Picture of the week.

I have not posted a picture of 789 ERO for some time so this weeks two pictures are of Little Nero taken at Silverstone 50 years apart, the first picture was taken in June 1959 at the Eight Cubs race meeting with Frank taking a 1st and a 3rd on the day. The second picture was taken in July 2009 at the Silverstone Cassic event during the lunchtime parade. Frank is driving the car for the first time since he sold the Fairthorpe in 1962, you can almost see the smile from here! Paintwork is still to be finished but the car has now covered quite a few miles.

Another well known EM being resurrected

I recently had a phone call from Adrian Mancha who has owned his Electron Minor for 30 odd years and is only now getting around to restoring it to its former glory. Many of them seem to languish in a corner for 20 or 30 years before we get the urge to get our hands dirty! Adrian`s car has quite an interesting history in that it was built by Fairthorpe Sports Car Club founder Barry Gibbs, and is only one of four that had a modified kahm style tail fitted and, as far as I'm aware, is the only car with this style of tail still fitted.

The modified tail was an after market modification which used the Cortina mk1`ban the bomb` tail lights to give a totally different look to the car. Barry had a tuned 1340 Ford Classic engine built by the ex-Fairthorpe works manager John Green, and mated it to an MGA 1500 gearbox which gave far greater performance than the 1147 Triumph engines which were fitted to most of the EMs at that time. Adrian informs me that the engine and box are still with the car, which will make it a fun drive once rebuilt. The car also has an interesting hardtop fitted which looks similar to those fitted to the Lenham Sprites; maybe it started life as one then being modified to suit, I hope to speak to Barry at some point in the New year and get a bit more background history to the car.

Adrian has removed the body and is replacing the siderails and beefing up the roll bar mounting points. Hopefully we could see the car out and about in 2011, and I`ll update this post once the car is nearer completion. Watch this space as they say!

TX Tripper sold!

While surfing the net one evening I stumbled upon an ad for a Technical Exponents (TX) Tripper, cousin to the Fairthorpe. She had been sat disassembled in a lock up for the better part of 30 years. Following a telephone conversation with the owner, during which I discovered the car was way up in Carlisle, we made arrangements to collect the car the next weekend.

After a long five hour journey to the borders of Scotland, we opened a garage door to reveal a rolling chassis surrounded by parts and the car's body suspended above from the ceiling with an inch of dust on it. It took three hours for Sarah and I to put her back together sufficiently to wheel her up onto our trailer.

Anyway she's in traditional 1970s Ford Apollo metallic green (the Tripper not the wife) although her original colour was orange. I have decided to sell her as i am concentrating on the original 50`s and 60`s Fairthorpes.

So, here's the specs:

• first registered in April 1973
• comes with Triumph 6-cylinder 1600 engine and a 2000cc engine (seized)
• solid chassis, no welding required
• comes with tonneu cover and a hood, but the hood is very tatty and only useful as a pattern for a new one
• glass fibre body is in generally good condition, has some crazing around one of the rear wheel arches caused by the rope when it was suspended
• part stainless exhaust system
• comes with V5 logbook
• has its sidescreen frames and the uniquely-shaped rollbar

The car has a few negative points:

• it is missing one seat
• the rear suspension leaf spring clamping plate is missing (available from any Triumph breaker)
• carbs are missing from the 1600 engine
• one rear light unit missing

In summary, this is a rare opportunity to buy a slice of seventies motoring history.

Has to be a bargain at £650 and i can deliver for the cost of my petrol. Price includes a seventies wig and mustache!

Car is now sold.

Video of the Fairthrope Gathering at Stow Maries Aerodrome

It's taken a while to get it together but it's here! This is a very high resolution version of the movie which took almost 19 hours to upload to YouTube. In the meantime Sarah uploaded a low resolution version for those who couldn't wait (15 people couldn't and had viewed it today!) but she has now removed that and replaced it with this version.

If you were one of the people who watched the low-res version, take a few moments to see the high-res version as well. It really is well worth it.

Fairthorpe Gathering 2010 report

Having had torrential rain and thunderstorms on Saturday, we were thankfully blessed with reasonably warm but windy conditions for the 2nd annual Fairthorpe Gathering at Stow Maries Aerodrome in Essex.



The aerodrome dates from WW1 but fell into disrepair once the Royal Flying Corps left after the fighting stopped. Russell Savory bought the derelict site several years ago and is now restoring it back to its glory days. Russell started by giving us an overview of the aerodrome's history and plans for its future, followed by a guided tour round the numerous buildings and explanations of their previous uses. Then all the petrolheads piled into Russell's business workshop (RS Performance) for a guided tour of the premises, which houses a number of highly tuned V6 and V8 engines currently being fitted into high performance cars for his customers.

