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.

SOLD Fairthorpe EM1 for sale. SOLD

I have had a call from FSCC club member David Boucher who has decided to sell his MK1 Electron Minor which is Standard 10 based. The car has been restored to a rolling chassis stage with engine and gearbox done also. The bodyshell etc is all there but needs fitting and the restoration completing, this is comparatively a quick resto job as a lot of the graft and expense has been done. Much money has been spent on among other things a new set of Dampertech adjustable shock absorbers with springs ( cost £460 ), all new braking system and cylinders, ball joints, trunnions etc. The engine is a 948cc Standard 10/ Triumph with twin SU carbs and has had a new water pump and timing chain fitted. The car comes with a period Smiths heater, original Fairthorpe bonnet badge and a good hood. Dave tells me that the body work is not bad, the car has the electron style nose, the interior trim is all there but only good for patterns now and the original Fairthorpe `tin bucket seats` are there but rotten (i have a mold to make new fibreglass ones). There is no logbook with the car but he has the original chassis plate, number plates and an old tax disc. The car should be eligible for it`s original number and a log book from the DVLA by going through the Fairthorpe club once the car is nearing completion.
You can see pictures now on http://www.photobucket.com/

You can sign in using the word DGBOUCHER and use the word ELECTRON as the password (all upper case). The car is in Berkshire, Slough area and he is looking for £3000 which i think is not bad as a car needing full restoration sold at auction in the last couple of months for £2200 ( see an earlier post). He has asked for contact by email as he does shift work, he can be contacted on d.boucher789@btinternet.com

The car has now been sold to FSCC member David Martin, i will put a progress report on here as he gets near to getting the car back on the road.

Atomota survivor

I recently met with Brian Waters the owner of one of only two known complete Fairthorpe Atomotas, Brian has owned the car since the mid 80`s when he bought it from Fairthorpe. AVM Don Bennett had the car as a restoration project but realising he would not get round to the rebuild agreed to sell it to Brian, a princely sum of £100 was agreed and Brian still has the receipt. The Atomota came with it`s original log book which shows the original colour to be blue but this was later changed to Rolls Royce Sand, the colour it is in now.

The car needs a full restoration but is mostly complete and is fitted with a 948cc Standard 10 engine with twin Su carburetters, he also purchased a complete BSA engine as fitted to some Atomota`s from Fairthorpe at the same time. Brian intends to restore the car in due course, i`m sure many of you like me look forward to seeing the car on the road again. The other known complete car is in America but it has been fitted with a Subaru engine, i hope to post some information on that car at some point in the future. The remains of a third car are known but the bodyshell was sadly scrapped some years back and whilst the FSCC holds the molds to many of the Fairthorpe models the ones for the Atomota are sadly missing presumed disposed of in one of Fairthorpes factory moves.

Fairthorpe in print, October issue of Classic & Sportscar magazine.

This months Classic & Sports Car magazine has a piece about Brian Jacksons mk2 Electron Minor UNJ203, it is on page 38 in the section titled `Lost & found`. A couple of nice pictures are included along with some background history of the car.

2011 Fairthorpe Gathering report

Following several days of nervously watching the changing weather forecast Sunday dawned bright and dry with no rain forecast for the Donington area.....

Electrina

Brian Jackson`s mk2

Following last years excellent turnout of 13 cars I was hopeful that we might make 15 Fairthorpes at the event, but we had a couple withdraw the week before and two no shows on the day, due to a mechanical issue and persistent heavy rain on the South coast and no hood, the number on the day was nine cars plus a number of owners currently rebuilding their pride and joys. The only car present that was at last year's event in Essex and this year's event in Derby was mine! So we had eight `new cars` at the Gathering, this possibly being a by product of moving the event round the country each year to help owners in different areas attend........it would be nice to get them all together in one place though! From the nine cars only two had the same style of bonnet, showing how Fairthorpe had changed the look of the car as the years went by. Those present were treated as usual to a fine selection of my wife Sarah`s baking skills, the highlight of which was her infamous Fairythorpe cakes, which went so fast I didn`t even get one :-(

There was also a table selling F.S.C.C club regalia and various Fairthorpe spares to help those undergoing rebuilds. In the end the breakdown was three mk1 cars, which belonged to Richard Holden, David Kennedy and myself; four mk2 cars, owned by Terry Armson, Brian Jackson, Rob James and Adrian Mancha; and one mk 5 car, of which only a handful were made, this one belonging to Barry Stock.

