The converters
Tickford’s Ford : The Capri 2.8i Turbo
Richard David Nener During 1981 John Miles was writing for Autocar. At that time he purchased a 3.0-litre Capri from Ford’s press department and used this car as a test vehicle for over 25,000 miles. He installed a very modified 3.2-litre engine, and most importantly modified and tweaked the suspension. Miles was, and continues today, [...]
March 25, 2013
· 
Keith Adams · 
20 Comments
Tickford’s Triumph : 1982 Stag upgrade
David Richard Nener Tickford was asked in 1982 to upgrade a Black 1975 Triumph Stag for a customer, and it is the only one they fully did. He wanted it more luxurious and eye catching together with faster and more aggressive looking. The engine was suitably modified and a less restrictive Stainless exhaust fitted. The [...]
March 21, 2013
· Keith Adams · 39 Comments
Tickford’s Ford : RS200 road car production
Richard David Nener The RS200 was a pure two-seater, mid-engined, four-wheel drive car designed for Group B rally competition, to compete with the MG Metro 6R4 and Lancia 037. The car was conceived in 1983 as a collaboration between Ford and Reliant. It turned out to be a very expensive one for Ford, which invested [...]
March 19, 2013
· Keith Adams · 27 Comments
Tickford’s Ford : Orion 1600E
Richard David Nener In 1989, the Escort and Orion were coming to the end of their production run, and Ford wanted to send them off in style, as well as introduce a new halo model. Taking its inspiration from the Cortina Mk2 16ooE, and intended to sit in the range above the 1.6i Ghia, Ford [...]
March 17, 2013
· Keith Adams · 36 Comments
Auction Watch : Frazer-Tickford Metro
Keith Adams Appearing on eBay like a bolt from the blue, this little red bundle of joy looks like one of the most desirable Metro-shaped packages you’re going to find for sale this year. The Frazer-Tickford Metro is one of that whole raft of modified Metros that went on sale in the months following the [...]
October 23, 2012
· Keith Adams · 22 Comments
News : Lynx Eventers needed for birthday party
Keith Adams Owners of the handsome Lynx Eventer, shooting brake conversion of the Jaguar XJ-S, are invited to a rather special party to celebrate the car’s launch 30 years ago. Guy Black and Chris Keith-Lucas, the founders of Lynx will welcome Eventer owners to their workshops at CKL Developments and Aero Vintage on 20-21 October. [...]
August 7, 2012
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
Auction Watch : The Le Mans Eventer
Keith Adams It’s not often we see a Lynx Eventer – the sublime shooting brake conversion of the Jaguar XJ-S – in the wild, especially on the auction circuit. So when we caught this car, which is coming up for sale at Artcurial’s Le Mans Classic sale in July, on the auction house’s lot list, [...]
June 20, 2012
· Keith Adams · 8 Comments
News : Bollinger Evoque at a bar near you…
Keith Adams An unlikely partnership, or a synergy of brands? Whatever way you look at, it, the idea of a Range Rover Evoque Bollinger edition is an appealing one. Crafted by Range Rover in collaboration with Italian customisers Aznom, this unique Evoque features a wine-red paintjob with bronze trim and a matt black roof, with [...]
March 31, 2012
· Keith Adams · 21 Comments
Owen Sedanca
Two years before Leyland launched the Jaguar XJ-S, the Jaguar dealership HR Owen came up with a coupe of its own… HR Owen had a penchant for commissioning customised Leyland products. Having enjoyed moderate success with the Crayford/FLM Panelcraft Rover P6 Estoura, their next project was altogether more ambitious: in September 1973, they presented the [...]
September 26, 2011
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
Radford 1100s
Details of the Radford-converted 1100s are still quite sketchy, but on this page we have tried to pull together what is currently known. ALONGSIDE its much better-known Mini de Ville conversions, Radford also fitted out a number of 1100s to their ususal high standards. The first conversions, completed in mid-1963, were based the Morris 1100, [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · No Comments
The converters : Wood & Pickett
Having served their apprenticeship with Britain’s finest coachbuilding company, Messrs Wood and Pickett were well-placed to cater to the demanding customers who ordered cars from them decades later… A potted history IN 1947, Bill Wood and Les Pickett left their jobs at London’s top-notch coachbuilders Hooper to start their own bodyshop nearby in the same [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · One Comment
Rover Prestige
Borrowing its name from the Citroën CX, the Rover Prestige was Wood & Pickett’s luxury version of the SD1… WITH Minis and Range Rovers already under their belt, Wood & Pickett next added the Rover SD1 to their range of conversions. In the now-familiar W&P tradition, customers would start by choosing their base model (usually [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · 14 Comments
The converters : William Towns
William Towns is probably most closely associated with Aston Martin, having been responsible for the design of such cars as the svelte DBS and the futuristic Lagonda. However, as early as 1969, Towns had become involved with British Leyland when he designed one of the so-called Triumph Puma proposals for project that would eventually deliver [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Railton Fairmile and Claremont
The Railton marque, first seen in Britain in the 1930s, was revived in 1989 with a pair of Towns-designed tourers based on the XJ-S convertible. THE new Railton Motor Company, based at Wixford in Warwickshire, was formed in 1989 with the aim of recapturing some of the glamour of the original Anglo-American coachbuilt Railtons, which [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · One Comment
TXC Tracer
This Metro-based, mid-engined roadster brought the concept behind the MGF to fruition some ten years earlier… IF you think the Tracer has a familiar look to it, there could be several reasons for that. First of all, William Towns clearly drew inspriation from his rather more exotic 1980 creation for Aston Martin, the Bulldog, with [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Towns Hustler
The Hustler: not so much a car, more a way of life… THE Hustler started out as a simple yet striking modular concept devised by William Towns in July 1978 to demonstrate that such a car could be viable for low-volume production. When the first prototype emerged in the Autumn of that year, it was [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · 4 Comments
Towns Microdot
Towns had high hopes for the Microdot, but they would eventually come to nothing… THE Microdot made its debut at the London Motor Show in 1976, where it couldn’t help but attract attention due to its tyically neat, glassy styling – and its bright lime-green paintwork. However, its green credentials were more than skin-deep, as [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Guyson E12
Dating from 1974, this archetypal Towns design was essentially a reclothed E-type… ONE stormy night in 1972, hill-climb champion Jim Thomson – who was also managing director of shot-blasting equipment manufacturer Guyson International – lost control of his Series III E-Type Jaguar on a country road near Wetherby in Yorkshire. Most people would have surveyed [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · 2 Comments
Towns Minissima
At the 1973 Earls Court Motor Show, BLMC expected the new Allegro to be the centre of attention on the Austin-Morris stand. Instead, it was another car that stole the limelight… SHORTLY before the 1973 motor show, BLMC gained permission to add to their stand a curious but radical small car, created by the futurist [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · 2 Comments
The converters : Thomas Startin/S MacNeillie & Son
The Birmingham firm of Thomas Startin Ltd is probably best-remembered as a long-standing Austin (and later Rover) dealership, but the company also had a mainly-commercial coachbuilding arm. Originally established in 1840, the coachbuilder’s associations with Austin were formed in the 1920s when they won the contract to build the Austin Seven van. By the 1970s, [...]
September 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · 2 Comments