Now, I guess most of you visiting this site want to hear about and see some pictures of Fairthorpes. Hopefully those of you that own ine in bits will be spurred on to get them out of hiding and on the road in time for next year's event!

We had an excellent turnout of twelve cars comprising:

The one-off Formula Junior racing car

Two Coventry Climax powered Electrons

Eight Electron minors

One Rover V8-engined Pathfinder.

Several of the cars were immaculately presented, some were running restorations (mine included!) and special mention must go to Brian Townsend whose ground-up rebuild was there in its rolling chassis stage to show everyone what they are like `with their clothes off!'

A Ginetta G21 and a Jowett Jupiter also turned up, both driven by Fairthorpe fans.

The press turned up from Classic Car Weekly...

The day wouldn't have been complete without awards though. Best Fairthorpe was won by Rob Cobden`s Electron which he recently finished rebuilding ready for next season's historic racing campaign. The other award was for the furthest travelled Fairthorpe, which was hotly contested with three cars coming over 100 miles and all travelling within a total of 10 miles of one another! Rob walked away with that trophy as well. Rumours of him doing two laps of the airfield earlier in the day to bump the mileage up were unfounded!

The day was rounded up by Ron Welsh doing a couple of fast passes in a wheel spinning Junior past the 10 mile an hour signs....tune in later this week for the video of that.

Everyone was kept very well fed during the day with complimentary ham rolls, home-baked cakes, biscuits, and teas and coffees. Several of the cars were leaning noticably as they left at the end of the day due to the occupants' full stomachs (I would like to thank my lovely wife Sarah for the amazing effort that she put in to preparing the feast, it certainly went down well).

More pictures and some movies will be downloaded to the site over the next few days. and if you have any you would like to see featured on the blog please send them to me and I will put them up.

Now: next year's 3rd Annual Fairthorpe gathering will be on a similar date in August somewhere in the midlands to encourage some of the FSCC's more Northern UK owners to participate.

If you have a car in bits, there's no more perfect incentive to finish it up ready for its unveiling to club members next year. So go get stuck in!

Weather update for Sunday's Fairthorpe gathering

Sunny intervals.

[he heaves a sigh of relief - 789 ERO has no wet weather gear yet]

Fairthorpe gathering 15th August 2010

One week to go until this year's Fairthorpe Gathering at Stow Maries WWI Aerodrome in Essex. The event is open to all Fairthorpe fans, not just owners, so if you have one, had one or want one this event is for you!

At least 13 Fairthorpes are expected on the day, including several racing Electron Minors, the one-off Fairthorpe Formula Junior, a racing climax-engined Electron, and a pair of Pathfinder V8s.

Owner Russell Savory is doing some amazing restoration work of the airfield and has offered to include a guided tour of it as well as a tour of the R S Performance workshops, which house many V6- and V8-engined high performance sportscars.

The postcode for the airfield if CM3 6RN if you need it for your SatNav and cars will be arriving from 10am. If you need any further information contact me on kartman.nascar24@btinternet.com. There'll be refreshments available to keep you going and prizes for the best-looking Fairthorpe and the furthest traveled Fairthorpe.

Full pictures and report will be posted the week after the event.

1954 Fairthorpe Atom film

NEW "ATOM" LIGHTWEIGHT CAR

Many thanks to Turner Registrar Russ Filby, who alerted me to this Fairthorpe film on the British Pathe site (http://www.britishpathe.co.uk/) - Don Bennett and friends putting together and test-driving an early Atom.

You can tell it is an early Atom because the headlights are on top of the wings and later Atoms had them built into the wings.

Video of 789 ERO at Castle Combe 1st August 2010

Sarah shot these videos while at the 60th Anniversary event at Castle Combe on Sunday. We were on our way out to do a couple of parade laps during lunchtime. Frank is driving. Also shown in the video are Turners and a Tornado.




And here they are all coming back.

Fairthorpe for sale

In the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club magazine this month Chris Jones is advertising his Electron Minor mkII. If you don't get the magazine, here's a few words about the handsome beast (the car that is not Chris):

• Good condition, taxed and MOTd
• Triumph Herald 948cc with twin 1.1/8 su carbs
• White with black trim
• Alloy petrol tank and front hubs.
• Trailing arm rear axle, all rose jointed
• Magnesium 6" minilite front wheels, 7" alloy rear minilite
• 3 spare 6" mag wheels, Ford fitting all round
• Tyres only done 60 miles
• Mota-lita leather rim steering wheel, good hood and trim.

