Racing Fairthorpe Electron Minor for sale.

CAR IS NOW SOLD

Rare chance to buy a fully race prepared EM with a continuous race history from new. Spencer Arnold is reluctantly parting with his well known car, here are the details:-

1964 FAIRTHORPE ELECTRON MINOR Mk 2 - MOT’d and taxed (exempt) until July 2011. · Raced, sprinted and hill-climbed, until being registered for the road in 1967. · Owned and raced in period by Ted Purcell, and subsequently in the Historic Sports Car Club (HSCC) by Dave Randall (current HSCC Historic Roadsports Champion). · Finished the 2007 HSCC Historic Roadsports (HR) Championship 3rd in Class E (cars up to 1300cc) driven by its current owner. Also came 2nd in Class on its first outing at Silverstone that year, and was driven to and from each race, as the car is MOT’d, taxed and insured.

In 2008 the car was again raced in the HSCC HR Championship, before the engine (1147cc) was removed for inspection and subsequently replaced. Car not raced in 2009 season. · In 2010 a 1296cc Triumph Spitfire race engine was built for the car by Paul Adams of Classic & Modern Engine Services (C&M), with twin 1.5” SU carbs, a C&M tuned inlet manifold, lightweight Midget pistons, Piper camshaft, Phoenix stainless-steel exhaust manifold, Mocal oil cooler and new clutch, with up-rated gaskets used throughout. It was fully tested at C&M before being installed in the car, and was then run-in before being set-up on the rolling road by Tom Ayrie (of Ayrie Tuning) where it was produced 75bhp @ the wheels @ 6,700rpm (with ITG ram-pipe socks fitted). ·

The car then completed one HSCC Historic Roadsports race at Silverstone in October 2010, before being dry-stored. · AVO aluminium adjustable shocks with Faulkner race springs all round. · Aluminium foam-filled racing fuel tank. · MSA/HSCC approved roll-cage, fabricated and installed by Historic Racecar Preparation, West Sussex (HRP). · Padded, period aluminium racing seat, with (in-date) TRW four-point harness (3” straps) · Plumbed-in Lifeline fire extinguisher, and new engine kill-switch. · New battery, plugs, oil and filter. · Fitted with 4 lightweight alloy wheels (6”x13” black minilite-type), with Yokohama racing tyres . · Plus a spare set of 4 Triumph 5.5”x13” steel wheels fitted with Yokohama road tyres). · Spares package includes an unused front clamshell (front wings and bonnet combined), a used (some fibreglass damage) boot-lid, wrap-around Perspex windscreen (Lotus 11 style), tailored inner door panels, a canvas tonneau, various engine bits and items of trim. · The car has current HSCC papers, and would be eligible for FIA papers with minimal changes.

Spencer can be contacted on 07796 115455 and is inviting serious offers on the car.

Where are they now?

This week we have two more where are they now cars, the first of these is registered 6037EV and is currently on the DVLA register but has not been licenced since 2007, it is the car second from right in the picture above taken at a Fairthorpe meeting at the Denham works in 1987.

The car was rebuilt in 1985 by myself my father Frank and Fairthorpe enthusiast Peter Butt from derelict condition for Historic racing driver John Ward and finished in white with his sponsors name down the side.

John enjoyed many class wins with the car before buying a TVR and at that point i bought the car with the intention of racing it myself. Before i got to race it however dad`s old Fairthorpe EM 789ERO surfaced and i needed funds to buy back part of our family! So 6037 was advertised and a buyer found, the racing 1147cc engine was sold and a 1300 engine was fitted along with a later style of bonnet, hardtop, wire wheels and a respray in red with a white stripe. The whereabouts of the car is not currently known to the club, the DVLA register currently lists the car as being blue so in the last 26 years it has been red, white and blue.........very patriotic!

