Tag Archives: Central

Specials & Restorations – Colin Cooper

A couple of months ago I set out to find who built an MG that will feature in tomorrow’s blog called the ‘Kayne Special’, see below. Thanks to some help from my friends paulg at the MG Car Club Forum, The Nostalgia Forum, Bob Allan and his friend Peter Croft in New Zealand I have learned that the Kayne Special was built by Colin Cooper and a couple of weeks ago Colin invited me to visit him and discuss his pursuit of speed.

Kayne Special Mk I, Loton Park

Colin Cooper hails from Bolton at 15 he and a school friend purchased an Austin Seven for £2 10s (£2.50) at auction. They drove the car home sans driving licence and between them they built up a special but could not afford to run it and sold it on.

MG VA Tourer,

Colin started driving legally when his Dad bought a 1955 Ford Popular in 1958 which was sold the following year. For his 20th Birthday Colins Mum bought him a £75 MG VA 4 seat tourer seen above around 1960 which seeded his affinity for MG’s.

MB PA, Kinmel Park,

Colin’s interest in cars was primarily a hobby, with a few deals to ease the financial pain, in 1972 he started racing a 1934 MG PA shared with his friend Trevor which is seen above at Kinmel Park near Rhyll in Wales.

Kayne Special Mk I & Mk II, Killeen KI

Having squirrelled various bits pieces away including an MG J2 chassis and MG PB motor Colin set about building the first, see to top photo, of what would be come three Kayne Specials built between 1973 and 1982. The name is derived from Kay, and Neil his children. Above on the left is the Kayne Special 3 in the middle the Kayne Special 2 and the Killeen K1 built by Tom Killeen in 1953 all 3 of these cars will be looked at in greater detail in the coming weeks Tuesday MG blogs.

Lotus Ford 18, Curbrough

In between building and racing his three specials and racing the Kileen K1 Colin acquired, restored, raced and sold numerous fascinating vehicles including a bevy of Lotus 18’s of which the one above, seen at Curborough in 1977 featured some radical bodywork a standard Ford 1500 cc motor with a 4 speed Renault Dauphine gearbox.

Daren Mk 2B, Longridge, Lancs

Some where around 1978 Colin acquired an Ex Targa Florio Daren Mk 2B one of only 8 Mk 2’s built, seen here at Longridge in Lancashire.

Mallock Mk III, Blackpool, 1985, Copyright Frank Hall

Photo Copyright Frank Hall 1985.

Frank Halls photo above taken in 1985 shows Colin competition career drawing to a close at Blackpool, where he drove a Mallock Mk III, one of many early Mallocks that Colin owned over the years.

Colin Cooper, Trophies

Above are some of the trophies Colin won over a span of 15 years in competitive driving, Colin is also a snooker champion, he still uses the same Joe Davis cue he was given on his 13th birthday.

Central England Sports Cars

When Colin retired from his professional career he started a Frogeye restoration business called Central England Sports Cars in 1993, soon after setting up a Mr Ogawa seen on the left signed the first of several deals for batches of six restored Frogeye’s to be exported to Japan paying 50% upfront and the balance when the cars were ready for dispatch to the docks. The business declined with the stagnation of the Japanese economy in 1998 and became the Frogeye Spares Company which was sold in 2000 and is still going strong.

Central England Sports Cars

Before I left, Colin he asked if I could help track down the black Midget seen in the corner of the CESC workshop above. The car registered WHP 94S is still thought to be on the road, it is a MG Midget identifiable by a Sprite grill 1500 cc motor, rear anti tramp bars Frogeye Windscreen and hood with 9 lift of fasteners. Colin sold the car to a policeman for approximately £2000 and he believes the PC bought it for his sister. Colin would like to get in touch with the current owner if you can help please leave a message below, on my fb page or e-mail me direct infoATpsychoontyres.co.uk please type MIDGET in the subject box.

My thanks to Colin for generously giving me the time to discuss his fascinating story and cars, to paulg at the MGCC Forum, to everyone at The Nostalgia Forum, Bob Allan and Peter Croft who helped me find Colin. Thanks also to Tony Gallagher for putting me in touch with Chris Winstanley who kindly granted permission to use Frank Halls photograph.

Thanks for joining me on this Specials & Restorations edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be taking a look at Colin’s first Kayne Special. Don’t forget to come back now !

24/04/12 Photo of Colin driving the Mallock at Blackpool added.

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£24 Complete Including Packing – Mini Ridgeway Sports Conversion

Soon after starting Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the sleepy little town of Farnham in Surrey close to where I went to school once had a budding motor industry, first by finding out about the Abbots of Farnham Coachworks which amongst other things was responsible for a Fraser Nash BMW body, the bodies of several Bristol’s and several Ford’s, then I found out about the cute little 2 cylinder Carden.

Mini's, Farnham

Today’s story began a couple of weeks ago when I was looking at a facebook page called I Love Farnham Surrey where I stumbled across today’s photo’s of a 1979 gathering of Mini’s in Farnham’s central car park posted by Stephen White.

Mini's, Farnham

I did not notice anything particularly special about the car park behind the bank where I opened my first bank account until the Mini with the special nose caught my attention. It turns out to be a Ridgeway Sports Conversion a £24 fiber glass kit that was marketed by the Ridgeway Rd, Garage in Farnham.

Mini's, Farnham

The garage was owned by a Mr Lawrence who’s son Richard had such a nose on his own Mini as did his Uncle who raced his Ridgeway converted Mini at Eelmor Plain near the Army Training Grounds just outside Aldershot.

Mini's, Farnham

Stephen tells me the meeting was arranged so that he and his friends could go to Donington Park in convoy to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Mini.

I’d like to thank Stephen White for kindly allowing me to use his photo’s and Colin Cole for identifying the Ridgeway Conversion.

Thanks for joining me on this £24 Including Packing edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now.

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Forgotten Marque #1 – Warwick 350GT

It’s not everyday I stumble upon a vehicle manufacturer I have never heard of but at last weekends Race Retro I came across two such manufacturers the first the subject of today’s blog is Warwick.

The origins of the Warwick lie in Peerless Cars Ltd founded by John Gordon and James Byrnes, Peerless built approximately 325 fiberglass vehicles with tubular space frames designed by Bernie Rodger around Triumph TR3 running gear. A Peerless GT Coupe driven by Peter Jopp and Percy Crabb finished 16th in the 1958 Le Mans 24 hour race.

Peerless Cars Ltd failed in 1960 and Bernie Rodger upgraded his design with a stiffer chassis, one piece forward hingeing bonnet and marketed it under the Warwick name though the vehicles were actually built in Colnbrook, Berkshire. Around 40 Warwicks are thought to have been manufactured from 1960 to 1962.

Meantime Peerless founder John Gordon teamed up with Jim Keeble to carry on manufacturing vehicles based on the original Peerless chassis with Chevrolet motors and completely new bodywork designed by Guigiaro and built by Bertone marketed under the Gordon – Keeble brand.

In 1961 Warwick manufactured two prototypes with all aluminium 3.5 litre / 215 cui Buick (BOP) 215 engines, the four tail pipes on this vehicle are evidence that this is one of those two prototypes.

The Warwick appeared at Race Retro on the Central Scanning stand, a company that specialises in scanning old parts so that they can be reverse engineered, thus making it theoretically possible to remanufacture almost any part for any vehicle that has ever been built so long as an original copy exists to be scanned.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s Forgotten Marque edition of ‘Getting a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow for another forgotten marque. Don’t forget to come back now !

05/09/11 Looking into the name of this model I have come to realise it is properly called a Warwick 350GT not 305GT as originally published. Apologies for any confusion.

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