Terry Armson`s mk2


Rob James`s mk2 and Richard Holden`s mk1

And finally to add a bit of spice my own Electrina, one of only two known complete survivors. Also present of interest was the nicely built Dare Ginetta G4 of Tony Thorpe. There was obviously plenty to talk about and everywhere you looked there were groups of people huddled under bonnets discussing their cars, Alan Green and Brian Townsend who are both part way through rebuilds were wandering amongst the Fairthorpes with a bracket from Brian's trying to identify the location of said bracket on the assembled cars (i`m told now that it holds the fuel pipe clear of the cylinder head on the 948cc engine). A welcome attendee was Chris Mole who has not one, but two Fairthorpes in bits, hopefully he was taking some inspiration from the event and will be commencing work in the near future, go on Chris you know you want to!


Adrian Mancha`s mk2 rebuild

The awards presentation took place at 2pm and we were privileged to have the F.S.C.C founder and president Barry Gibbs along to present them, Adrian Mancha`s car was built by Barry back in 1963. Furthest travelled to the event went to Barry Stock who had come all the way from Ammanford, South West Wales a total of 192 miles, many thanks Barry we were very impressed.

Barry Stock`s mk5

Special mention must also go to David Kennedy who had driven all the way from Morecombe, David came down directly on the motorway otherwise the result may have been different!

David Kennedy`s mk1

Those assembled voted for the Best Fairthorpe present and amongst all the nicely turned out cars Richard Holdens lovely green mk1 won the award, well done Richard.



Richard Holden`s mk1 winner of the Best Fairthorpe award

Many then took the opportunity to have a look round the excellent F1 collection in the museum only to emerge into torrential rain....those with hoods quickly put them up and others scrabbled for sheets or jumped in their cars and raced off, as the rain mostly stays off you once you are rolling. One by one the cars departed for the various parts of the country they had arrived from, many thanks to you all for the effort to bring your Fairthorpes to this the third Annual Gathering. Next years event is already in the planning and will be around the same time of the year, more details will be on the blog when date and venue are fixed.

Hope to see you there!

Photo credit: Sarah Collins, Marian & Brian Townsend.

Here is the link to the Youtube movie from pictures and videos taken at the event..........

Fairthorpe Gathering 2011

An excellent day was had by all those who attended today's Fairthorpe Gathering, there were 9 Fairthorpes in attendance comprising 8 Electron Minors and 1 Electrina. The awards were picked up by Richard Holden (best Fairthorpe) and Barry Stock (furthest travelled in a Fairthorpe at 192 miles!) The awards were presented by the Fairthorpe S.C.C founder & President Barry Gibbs. A full report plus pictures and video will follow later this week, as a taster here are a couple of pictures to wet your appetite.

2011 Fairthorpe Gathering this Sunday

If you have read the previous post you will know that this years Gathering is this coming Sunday the 7th. As a little taster if you have not already watched it here is the link to the video from last years event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTnSF6gPLcQ

We will be doing another video to put on Youtube this year so if you see a camera pointing in your direction smile! Hopefully the weather will be fine on the day, hope to see you there.

