34
T
heoriginalprototypeforashort-
livedbutintriguingBritishsports
car, the Latham F2, has recently
emerged from 26 years of storage.
Its creator, Paul Latham-Jackson,
has just sold it after accepting that
the intended restoration wasn’t
going to reach fruition on his watch.
Latham-Jackson’s career saw him work
with March, Reynard and Arrows before
establishing his own business specialising
in glassfibre bodies and kit cars. This was in
the early Eighties, and Paul wasn’t impressed
with many of the kits he saw. He decided
to create something that would combine
impressive performance and handling with
proper accomodation, good equipment and
enough integrity for daily use.
‘Wefinishedthishand-builtprototypein
Cornwallin 1987 ...it tookagesto complete
andwesoldhousestopayforit,’hesays.
‘We moved to Oxfordshire to go into
business producing and selling the car,
while I took a day job with TWR.’
Paul’s racing car experience had shown
him the strength of carefully designed
and executed composite structures, so
the F2’s central tub was created as a GRP
monocoque with foam-filled sills. Front and
rear subframes hold the moving parts – the
front spaceframe is like an E-type’s, but with
rocker arm independent front suspension
similar to the era’s single-seaters.
‘I chose the Triumph Dolomite as the
donor car because of its well-located rear
axle, overdrive ’box and the option of that
wonderful Sprint engine,’ says Paul. ‘The
prototyperana TR7engine and I did about
55,000milesinfiveyears as we continued
to build and sell the kits – about 25 in the
end. There are still quite a few around.’
By 1993, the prototype was getting tatty
and Paul took it off the road to address
a few small jobs. The recession, the
subsequent housing market crash and
the popularity of Mazda’s new MX-5 did
nothing for Latham F2 sales, so Paul moved
on to other things – taking the prototype
with him through various house moves
until its most recent garage was damaged
in the winter storms.
As we went to press, Paul had found
a buyer and the car may well be at the
beginning of the restoration it deserves.
Latham prototype leaves home
MONTH IN CARS
Barn Finds
Triumph-based kitcar testbed finally flies the nest after 26 years of dormancy
The Q-plated
prototype in
kinder times
The new owner will face some unique
restoration challenges – but at least
he’s got the creator’s phone number
The prototype’s
long-term home was
recently destroyed
