New Zealand Classic Car – September 2019

AUTOMOBILIA

Collectable models / Lifestyle / Book and DVD reviews

Marendaz was one of those small-scale British

manufacturers, like Squire and Atalanta, that sprang up

between the two World Wars. Its total production between

1927 and 1936 was under 100 cars. Surprisingly, Alfred and

Aileen Moss, Stirling’s parents, owned four of them, and one

of those four is housed in the Southward Car Museum!

Captain Marcus Marendaz flew a small number of combat

missions in World War I. He first dabbled in car making

via the Marseal and then began making his self-named

cars with motors sourced from Anzani and the like.

The ‘All-British’ part of the title came about because

foreign-sounding names were still regarded with some

suspicion by the British post–World War I: it’s actually a

Portuguese surname.

The book, written by a current Marendaz owner, follows the

trials and tribulations of developing, funding, and marketing

a specialist sporting car in the economically difficult 1930s.

Many of the cars were attractive and sporting in looks and

performance. They had some small successes in reliability

trials and at Brooklands. A few overseas events were

contested too; unfortunately, the captain crashed on the first

corner of the 1928 German Grand Prix.

It was a hand-to-mouth existence, though, and life

cannot have been much fun for the small workforce; by all

accounts, Marendaz was a difficult and unappreciative

employer who did not pay well.

After the factory closed, Marendaz tried to develop his

own line of light aircraft without much success, although

his flying school seems to have done well for a while. He

became more difficult and thin-skinned in later life, as

the author demonstrates through examples of copious

correspondence with individuals and magazines that

Marendaz regarded as critical of him or his achievements.

There was one instance, though, where his complaints

seem to have been justified. The British authorities had

him interned for four months in 1940 on a very flimsy

case of photographing military secrets, which turned out

to be an obsolete aircraft on an airfield that Marendaz

owned! After the war, he spent a few unhappy years in

South Africa, where he continued to have run-ins with

authority. Marendaz later returned to England where he

seemed to live in some comfort and with enough leisure to

leap into print at the slightest provocation!

A medium-sized softcover book with 192 pages, this

is a fascinating insight into a range of cars and their

intriguing maker, both of which deserve their places in

motoring history.

THE ALL-BRITISH MARENDAZ

SPECIAL: THE MAN, THE

CARS AND THE AEROPLANES

Graham Skillen

Published 2018 by Fonthill. Reviewer’s own copy

ISBN 978-1-78155-702-0

Review by Mark Holman

O

n the face of it, you might think

that Land Rover and Range Rover

are not brands that have required

much ‘design’ or ‘styling’, as their appearance

has changed at a glacial pace. This enjoyable

book shows otherwise. Nick Hill, whose earlier

books include similar titles on Ford and Jaguar

design, covers the full story, from the first

prototype Land Rover, called the ‘J-Model’,

with centre steering, to the latest Range Rover

S coupé.

In fact, while the looks appear to have

changed little over the years, this fascinating

book makes it clear that much was going on

behind the scenes to meet changing demand,

taste, and legislative requirements. The Range

Rover, already aimed at the landowner rather

than the gamekeeper, took on a more luxe

persona over the years while retaining its off-

road capabilities.

A real strength of Nick Hull’s work is that he

combines the stories of the key people with the

products; from Spen King to Gerry McGovern.

Although the Landie; Rangie; and, to a lesser

extent, Freelander and Evoque, carved out new

market niches, the company was sometimes

slow to react to initiatives from other players,

such as the soft-roaders from the likes of

Toyota and Daihatsu and perhaps the more

sporting off-roaders from Porsche and BMW.

Some of the friction between the company

traditionalists who liked hose-out rubber mats

and the newcomers conscious of changing

market demands and expectations are played

out in the book, as are the company ownership

changes and restructurings. Land Rover has

passed through a number of owners and the

impact of those including BMW and Ford

are well covered in the book. Those changes

no doubt made life interesting for the design

teams!

This large 240-page hardcover book features

design sketches and photos of prototypes

such as the SD5 and the Range Stormer with

‘butterfly’ doors, which show the thought

that goes into new-model development, even

though much of the work didn’t make it into

production.

Well illustrated, this book should delight

owners of any of the models featured, but it

deserves a wider audience simply because it is so

interesting and readable.

LAND ROVER DESIGN: 70 YEARS OF SUCCESS

Nick Hull

Published 2018 by Veloce,

which supplied the review copy

ISBN 978-1-845849-87-0

Review by Mark Holman







    






 









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100 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com