2011 Fairthorpe Gathering information

This years Fairthorpe Gathering is nearly here it is on 7th August at the Donington Park Museum, Castle Donington, Derby, DE74 2RP. The museum is close to J23a of the M1 and is accessed by the A453. Entry to the Fairthorpe Gathering is FREE and there will be refreshments and snacks provided free of charge to those attending, my wife Sarah will be baking some more of her delicious Fairythorpe cakes which went like Errr.........hot cakes last year! There will be trophies presented for the best Fairthorpe at the event (voted for by those attending) and also the furthest distance travelled to the event with a Fairthorpe.
We have negotiated a discount of £2 over the normal admission price to the Grand Prix Collection so admission to the museum will now be £6 for those attending the event.
`The Donington Grand Prix Museum houses the largest collection of McLaren and Williams racing cars in the world (outside of their respective factories), and the only complete collection of Vanwalls. A notable exhibit is Stirling Moss's Lotus in which he defeated the might of the Ferrari Works Team in the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix.`
More information on the museum can be found at http://www.donington-park.co.uk/pages/motorsport-museum.html there is also an excellent cafeteria on site if you want something more substantial to eat.
We will be arriving from 9.30am onwards and have a designated parking area to put the Fairthorpes, last years event had 13 cars in attendance, i am hoping for 15 this year. If you have a Fairthorpe or are just interested in them please come along and join in, the more the merrier. We have 13 cars attending so far although that will be dependant on the weather so i have fingers crossed for a dry day!

Electron Minor up for auction

I have been tipped off by Dave Malins the Tornado Registrar that there is a Fairthorpe Electron Minor mk1 up for auction tomorrow (20th July) at H&H Auctions. The EM was previously held by a museum and looks to be fairly complete and is fitted with a 948cc Standard 10 engine. If you are after a rebuild project this could go at the right price.

Here is a link to the auction page:- http://www.classic-auctions.com/Auctions/20-07-2011-ThePavilionGardens-1291/1960FairthorpeElectron-33449.aspx

The Electron Minor sold for £2200, hopefully the new owner will contact myself or the club so we can help with advice or parts for the rebuild.

Pictures of the week

This week i have a couple of interesting pictures for you to enjoy, the first of these was taken in Genova, Italy in the early 60`s. There was a Fairthorpe dealer appointed in the area and he had a new tail designed for his cars, one of which is shown in this picture. I am not aware of how many cars were built with these and have no knowledge of any of them surviving. If anyone in Italy reading this fancies a bit of detective work here is your opportunity, i think there are at least 2 Fairthorpes there with the conventional rear bodywork. Below is a scan of the front of the agents brochure.

The second picture was taken in February 1986 at the CCH Sprint at Brands Hatch, my Father Frank (pictured with the car) and i had rebuilt this EM1 with a Ford Escort axle with a limited slip diff, a 160bhp Race tuned Lotus Twin Cam and 5 speed gearbox and as you can imagine it was VERY impressive to drive. Unfortunately we arrived too late to practice due to the snow and a steep slope out of our workshop! So we were therefore a non starter, no harm in unloading it from the trailer and giving it a run round the paddock! A couple of months later we took it to Silverstone for the 8 Clubs race meeting again arriving late for practice (i see a pattern here!) but due to a friend being clerk of the course i did a couple of practice laps behind the pace car (thanks Ken ;¬)

I had a great dice during the race with someone in a hot 2.8i Capri, i`d out brake him and pull away through the corners and under acceleration but he would be on my tail again at the end of the straights. Alas it was over all too soon, after 3 laps the large oil warning light flicked on and a glance at the pressure gauge showed the needle rapidly descending towards zero so i switched the engine off and coasted to a halt on the grass on the exit of Copse corner. The cause was diagnosed as a broken cam bucket and with metal all round the inside of the engine an expensive rebuild was on the cards.............money we unfortunately didn`t have at the time, a familiar story for many would be racers. We had someone who was interested in the car so we resprayed it to their choice of colour which was British Racing Green and fitted it with a tuned 1600 Ford x-flow engine with twin 40 Weber carbs, still a potent machine but a bit more reliable for the road.

Pictures of the week

This weeks pictures were taken at the recent F.S.C.C meet up at the Classic car weekend at the Prescott Hillclimb. Some of you might recognise the registration number on the picture below as it was featured some months back on the blog but was then a bright Orange colour. Just to remind you WAY 327 is the trusty steed of Steve Colling who has owned her for many a year and has rebuilt her at least twice, once following a fire which virtually destroyed the car. Following several years in France which saw the car parked under a tree (not good for the paintwork) Steve decided it was time for a motor make over! Gone is the bright paint work and in it`s place is a tasteful dark Grey Metallic finish which turns it in to a Wolf in sheep's clothing as under the bonnet is a tuned 1600 Ford engine with high lift cam and Twin 40 Weber carbs. In a lightweight car like the Fairthorpe Steve has embarrassed many a hot hatch at the lights :¬)

The second car pictured belongs to Richard Holden who had a four hour drive from Leeds the day before to get to the event, he said it was well worth the trip. Richard`s car has a 1296cc Spitfire under the bonnet which he thinks has about 90BHP at the flywheel, the car was resprayed about 10 years ago but still looks great in it`s BRG finish. Both cars will hopefully be at the upcoming Silverstone Classic event on 23/24 July.