£3,500

CAR NOW SOLD

Picture of the week: now that's what I call a wedding present!

This Fairthorpe EM is owned by FSCC member Gary Julian. It was bought for him in 1986 as a wedding present from his wife-to-be - he suggests it may have been to keep him in the garage and out of the pub!

The car was first supplied as a kit in 1962 to two brothers and apparently it took them a couple of years to build it as it is registered on a `C` plate. By the time Gary became the owner the car required plenty of TLC. As it was pretty bashed about, he changed the bonnet from the original Electron style one with an opening hatch to a mkII twin vent. That's one of the good points of owning a Fairthorpe Electron Minor - six different bonnet shapes were produced over the years and they can all be adapted to fit any EM. The engine in the car is a Triumph Herald 1147cc engine with twin SU carbs.

Gary will be bringing the car along to the Fairthorpe Gathering on the 15th of August at Stow Maries WW1 airfield in Essex so if you want to take a look at it closer make sure you don't miss the event.

Picture of the week - if you go down to the woods today...

Well actually, if you did go down to the woods today you would be 25 years too late as I found and removed these Fairthorpe EM1 remains from behind a garage in Essex around 1985. I'd had a tip-off that they were there and my source told me the rest of the car had been scrapped.

The rescued panels were in very poor shape, but it just goes to show what may still be lying around. A 1950s fibreglass Ashley was recently discovered lying down the side of a riverbank, where it had lain for many years half in and half out of the water.

You never know what might turn up and where so keep your eyes and ears open!

Picture of the week - Silverstone meeting in 1959

This week's picture is of Frank at the wheel of 789 ERO at Silverstone during the Mid Kent Motor club meeting on May 9th 1959. The car chasing him is a rare Berkeley B105 driven by Ian Mantle.

The picture was taken at Copse corner, which looks a lot different nowadays!

Picture of the week: Fairthorpe Electron Minor kit components

The two images show the components for an Electron Minor kit (minus the bodywork) which was photographed around 1958. All components were new and just required assembly by the amateur constructor, thereby saving purchase tax. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the rear axle has not had its Fairthorpe trailing arm suspension brackets welded on at this point, meaning the axle is as supplied from the Standard Motor Company.

Picture of the week: A Fairthorpe Electron Minor with a difference

The subject this week needed two pictures to do it justice. They were taken in 1986 at the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club AGM, which was held that year at the Stonleigh kit car show.

The car is a 1961 MK2 owned by Brian Jackson. It was bought by a friend of his in 1968 and was originally fitted with a 948cc Herald engine. Over the next few years Brian and his friend gradually modified the car, first fitting it with a 1300 Spitfire engine, then a Triumph Vitesse 6 cylinder and finally the current Dolomite Sprint engine.

The rear suspension, originally the Fairthorpe designed independent set-up, has been replaced with a Ford Escort axle with Dolomite suspension, while the front end has had Spitfire suspension towers fitted. The radiator has been moved back and fitted into the tail section bodywork behind where the passenger seat would have been. Also the car has been fitted with Escort works-style bubble arches, giving the car a much more muscular appearence.

The car was sprinted, hillclimbed and autotested through the 70s and 80s, however from 1972 it was taken off the road and trailered to these events until around the mid 80s. After languishing at the bottom of his friend's garden for many years Brian rescued it and is currently in the latter stages of a restoration. He's hopeful it could be on the road again later this year.

Looking foward to seeing it again Brian...........

Picture of the week - Atom Convertible and early Electron chassis

According to my records, this picture was taken around 1957 in Chalfont St Peter outside the Fairthorpe works and features an Atom Convertible in the background with an early Electron chassis in the foreground.

The Atom Convertible is either a MkII or MkIII model and will have had either a 348cc or 645cc BSA motorbike engine. The gearbox was an Albion and the car was chain-driven.

The Electron chassis has been fitted with a Coventry Climax 1098cc engine and Triumph TR suspension and steering. Normally the petrol tank sits inside the boot; this one however has the fuel tank under the chassis which may indicate it is a very early car.

Fairthorpe gathering 15th August 2010

Attention all Fairthorpe enthusiasts.

On 15th August 2010 we'll be holding a Fairthorpe gathering at Stow Maries WWI Aerodrome in Essex. The event is open to all Fairthorpe fans, not just owners, so if you have one, had one or want one this event is for you! We already have several racing Fairthorpes coming, as well as E.Ms, Electrons and a Pathfinder.

