but i mentioned the facts to a couple of club members and hey presto the picture below turned up in my inbox.

This car was pictured at the Le Mans Classic in 2008 but unfortunately the owner was not found. I think you will agree if you look at the boot lid and the position of the indicator lamps and Fairthorpe script badge that this is indeed John Ward`s old racecar 6037EV. Another pointer for me is the use of Hillman Imp bonnet hinges on the boot lid and doors, i fitted these as the old original hinges were shot, most people replacing the originals use Herald boot hinges. I am sure the current owner is blissfully unaware of the cars previous competition history, another car with plenty of stories to tell!

HSCC RoadSports Championship Fairthorpe eligibility

Following a recent conversation with Dave Randall the Historic Sports Car Club Road Sports Championship registrar there is some good news for people considering racing their Fairthorpes in that championship. Electron Minors will be accepted with 1147 and 1300cc Triumph engines and now also with 1200cc Ford pre crossflow engines. I dropped Dave an email with a scan of an original Fairthorpe brochure which listed the Ford 1500 GT engine as an option. Dave`s reply was `I would also be prepared to consider a 1500 Ford pre x flow engined car to run in Class C. Our basic rules haven't changed, and this isn't written in the regs, it is at the discretion of the registrar and on a by application basis, but I can assure you that any reasonable application will positively encouraged.` Climax powered Electrons are also eligible so hopefully we may see a Fairthorpe or two competing at some point in the future, they have a very competitive history in the Roadsports championship having won it outright plus winning the class championship a couple of times. For anyone wanting more information about the championship you can contact Dave Randall at the HSCC or take a look on their website http://www.hscc.org.uk/championships.html

Fairthorpe pictures of the week.

Picture of the week this week is of Gethin Jones in his first Electron Minor taken in the early sixties. Shown at an autotest in the Steel Company of Wales car park.
The second picture shows PBW 889 The photo was taken at the start of a Spanish Rally in 2003, Gethin owned this car as well.

789 ERO `tested` in the 70`s!

Whilst on the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club stand at the Classic Car show held at the NEC recently i met with Rob Finegan who is an old friend of Mick Moore. Mick owned my Fairthorpe 789 ERO from the late 60`s through to about 1987, he then sold it to the guy i bought it from in 1989. I have spoken to Mick on several occasions and asked him about photos taken when he was competing in `Little Nero` unfortunately although he has some he is unsure where they are. Rob has come up trumps though and kindly sent me a picture of Mick in 789 at Moor Lane car park, Bolton, 1976, in the Warburton sponsored Autotest. Of his time with the car Rob said `Mickey was pretty quick in those days, there was nothing really to touch him!` The car is now 53 years old and it has been owned for all but five or six by just three people, my Father Frank, myself and Mick.

Fairthorpe `The good old days`

I have been in contact recently with a couple of past Fairthorpe owners who have kindly sent me some pictures taken when Fairthorpes were the competition car of choice. They have given me permission to post them on here for posterity and i`m sure you will get as much enjoyment as i have from looking at them. The picture above was taken at what looks like a grass Autocross and was probably taken in 1959 as the Fairthorpe on the right looks like it might be registered 100 UMY which is Peter Butt`s EM. This car was supplied in light blue gel coat but Was painted crimson red at a very early stage of it`s life, it is still in it`s gel colour here. I think the centre Fairthorpe might be John Green`s car SBL 88 as there is a red hardtop in front of it which John had, his bonnet was later changed to a one off Lenham style as you can see in another picture in this post. The Fairthorpe on the left is an Atomota which may have been driven by Don, Torix or Noreen Bennett. The picture below was taken at Snetterton race track and shows Peter`s Electron Minor 100 UMY ( now in red )on the start line waiting for the flag to be dropped. Both these pictures were taken by former Fairthorpe owner Graham Butcher.

Graham has also sent a picture of himself competing in an Autotest in the mid sixties, Graham`s car was registered 9 AXU and was painted Black. The car was a regular at Autotests and Autocross events for several years before being sold on.

The final picture for todays post was sent by another former owner Ken Coad, his car was registered 100 HX and was generally acknowledged to have been one of the better finished Fairthorpes at that time. Ken`s car was also light blue and is on the left of this picture taken on Ealing Common, probably in 1960.

In the picture from left to right are Ken Coad, John Green who was then also the Fairthorpe works manager, Peter Butt, Gerald Golding and Eric Coad. As mentioned earlier John`s car was now sporting an Ashley style bonnet and was powerd by a Ford Anglia engine as opposed to the original Standard 10 engines in the other cars. Peter Butt still owns his car to this day and for the first thirty years it was campaigned in races, sprints, hillclimbs, Autocrosses and Autotests, i was given my first drive of a Fairthorpe at a Denham grass Autotest in Peter`s car and promptly won the class! There is also an interesting story attached to Ken`s car which i will write about shortly so watch this space!

Fairthorpe windscreen and frame wanted urgently.

Neils Abild is currently looking for a Fairthorpe windscreen frame and pillers, with or with out the screen itself. Neils is racing his car which was featured in an earlier article on this blog, at the moment he is running with an aero screen but for some events he has to have an original type screen and frame on the car. If you have one which you no longer need and are willing to sell please contact me at kartman.nascar24@btinternet.com and i will put you in contact.