Another racing Fairthorpe hits the tracks of Europe.

New Fairthorpe owner Niels Abild from Denmark recently competed in his first race since buying and modifying the car for competition, the engine is a 1296 Triumph with 12 to 1 compression ratio and a ported head, twin 40 webers, tubular exhaust manifold, GT 6 gearbox, and a race kent cam. Niels was happy with the way it went and thinks it has around 105 bhp, he is sure he can improve the handling with more testing and expects lap times to come down further once he has had more time to adjust the set up. It is quite possible we may see the car competing in the UK at some point in the future, Niels has been racing since the early sixties in a wide variety of cars so he knows his way round a race track! The car looks very smart as you can see from the pictures, i will keep you updated with his progress.

Fairthorpe Pathfinder V6 for sale on ebay

There is currently a Fairthorpe Pathfinder fitted with a 2.3 V6 engine on ebay, here is the link:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FAIRTHORPE-PATHFINDER-RARE-CAR-/190533666444?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2c5cb1068c

Who is that masked man!

With the arrival of the warmer weather the itch develops to jump in the car and take it for a run and the first outing for 789 ERO this year was a short trip to the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club April Noggin & Natter at the Greyhound pub in Northampton. As you may have read in an earlier post my car was joined by 2 others in the car park one of which was fresh out of the paint shop and very nice it looks too. I`m afraid it put the bodywork of mine to shame as whilst i have fully restored the car under the skin and have had nearly two years of fun driving the car to events i have never completed the bodywork restoration. I decided that the time had come to don overalls, mask and goggles and make some mess with fibreglass dust!

May i just say that this is my method of dealing with the dreaded Gel coat crazing, others have there ways including repairing by re gel coating. I have repaired quite a few Fairthorpes in the past and this has always worked for me but if you are going to tackle this type of job yourself do plenty of research before you start. As you can see this job makes a LOT of mess and it itches like hell so a full suit like the one i am modelling here is essential as is the mask (F/G is very harmful to your lungs in dust form) gloves and goggles as dust and bits can damage your eyes.

I first of all draw around the areas which have the crazing using a felt tip pen leaving a bit of a border, the pen helps you see where needs grinding when you have your goggles on. I use 38grit sanding disks on my small angle grinder to remove the gel coat inside my drawn areas, don`t go crazy, the disk will eat right through the body if your not careful! Just go through the crazing to leave the f/g matting below the gel. Once i have done that i use 60grit green sanding paper (good old B&Q) and feather the edges of the ground area at about 60 degrees and than give it a good dust out with a clean brush and also some compressed air. Time for the old felt tip again, i then redraw my outline as you will have removed the old one with the sandpaper, then you can lay your fiberglass tissue over your line and use it like tracing paper to make a copy of your prepped area. I usually do 2 or 3 of each area as you want to build it up to your original level, then you cut these out and number each area on the car and on the pattens so you know which ones go where.

