met Val Dare-Bryan, a freelance designer
who was also running Roy Pierpoint’s
Ford Falcon saloon car racer. Having
discussed his plans with Val, Ernie was
pleased to discover that he too had been
having similar ideas. Encouraged, the
pair formed an alliance.
“I had the notion that Val could take
my basic concepts and sketches, and turn
them into working drawings,” recalls
Ernie. “We agreed on lots of things and
disagreed on some, but eventually had
the makings of the basic car which was
going to be a small, compact, high-
quality, road-going GT.”
To see if their proposal was
intrinsically sound, a test mule was built.
Powered by a tired 850cc Minivan
engine, it was a kind of spaceframed
‘f lying bedstead,’ fitted with front Mini
uprights all-round, Mini rack mounted
upside down, softer damping, modified
Mini lower arms, and bespoke coilovers.
The all-important gear linkage used a
RH sill-mounted lever, cranked rod
linkage and reverse gate operation.
“As well as handling, ride quality was a
major consideration,” mentions Ernie.
“At Brands, we used tyres that Pirelli had
provided, plus we had a box of springsand dampers and swapped them around
until Tony Lanfranchi, who was testing
for us, gave it his thumbs-up.”FINISHING TOUCHES
It was an intensely busy (and costly)
period for Ernie who, in the interim, had
been head-hunted by The Ford Motor
Company where he found himselfimmersed in all things Cortina. Ford
provided Ernie with a vibrant working
environment, new technological
challenges and more importantly, access
to key personnel. Keen to tap into this
expertise, finesse the GT’s design and
ensure that the detail was up to
professional standards, Ernie handed the
drawings of the proposed bodyshell toPlenty to smile about, but sadly,
sales never matched expectations.Many components, such as
the Viva rear lights, were
proprietary items but it all
worked together brilliantly.met Val Dare-Bryan, a freelance designer
who was also running Roy Pierpoint’s
Ford Falcon saloon car racer. Having
discussed his plans with Val, Ernie was
pleased to discover that he too had been
having similar ideas. Encouraged, the
pair formed an alliance.
“I had the notion that Val could take
my basic concepts and sketches, and turn
them into working drawings,” recalls
Ernie. “We agreed on lots of things and
disagreed on some, but eventually had
the makings of the basic car which was
going to be a small, compact, high-
quality, road-going GT.”
To see if their proposal was
intrinsically sound, a test mule was built.
Powered by a tired 850cc Minivan
engine, it was a kind of spaceframed
‘f lying bedstead,’ fitted with front Mini
uprights all-round, Mini rack mounted
upside down, softer damping, modified
Mini lower arms, and bespoke coilovers.
The all-important gear linkage used a
RH sill-mounted lever, cranked rod
linkage and reverse gate operation.
“As well as handling, ride quality was a
major consideration,” mentions Ernie.
“At Brands, we used tyres that Pirelli had
provided, plus we had a box of springs
and dampers and swapped them around
until Tony Lanfranchi, who was testing
for us, gave it his thumbs-up.”FINISHING TOUCHES
It was an intensely busy (and costly)
period for Ernie who, in the interim, had
been head-hunted by The Ford Motor
Company where he found himselfimmersed in all things Cortina. Ford
provided Ernie with a vibrant working
environment, new technological
challenges and more importantly, access
to key personnel. Keen to tap into this
expertise, finesse the GT’s design and
ensure that the detail was up to
professional standards, Ernie handed the
drawings of the proposed bodyshell toPlenty to smile about, but sadly,
sales never matched expectations.Many components, such as
the Viva rear lights, were
proprietary items but it all
worked together brilliantly.