With their workshops in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, and a showroom in the Lexham Mews, Kensington, Lynx Engineering catered for the requirements of Jaguar-lovers who wanted something a bit special. Founded in 1968 by Guy Black (former Chief Production Engineer of Weslake Engineering) to cater for the needs of owners of pre- and post-war sports racing [...]

The handsome Lynx Eventer filled a gap in the market for a top-notch sporting estate, and examples could often be seen at the smarter sporting events. As with the XJS Spyder, many observers felt that the Eventer offered a significant improvement to the lines of the XJS. There was no argument that it offered far [...]

The origins of Avon date back to 1919, when a Mr Tilt and a Captain Phillips founded the company in Warwick in order to specialise in the production of coachbuilt car bodies. For the first ten years, they concentrated solely on Lea Francis, but eventually branched out into producing bodies for Austin and Standard. In [...]

Designer Chris Humberstone first came to prominence in the early 1970s with the Jaguar-based Owen Sedanca. A few years later, his company – Chris Humberstone Design Ltd – was commissioned to design the Triplex Ten Twenty Special show car, and Humberstone went on to become the leading light of car conversion specialists Rapport International when [...]

The two-door sports coupé that thought it was an MPV… THE Triplex Ten Twenty Special was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1977 to publicise the firm’s newly-developed type of Superlaminated windscreen. Based around an Alfa Romeo, the car featured wedgy 2-door coupé styling courtesy of Chris Humberstone, with a removable glass roof [...]

Crayford Engineering was founded by David McMullan and Jeffrey Smith in the 1962, their first product being a £100 soft-top conversion for the car of the moment, the Mini. Operating from a small workshop and showroom in Westerham, Kent, Crayford Engineering built an enviable reputation for the quality of their conversion work on a wide [...]

After Woodall Nicholson and Coleman Milne joined forces in the 1980s they turned out some interesting Rover Group-based conversions amongst their more usual Ford-based fodder. However, Woodall Nicholson had previously produced a variety of Austin-based models, and had been instrumental in the realisation of designer Chris Field’s vision for the Austin Maxi… A potted history [...]

This subtly stretched 800 Sterling revived a name which had recently been abandoned by the Rover Group. IN 1988, Rover seriously considered marketing a factory-approved stretched Rover 800, but the plan was dropped when sales projections indicated that it would not be a particularly profitable venture. However, Coleman Milne took a different view, prompted in [...]

Woodall Nicholson produced this curious-looking stretched Landcrab, along with a far more elegant hearse… THIS Austin 2200-based limousine, which had clearly seen better days, appeared on eBay at least twice during 2002/2003. All we know about it at the moment is that it was a Woodall Nicholson conversion, and that there may also have been [...]

A Montego… and then some! The Montego-based Warwick limousine and matching Hebden hearse were introduced to serve the lower end of the carriage-trade market where its sub-£20,000 purchase price would appeal. It occupied a slot in the market previously served by the Princess-based Kirklees. The Warwick was also likely to have been popular with cost-conscious [...]

The XJS Spyder lived up to Lynx’s reputation for top-quality craftsmanship, and a great deal of time and effort was put into ensuring that the hood did not upset the lines of car, whether raised or lowered. In fact, many would say that the car benefitted considerably from the conversion. The hood was made from [...]

Crayford sought to produce a more practical version of the TR7… By the mid-1970s Crayford had established itself as Britiain’s foremost producer of estate and convertible versions of mass-produced cars. When they turned their attention to the TR7, they might have been expected to produce a convertible – particularly as BL’s own drop-top would not [...]

For those who wanted a home-from-home when they went on holiday, Torcars offered these two Sherpa-based campers. Suntor Sherpa Folllowing on from the success of their Marina-based models, Torcars introduced this full-size camper van, taking the Sherpa 215 as its basis. A fully insulated, fibreglass elevating roof, complete with side windows and ventilation grilles, gave [...]

Seen as a replacement for the discontinued Morris Oxford Traveller and Austin Cambridge Countryman, this behemoth offered seating for up to nine passengers, and a few examples still exist today. The car’s capacious interior also lent itself to use as a private ambulance (while other converters, such as Wadham Stringer, offered an alernative way of [...]

In the mid-1970s, Woodall Nicholson bravely took on the Princess… IT has to be said that the Princess would not be the first car to spring to mind if considering a stretch-conversion, not least due to its rising shoulder-line, which would surely result in rather awkward lines. Well, coachbuilders Woodall Nicholson were not daunted: after [...]

The Torcars Princess was sold through the franchised BL dealer network, and was covered by the BL’s Supercover warranty. The text and pictures below have been taken from the Torcars brochures. A Torcars conversion designed to meet the growing demand for fifth-door saloons – and what a fifth door this is! The original sleek wedge [...]

And here is the car that the Princess should always have been: Crayford produced its own hatchback versions of the 18-22 series/Princess, but at a time when the five-door saloon was still a rarity, they announced their product as an estate car.

While several companies were quick to start tuning the Metro, Rapport were the first offer a soft-top version. Rapport took a novel approach to maintaining structural rigidity, by leaving half of the rear side windows in place. This gave the car an unusual, though not unattractive, appearance, which to a certain extent predicted the look [...]

It seems that few – if any – of these Crayford convertibles actually reached customers before the company decided to concentrate on its Fiesta conversions. Open up and say ahh… In January 1981, Motor magazine reported that Crayford was planning to build a prototype convertible version of the recently-launched Metro, with the aim of offering [...]

Another name from the Mini’s heyday – Wood and Pickett returned in 1981, offering some lavish Metro conversions, including the Ogle-styled Laser Metro… Wood and Pickett Laser Metro The Laser Metro was certainly treated as a bespoke car for discerning customers: price ranged from £11,000 to £17,000 and extras included Recaro seats, air conditioning and [...]