Next step is to put on some thin rubber gloves and mix up some f/g resin in a small container with the recommended amount of catalyst in it (stir it well)and paint your ground area with it before laying the first tissue pattern on top. Stipple the resin into the shape being careful not to tear it then repeat with the remaining patterns till you are happy that you are roughly at the same level before Mr grinder came out to play. Once dry (i usually leave it a few days) it`s time to take the body work back to the right shape, i use the angle grinder again on any high spots but be VERY careful with it, you just want to leave any high spots just proud and finish them off with a rubbing block, i use 80grit first then 120grit. This should leave you with a close shape to what you started with but there is an art to this as you can easily rub the surrounding original bodywork down if you get carried away! To finish off i use U-POL D filler, i have used this for years and it does not sag or crack, there is nothing worse once painted than a line around the repair where the filler has shrunk. It is a bit harder to sand than some of the other fillers but i know it works! Once sanded back as before with 80 then 120 i use a fine surface filler which is put on with a rubber applicator to get rid of any small imperfections and pin holes. As you can probably tell all this is VERY time consuming which explains why body shops charge so much for sorting crazing out in Fairthorpes and other kit cars. I will be painting her myself so when i get to that stage i will do a blog covering that, the plan (i have a cunning plan) is to get 789 painted in time for this years Silverstone Classic at the end of July.

The Tale of Electron Minor Mk11 BBD 496B

Rob James has recently aquired a Fairthorpe locally, here is the tale in Rob`s words.

`Some 4 years ago I was working locally in a farmyard full of Barn Conversions and got chatting to the farmer who was working away in the workshop you would die for(you know ,pit, lathe, benches etc 30x20) and it came to pass that his sister May had an EM in her barn which was a family heirloom it having been built in 1963 by her brother John Thompson, John having died rather tragically at the age of 54 some years before. So I ended up going to see the car to take some photos and details for the then registrar Willy Simpson. So out of the barn we pushed this lovely Yellow EM with a twin vent front and Minilite look-alikes looking just like a time warp. After the visit I reported it to Willy and wrote to May thanking her for letting me see it. Since then the car has featured as my screen saver. Health and other things have not been so good the last couple of years, so, to cheer me up one day I thought looking fondly at the screen saver I must write to May again and touch base. So I did so and was surprised when a couple of days later I had a call from May, after a brief chat I made arrangements to call and see her.

BBD 496B

Well there she was under a sheet in the new barn, the old one having collapsed under the weight of the snow a year ago and slightly damaging the EM and Mays BMW. Looking only slightly sorry for herself having been kept outside for the first time in nearly 50 years last summer while the new barn was built, unfortunately the paint suffered from being under a plastic sheet and has bubbled up so, a re-spray in the future but hey! I am now the owner/custodian of BBD 496B. We picked her up a few days later and she in now safely in my fathers garage.

Work done so far.
Fixed the wiring on the lights, now 100% with not even a bulb gone. Rewired the horn, new battery, checked and adjusted the brakes with not even a seized adjuster (drum brakes all round) She started after about 5 mins trying but the carbs were all over the place so my brother has set them up to find we still have this infuriating miss-fire which we have narrowed down to the leads so today I am replacing the lot, coil ,dizzy cap, points, leads and plugs. The O/S screen pillar had snapped when the barn collapsed so I effected a repair by putting an aluminium strap behind the split and a dome bolt either side through to the strap at the back looks neat. Martin Collins very kindly had a air box (need a bit of fibre glass work to fit) and a rear light lens which were the only bits missing. Needs new screen to scuttle rubber seal and some door rubbers but I will get them at the kit car show in May.`

Rob now has an MOT on the Fairthorpe and he bought the car to last weekends Fairthorpe Sports Car Club Noggin & Natter in Northampton, joining my car 789 ERO and the recently restored UNJ203 of Brian Jackson (see an earlier post).

Rob now has a few miles under his belt in the car and today i received the following update.

Further Adventures with “ May” (BBD 496B)

So Mot first time not even a brake pipe gone. Taxed that very day, followed by the first outing 10 miles show the family you know the type of thing, only event was a light surround fell off but safely retrieved. Second outing Sunday 3 point turn reversed into low kerb bent and split the exhaust, what fun, always have a piece of wire in the boot by the way got home all but very noisy. Needs new front pipe and back pipe with the cherry bomb surviving, found a great place that makes industrial exhausts made me a new front pipe and rear pipe all bent and welded £40 2 days RESULT.

Noggin and natter at Milton Malsor next outing bit nervous as it was 10 miles from home, Day before, fuel line T piece decides to leak with vengeance could I find a spares shop on a sat pm with a ¼’’ T piece so its Martin to the rescue again, pointed me to the best old school spares shop I have seen for a long time called Westalls in Towcester £2 job done ready for next day. Trip to pub non eventful and thoroughly enjoyed it met some fellow members compared notes etc, nice lunch by the way.