Owner Russell Savory is doing some amazing restoration work of the airfield and has offered to include a guided tour of it as well as a tour of the R S Performance workshops, which house many V6- and V8-engined high performance sportscars.

If you fancy a great day out among like-minded Fairthorpe fans, put this in your diary and then email me on kartman.nascar24@btinternet.com to let me know you're coming. There'll be refreshments available to keep you going and prizes for the best-looking Fairthorpe and the furthest traveled Fairthorpe.

Fairthorpe picture of the week

From now on I'll be publishing a Fairthorpe picture of the week taken from my extensive file of images that I've been collecting. They won't all be of Electron Minors though - there will be Electrons, Zetas, Rockettes, Atoms, Atomota, Electrinas, Trippers, TXs and Pathfinders.

So what is the image this week?

It's 789 ERO taken in August 1959 in the South of France during my parent's honeymoon. Despite being uncommon at that time, Frank and Audrey were amazed to see another Fairthorpe Electron Minor coming the other way on an isolated coast road! Note the lack of indictors on the other car - these were an optional extra in an Fairthorpe Electron Minor kit back then, as were a second windscreen wiper and fibreglass floor pan on the passenger side instead of the very basic wood pan provided!

The registration of the other car is UCG 664 - I wonder what happened to it and where it is now? Any ideas?

If you have any photos of Fairthorpes, feel free to send them across to me in an email and I'll select the best ones for publishing.

Fairthorpe for sale on eBay

There is currently a Fairthorpe Electron Minor for sale on eBay if anyone is interested in taking a punt on a nice little classic kit car. The ad states it is an Electron but we all know better just from looking at it.

Have a look at the eBay ad here

By the way, to the Anonymous commenter who mentioned a Fairthorpe 'barn find' back in March please get in contact with me for a further chat. I've been compiling a record of surviving cars for the last 30 years and would like to find out which one this is.

Rear axle and brakes

As the car had been standing for over two decades, the brakes were going to need replacement parts but I wasn't sure what condition the axle was in because the casing was very grubby and had a lot of surface rust. The rear axle was stripped of its component parts, all of which were checked for damage or excessive wear, cleaned with degreaser and then reassembled with new gaskets. As it turned out the rear axle casing only needed a good wire-brushing, degreasing and a coat of black Smoothrite.New rear wheel cylinders and brake shoes had to be purchased to replace the old worn ones, but the adjusters only needed cleaning and greasing. Assembling the rear brakes and fitting the drums with their retaining screws completed the work on the back axle and it was then fitted to the recently refurbished trailing arms.

rear axle installed

Attention then turned to the front brakes. The car originally had drum brakes, but it was clear these had been replaced with Triumph Spitfire disc brakes by a previous owner to improve braking performance. Unfortunately they were heavily corroded so a new pair of discs were fitted onto the Spitfire hubs and a new set of bearings fitted and packed with Castrol LM grease (high melting point). The brake calipers were partially seized so these had to be dismantled, cleaned, given a coat of black Smoothrite and fitted with new seals. The old pads were kept as they had very little wear and they were attached into the calipers with their pins and R clips. Finally the calipers were fitted onto the hubs, which were in turn attached onto the uprights and the bearings adjusted as per the Haynes Triumph Spitfire manual instructions.

The brake master cylinder was seized and upon stripping was found to have a heavily pitted internal bore so a replacement (0.75 bore) was necessary. The Fairthorpe originally had a master cylinder with a standard-sized reservoir but I decided to fit a larger 60mm diameter reservoir instead because it provides more fluid so there's less chance of the level dropping to critical if a wheel cylinder leaked, a situation that could leave you with no brakes! The new cylinder's operating rod had to be switched with the original Fairthorpe rod to sit the pedals back into the right position - it was far too long and would have positioned the pedals at an impossible angle too close to the driver.

replacement brake master cylinder

The clutch and brake pedal assembly was cleaned using degreaser, painted with black Smoothrite and fresh grease was pumped into the nipples. New pedals were fitted to the pedal assembly, as the rubber on the old ones was perished and worn, but luckily I had a stock of these as they are no longer available. The pedal assembly and master cylinder were then refitted to the chassis and the master cylinder joined to the pedals with a new clevis pin and split pin. New copper brake pipes were run round the chassis to replace the old corroded steel ones while new stainless steel braided flexible pipes replaced the old perished set, and the brass unions cleaned. The brake system was now filled with brake fluid and bled several times to remove any remaining air.

pedal assembly to the right

So now I had a rolling chassis and it was time to fit the floor pans and body shell.