1966 Janspeed Unipower GT

[Pete]

Thanks Gerry.

Anyone know what magazine this report of the '67 Racing Car Show is from ?




The guy in the black jumper behind the MG here at Combe in June '67...



...is the same person apparently talking to Mabbs (in car) here at Combe again in August...



Any ideas who he is ? Janspeed related ?

[Pete]

This is from Autosport June 9th '67, gives a good indication of when Jan bought the car...



Contrary to that report I've not found any evidence for the use of any other engine than 1275 'S' in the car in the first few races , then 1143 thereafter.



May/June is obviously quite a few months after the racing car show so I wonder if the car had a previous owner to Jan, maybe he bought it from this ad in the back of Autosport from March 31st...? We have to remember there were probably less than twenty cars built by this point (Gerry ?) so a competition version coming up for sale would have been a rarity in March '67..




Questions ..questions..

[rpb203]

Pete,

By March '67 there were probably less than 14 cars built, mine is chassis 15 and was built around April '67, and they didn't seem to be building/delivering them in a hurry from what I can gather.
Although Gerry will be able to provide more accurate details.

Is the magazine Sports Car Graphic?

Gary

[surfblue63]

Thanks Gerry.

Anyone know what magazine this report of the '67 Racing Car Show is from ?

Pete,

Is the magazine Sports Car Graphic?

Gary

Yes it is Sports Car Graphic, April 1967 issue. If you enlarge the picture you can make out the text at the bottom left of the picture.

There's a copy on fleabay at the moment

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sports-Car-Gr ... 4614a842f9

[Pete]

Pete,

By March '67 there were probably less than 14 cars built, mine is chassis 15 and was built around April '67, and they didn't seem to be building/delivering them in a hurry from what I can gather.
Although Gerry will be able to provide more accurate details.

Is the magazine Sports Car Graphic?

Gary

Hi Gary, so around a dozen cars built by March, they did take their time didn't they, the main reason it all went pear shaped in the end (plus the price etc etc). Mine's December '66 and No. 9, so barely a car per month ?! So that competition version in the classified ad is looking increasingly likely !

[Pete]

There's a copy on fleabay at the moment

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sports-Car-Gr ... 4614a842f9

Was !

I'll keep my eyes peeled for another copy.

Cheers Stu.

[Ghul]

Hi Pete,
The advert you refer to is almost certainly the car sold to Janspeed by the Works as the records show that it was sold without engine or wheels. Just what the 'change of plans' were, who knows. The car was the ex-Show car and was then shown as having been sold to Janspeed, so no previous owner before Janspeed.

As to how many cars were produced by 1st March 1967, the number was 13, just less than one a month. You have to remember that these cars were properly hand built and mostly to order only, combined with some ongoing development still going on (the first few cars were recalled to have upper rear spring/shocker mounts upgraded. Likewise the first 4 cars had new doors retro-fitted, changing from wind-up to sliding windows, which remained std for the rest of production.

As to why the cars ceased production late in 1969, this was entirely due to the race program that was embarked on by Piers Forester to the detriment of the road car production. I'm told by someone who should know, that there were orders for around 30 cars on the books towards the end of '69. Again I understood from a conversation many years ago that BP had ordered 10 cars for use in a promotion campaign. So who knows where Unipower cars may have gone onto if things had been different.

Hope this helps to clarify things.

Gerry

[Ghul]

Hi Gary,
I see that you have chassis #15. You probably know all this but your car was a standard road car in White when first built with a Black dashboard, Minilite wheels, Dunlop Racing Tyres !, anti-roll bar, heater/de-mister, oil cooler and no luggage boot.

I'm starting to rejuvenate the Unipower Register that I used to keep of all Unipowers in existence. Many of these became difficult to keep track of when they started to be traded around dealers and ending up in Japan and various other places.

Would you be good enough to drop me some basic contact info for yourself and basic info, colour and current spec, engine, wheels on your car, so I can update the Register. I can be reached on gerryhulford@btopenworld.com.

In the same way please, if there are any other Unipower owners out there, would they drop me some basic contact details on the aforementioned email address. All info will be kept confidential and contacts only shared with the owners permission as has always been the case.

In the past, a long time ago !, I used to organise monthly Unipower meets near Dorking in Surrey. We used to get around 6-8 cars along on a regular basis. I even had Unipower represented at the first and subsequent early years of the Classic Car Show at Alexandra Palace and then through to the NEC.

Many thanks,
Gerry

[Pete]

Hi Pete,
The advert you refer to is almost certainly the car sold to Janspeed by the Works as the records show that it was sold without engine or wheels. Just what the 'change of plans' were, who knows. The car was the ex-Show car and was then shown as having been sold to Janspeed, so no previous owner before Janspeed.
Gerry

thanks for that Gerry, I'm hoping to get Jan Odor to confirm this in the near future. I've also found ads for a race car from what looks like Graham Goodman in 1969 minus engine , he'd been trying to sell it for a while as can be seen in the previous ads. So the story of the car is coming together slowly but surely. I've found a header tank to copy now (thanks to Gary Marlow !) along with some original badges, some nice rear lights , the 1071 engine build is underway , 163 head's away being ported and plans afoot to reinstate the front air dam.