So now got quite a list of bits needed, screen bottom rubber, door seals, boot seals, new engine mountings, hoses, door stop rubbers, Importantly TEMP GAUGE (if you have a spare one give me a call) However Kit Car Show at Stoneliegh in a couple of weeks nearly 40 miles each way not sure whether to go in “May” or not its along way when she has only done 50 miles in the last 15 years

Well, Bank Holiday looms and the weather has been great for open top motoring, after far too much to drink on Saturday night I made the rash decision
“WE WILL GO IN THE FAIRTHORPE”

B/H Monday arrives wife Shelley and I go round to my Fathers to collect the car, wheeled her out of the garage loaded in the picnic (can’t go anywhere without food). Both got into the car turn on ignition, press the starter, foot on the accelerator ! twang throttle cable snaps ‘OH S___T’ what do we do now?
Off the the local Wilco store 2 miles away £.94p sees the purchase of a bike brake cable inner (V/usefull tip by the way) with the correct nipple back to Dads, thread it through, connect it up and on the road in 40 mins flat. So we are on the way at last. 45-50 most of the way she went like a dream. Of course one forgets that open air motoring puts you in touch with lots of airborne smells, such as burning smells and bonfires etc so stopped to check a couple of times that it was not us.

Arrived safely without incident met by Tony Stanton, we were the only Fairthorpe, I don’t know what Sunday was like but on our area were 4 Olympics,1 Rochdale GT, 1 Peerless GT, 1 TVR and a Gilburn 1800GT.
The place was full of Loti 7 types, I am sure there were more of them than people at the show, you have seen one you’ve seen them all.

Spares next, managed to get enough seals of various types to do the 2 doors, boot and tops of the front inner wings for £13. A new pair of engine mounts for £8 the pair, door V blocks £1 each. Still need windscreen to scuttle rubber seal and Temp gauge. ANY ONE HELP PLEASE?

Journey home was completely relaxing and uneventful took just over an hour engine purred all the way. Oh! pork and stuffing sandwiches great as well.
That’s all for now but there will be more.`
Well done Rob, glad you are getting plenty of use from the car!

Fairthorpe Pathfinder V8 for sale.

I have heard from Jeremy Mason that he is reluctantly parting with his Fairthorpe Pathfinder V8, this car is widely regarded as the best one completed. It is fitted with a new 4.6 litre Rover V8 engine supplied by Britpart in Shropshire and a 5 speed box, alloy wheels and is kitted out with beige leather interior trim. The kit was lovingly assembled by a husband and wife team and was given a top quality paint job in a very eye catching metallic burgundy. Jeremy has spent a lot of money on the car which has a had lot of new parts fitted recently. Here is some spec on the car:- New parts: msd coil, crankcase breather filter, exhaust 90 degree bend x2, straight length x2 plus flexi x 2. Starter heat shield, oil pressure gauge, dipstick and tube, lead set, rotor arm, dist cap and points. Steel to reinforce seat mounts, modified gearbox mounts (new transmission mounts x 2), a NEW HOLLEY 390CFM 4 BARREL CARB with electric choke fitted this weekend. new front brake discs, pads and rear shoes. It has a rover sd1 5 speed gearbox ( plenty of clutch left), new radiator and other ancillary parts, blue suspension polybushes all round, 20 litre steel fuel tank centrally located (3inch neck, big fuel cap). 5 new Pirelli p.600 tyres on 13 inch wheels at front and 14 inch at back . It has a good hood with side screens but no tonneau cover, it will also have a new MOT on it next week.


The car is booked into Brightwells Classic car auction on 11 MAY 2011 at Leominster, the estimate is £5000-£6000. More pictures are on the auction site:-http://www.brightwells.com/ClassicCarsMotorcyclesAutomobilia/ClassicVehicles/Catalogue.aspx

Jeremy can be contacted on 07772970411 or 01494-585101 for more information or offers on the car.