The second car was owned by Chris Harré-Young and registered 4346MV, it was a mk2 fitted with a hardtop (with sunroof). Chris say`s he had fitted a 1600 Fiat Twin Cam engine with twin 40 IDF Weber's attached to a Fiat 5 speed box. The swing arm back axle had adjustable springs to give a small amount of negative camber.

He fitted 14" wire wheels that gave a very good 5th gear pull with a 4.55 diff fitted & good acceleration, Chris would be interested to know what happened to the car, it is also on the DVLA register but has not been licenced since 1986. Any info on the current whereabouts of these two or any other `garage Queen` Fairthorpes would be appreciated..........drop me a line.

The Italian job!

This weeks featured Fairthorpe belongs to Alberto Sassi who lives near Milan Italy, as you can see from the pictures the car has been restored very nicely and has only recently taken to the roads again. Alberto bought the car in 2007 from a friend who had imported the Fairthorpe from England and he has just had the car resprayed in a lovely shade of yellow, the original colour being blue.

This EM was first registered in 1959 and retains a 948cc engine, Alberto is looking forward to using the car for trips into the hills this coming summer.

E-bay does have it`s uses!

Last week i spotted a Fairthorpe coffee mug up for auction on ebay, in the sellers description of it he mentioned that he had bought it in the 70`s when he owned a Fairthorpe. Being the inquisitive type that i am i e-mailed him asking if he could remember what the registration number of the car was as i would like to add the number to my records. I received a reply from the seller which said his family had owned two Fairthorpes at that time, 4346MV and 915PTT and he would be interested to know if either had survived. The sellers name was Chris Harré-Young and i was pleased to be able to give him some good news 915PTT is alive and well and now living in America in the capable hands of Rich Campbell, i was very pleased to be able to put the two of them in touch as their ownership of the car was 30 years apart. Several emails have been swapped over the last week with various bits of information on the car, here is Chris`s memories of it`s time spent with them.

`The car was owned by a Devon farmer & my father came across it not sure how, may have been whilst caravanning down there. The farmer has had an accident in it & the bonnet was trashed & as a result he decided he needed some roll protection. He made up & fitted the 2 "hoops" you can see in the pics. It then stood in a barn. The farmer agreed to sell and in order to get it home they removed the engine there & then & that was brought back to Kent. The farmer made a bracket that bolted to the front of the chassis so it could be towed as a trailer & it was then brought back to Kent.
The bonnet was replaced with the one in the pics from another enthusiast as Roehampton and the car was run for a while but then left. My elder brother then took it over removed the ford lump & fitted an 1147 Triumph Spitfire engine & overdrive box. This engine & box was from my own Fairthorpe as I had fitted a 1600 Fiat twin can with 5 speed box.
As far as I can remember it was then run for a time & then sold. Having thought about it I believe my brother ran it until mid 1981.`
Rich then takes up the story`The history I was given on the car was that John Heseltine had the car restored by Beaufort Restoration Services in Kent back in the early 1980s. Heseltine raced another Fairthorpe with the HSCC, and put this one together as a racer -- but then sold it to a young man in California. It was driven as a street car in California for a number of years -- then was parked for 10 or 15 years. I bought it a couple of years ago and brought it to the East Coast, and I plan to race it with the Vintage Sports Car Club of America.`

The car is fitted with a Spitfire 1147cc engine with an overdrive gearbox and whilst in Chris`s familys ownership had a single large SU carb fitted which has a purpose made stainless inlet manifold & is apparently a very effective setup, better than the twin smaller SU's in Chris`s opinion.

The car is shortly due back from the paintshop and Rich is aiming to be out racing it this year in Historic events.
915PTT in America before the visit to the paintshop.

As a foot note to the story the mug didn`t sell! So if you would like a 70`s Fairthorpe coffee mug follow the link and contact Chris through e-bay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fairthorpe-Mug-/200580736961?pt=UK_Car_Parts_Vehicles_Automobila_ET&hash=item2eb38b27c1

I`m sure many of the surviving Fairthorpes have interesting stories to tell so if you once owned a car drop me a line and i may be able to piece together some more history!