Electron Minor wiring loom colour chart.

I have been asked by several owners recently about wiring colours for Electron Minors.

I`m sure many Fairthorpe owners are confronted by the usual birds nest of different coloured wires behind the dash board and under the engine bay! Most classic cars of that age have had the wiring added to or modified over the years so to give you a helping hand here is the original sheet supplied to Fairthorpe builders when they received their kit. This as can be seen from it`s title relates to kits supplied in 1960 but it should be pretty similar for most years. Please bear in mind that your car may have had something different done to it since it was originally put together, this is what it should have had when new.

Another Fairthorpe returns to the roads of Europe.

Henry Brentjens from Holland has owned his Fairthorpe Electron Minor mk1 since 1978, he bought it from a chap in Berkshire and did a lot of work to it before getting a Dutch MOT and licence plate. Henry drove the car over to the UK several times in the early eighties, but like many classic cars lack of time and money meant that the car subsequently sat unused for 15 years. Encouraged by some of his old friends in the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club Henry once again embarked on a rebuild that took him over a year to complete, now that he has it on the road again he is looking forward to putting some more miles on the car. How about another trip to the UK next year Henry, we`d love to see you at a club event with the car.

Fairthorpe in print:- December issue of Classic & Sports Car magazine

In the latest issue of Classic & Sports Car magazine is a piece on the Fairthorpe Electrina 423 NDV which i bought from the original owner Frank Oak earlier this year. The item is in the `Lost & Found` section of the magazine. More details on the car plus pictures can be found in an earlier post on this blog.

The return of Frank the Fairthorpe!

I had a call recently from Bob Balding to say he was thinking of purchasing a mk1 EM and wanted to chat about Fairthorpes, i`m pleased to say a week later he called back to confirm he was the new owner of the car. It is a 1960 EM which has had an age related plate fitted, CSL 674 has a Dolomite 1300cc engine with a single S.U carb on it. It is British Racing Green and fitted with a nice hood and has a beige leather interior (yes i did say leather) so someone has spent some money on the car in the past. Having dug around in the depths of the F.S.C.C Fairthorpe records i managed to match the chassis number with the cars original registration number which was 349 PRA. This car and i have crossed paths in the past, my father Frank and i purchased the low mileage car from it`s original owner 20 odd years ago at which point it was sprayed an old English white with red trim and hood.

The car was bought from us by Denise Howe, she is pictured here having just bought the Fairthorpe and promptly named it Frank!

We lost track of the car after that but i have seen pictures of the car later painted in BRG still with it`s original number, this picture was taken at the Specials day at Burford Wildlife park, hmm ditch those wheel trims.......

The car is now fitted with wire wheels, Bob would have liked to reunite the car with it`s original number but an RAC data check reveals it is now on a BMW Z4 (sacrilege!) Once the spring arrives he hopes to be attending club events in the EM and is not that far from our Sunday meets at the Greyhound Pub in Northampton, making the sight of five or six Fairthorpes in the car park a distinct possibility.

Spirit of the 60`s Dyrham Park event.

On October 6th a Spirit of the 60`s event was organised at Dyrham Park, this was a venue for Hillclimb events during the 1960`s and various clubs catering for cars of the type that would have competed in period were invited to attend for a parade up the old hill circuit. Chris Gale took part in his Green Electron Minor and his car certainly looks every inch a racer with the screen off, Chris has done a bit of competing in the car in the past and it would be great to see it run in anger again, how about it Chris?

There is a chance for a bit of gentle competition for those of you wanting to see what your Fairthorpes are capable of, each May some of the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club members take their cars to the Prescott Hill climb. The event is open for those that just wish to take part in a parade up the hill or timed runs are available for those who want to throw their cars about a bit. I will post more details nearer to the event.

Fairthorpes in competition.

I have been loaned an MG Car Club race programme for the Brands Hatch Speed Trial which took place on 12th March 1961. Brian Gent kindly contacted me with details of it as in class F were a certain Miss N. Bennett and her brother T. Bennett in Fairthorpes running numbers 46 and 47. Having spoken to Noreen on the phone she had no recollection of their placings on the day but recalls those days racing the cars as great fun.

I have scanned the cover and entry listing for them, Brian has also turned up another Fairthorpe in competition, it was at the Valence Hill Climb, Valence School, Nr. Westerham, Kent on 13th July 1974. The event was held by The Sevenoaks & District Motor Club, the car ran in Class C - Modified Sports Cars up to 1300 c.c. it was driven by Martin Brazil and was car number 46, it was described as a Fairthorpe Electron Minor. The programme stated that he was a member of The Gilbern Owners Club. Does anyone know or know of Martin Brazil or have any further details of his EM?

TX Tripper for sale on ebay with Mot, ready to drive away.

There is a TX Tripper currently listed on ebay, the car looks quite nice and has a current MOT and is tax exempt. It is fitted with a twin carb Triumph 1300 engine and the starting price is very reasonable at £1000. Here is the link:- http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120792404388&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123

I would appreciate it if someone who is reading this buys the car could you let me know so i can add the ownership details to my Fairthorpe club records.