the end result was not only cohesive, it
was aesthetically pleasing. Practical too.
The rear bodywork hinged for access,
and there was a 5.8 cu ft boot (with
additional luggage space behind the
seats). Up front nestled a 6.5-gallon fuel
tank and the spare wheel. Plus there’d
been an important design revision. “We
visited MIRA to test the prototype in
their wind tunnel,” remembers Ernie.
“The only issue was front end lift. So Val
designed a slim front airdam. It made a
tremendous difference.”BACKING
Although day jobs and other
commitments delayed progress, by 1965,
the design had reached the point where
production beckoned. All that was
needed was someone willing to financeThis beautiful Unipower was
formerly owned and restored
by Mark Butler. It’s now
owned by Mark Glaisher.Ernie pictured with the aluminium-bodied prototype.day building a welding wire
framework onto which the Peel
Brothers crafted the sleek
aluminium body.”
With a low frontal area and clean
lines, the end result was a stunning
car. Specialised Mouldings,
renowned for its sports, GT and GP
bodywork, reproduced the
aluminium body in glassfibre. Arch
Motors fabricated the production
chassis. But to peg tooling costs, the car
became the beneficiary of many
proprietary parts.
“Arch Motors made the suspension
links,” mentions Val Dare-Bryan. “But
the front uprights were Mini items, with
the spindles cut off and the steering rack
was left hand-drive Mini. The screen was
a Triumph Spitfire. Door hinges and
locks came from the Cortina - state of
the art at the time, front indicators were
Austin 1100, Jensen’s CV-8 provided the
5.75 inch headlights, Vauxhall’s Viva the
rear light clusters and the wheels were,
initially, stock Mini.”
This might sound like a hotchpotch.
Yet, due to the fact that every component
had been carefully selected so as to fit
within the car’s very modest dimensions
and crucially, maintain its design purity,one of Ford’s top stylists who penned the
finishing touches. “He was working on
the GT40 project at the time, so we had to
keep his name out of it,” says Ernie with a
grin! “The revised drawings were
delivered to coachbuilder Robert Peel &
Company in Kingston upon Thames,
together with a tubular spaceframe
chassis we’d built and we then spent aEngine sits just behind the cabin.the end result was not only cohesive, it
was aesthetically pleasing. Practical too.
The rear bodywork hinged for access,
and there was a 5.8 cu ft boot (with
additional luggage space behind the
seats). Up front nestled a 6.5-gallon fuel
tank and the spare wheel. Plus there’d
been an important design revision. “We
visited MIRA to test the prototype in
their wind tunnel,” remembers Ernie.
“The only issue was front end lift. So Val
designed a slim front airdam. It made a
tremendous difference.”BACKING
Although day jobs and other
commitments delayed progress, by 1965,
the design had reached the point where
production beckoned. All that was
needed was someone willing to financeThis beautiful Unipower was
formerly owned and restored
by Mark Butler. It’s now
owned by Mark Glaisher.Ernie pictured with the aluminium-bodied prototype.day building a welding wire
framework onto which the Peel
Brothers crafted the sleek
aluminium body.”
With a low frontal area and clean
lines, the end result was a stunning
car. Specialised Mouldings,
renowned for its sports, GT and GP
bodywork, reproduced the
aluminium body in glassfibre. Arch
Motors fabricated the production
chassis. But to peg tooling costs, the car
became the beneficiary of many
proprietary parts.
“Arch Motors made the suspension
links,” mentions Val Dare-Bryan. “But
the front uprights were Mini items, with
the spindles cut off and the steering rack
was left hand-drive Mini. The screen was
a Triumph Spitfire. Door hinges and
locks came from the Cortina - state of
the art at the time, front indicators were
Austin 1100, Jensen’s CV-8 provided the
5.75 inch headlights, Vauxhall’s Viva the
rear light clusters and the wheels were,
initially, stock Mini.”
This might sound like a hotchpotch.
Yet, due to the fact that every component
had been carefully selected so as to fit
within the car’s very modest dimensions
and crucially, maintain its design purity,one of Ford’s top stylists who penned the
finishing touches. “He was working on
the GT40 project at the time, so we had to
keep his name out of it,” says Ernie with a
grin! “The revised drawings were
delivered to coachbuilder Robert Peel &
Company in Kingston upon Thames,
together with a tubular spaceframe
chassis we’d built and we then spent a
Engine sits just behind the cabin.