[JC T ONE]

Some amazing info turning up on this thread

You must be pleased Pete


send you an Email.



Jens Christian

[Tim Harber]

Who styled it?

Gospel according to Philby says an undisclosed Ford stylist

Apparently so, a moonlighting project from one of the team responsible for the GT40 I read somewhere but has always been 'undisclosed'! Incidentally, according to the 5th owner Peter Philby almost became it's owner at one point , long story...

I often wondered if Ron Hickman may have had a hand in it. Ex Ford, went to Lotus, developed the concept Lotus put forward for the GT40, which went on to become the Europa when Lola got the GT40 contract. I doubt Lotus would want their stylist working on a competitors projects

It has the look of some of his work.

Do the hinges say 'workmate' on them????



Al

How come I missed the obvious? Nice profile of a 47 in my brother in laws Lotus mag

[Pete]

Yes but...which came first ? . Hickman's design for the Lotus ran very much in parallel with the Unipower from what I've gleaned, the Unipower design was on the drawing board in the same time frame, ie around '63/4 though the Unipower GT was presented as a completed car a whole year before the Lotus in January 1966 (probably too early !)

[Pete]

http://www.sportscars.tv/Newfiles/racingcarshow67.html

[Pete]

Press hand out for the '67 show which mentions my car on the stand as having a Downton engine :




By late Summer '67 the tuner of choice has changed to Speedwell for the comp cars :

[Jeroen Booij]

Wowie!

"Cars have already been exported to U.S.A., Switzerland, Holland and Spain."
Hang on.
Holland?!

[Pandora]

Yes but...which came first ? . Hickman's design for the Lotus ran very much in parallel with the Unipower from what I've gleaned, the Unipower design was on the drawing board in the same time frame, ie around '63/4 though the Unipower GT was presented as a completed car a whole year before the Lotus in January 1966 (probably too early !)

From Wikipedia (so it must be true...... )but it ties in with what I've read elsewhere:

In the spring of 1963, Ford reportedly received word through a European intermediary that Enzo Ferrari was interested in selling to Ford Motor Company. Ford reportedly spent several million dollars in an audit of Ferrari factory assets and in legal negotiations, only to have Ferrari unilaterally cut off talks at a late stage due to disputes about the ability to direct open wheel racing. Ferrari, who wanted to remain the sole operator of his company's motor sports division, was angered when he was told that he would not be allowed to race at the Indianapolis 500 if the deal went through since Ford fielded Indy cars using the company's engine, and didn't want competition from Ferrari. Enzo cut the deal off out of spite and Henry Ford II, enraged, directed his racing division to find a company that could build a Ferrari-beater on the world endurance-racing circuit.

To this end Ford began negotiation with Lotus, Lola, and Cooper. Cooper had no experience in GT or prototype and its performances in Formula One were declining.

Lotus was already a Ford partner for their Indy 500 project. Ford executives already doubted the ability of Lotus to handle this new project. Colin Chapman probably had similar views as he asked a high price for his contribution and insisted that the car (which became the Lotus Europa) should be named a Lotus-Ford, an attitude that can be viewed as polite refusal.

The Lola proposal was chosen, since Lola had used a Ford V8 engine in their mid-engined Lola Mk 6 (also known as Lola GT). It was one of the most advanced racing cars of the time, and made a noted performance in Le Mans 1963, even though the car did not finish, due to low gearing and so revving out on the Mulsanne Straight. However, Eric Broadley, Lola Cars' owner and chief designer, agreed on a short-term personal contribution to the project without involving Lola Cars.

The agreement with Broadley included a one-year collaboration between Ford and Broadley, and the sale of the two Lola Mk 6 chassis built to Ford. To form the development team, Ford also hired the ex-Aston Martin team manager John Wyer.[6] Ford Motor Co. engineer Roy Lunn was sent to England; he had designed the mid-engined Mustang I concept car powered by a 1.7 litre V4. Despite the small engine of the Mustang I, Lunn was the only Dearborn engineer to have some experience with a mid-engined car.

Overseen by Harley Copp, the team of Broadley, Lunn and Wyer began working on the new car at the Lola Factory in Bromley. At the end of 1963 the team moved to Slough, near Heathrow airport. Ford then established Ford Advanced Vehicles Ltd, a new subsidiary under the direction of Wyer, to manage the project.

So, Lotus proposal for what became the GT40 was drawn up in '63. As far as I'm aware, it never made it to the mock up stage, only drawings being put forward. Between '63 and the Europa's launch in '66 it was developed by Ron Hickman and others. Remember also that Unipower would have less 'burocracy' to go through than Lotus to get a new car into production (not least fewer sets of moulds) and that Lotus moved factory from Chesunt to Hethel in this period too.......

Doesn't seem too far fetched that one or more of the Lotus staff didn't fancy a move to Norfolk and were exploring the options as consultant / freelancers?

[mk1]

Pete, Can I scrounge a copy of the press release for the main MK1 site?

M

[Pete]

No problem Mark, I've got a few other documents as well which I'll mail over.

Quite chuffed with this : it's the slide I had sent to me by an ex pat living in France of the car at Snetterton in late '68, came out quite nice...

[coopertim]

Does look nice in white with 10" knock ons Pete!

Tim

[Red17]

Cracking photo.