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Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

I've just bought what appears to be a mid 1970s Clubmans A chassis. It's quite a distinctive design, so I'm hoping someone can identify it - it has a de dion rear end; March uprights (front and rear); March wheels (six spoke fronts and Melmags at the rear). There is a letter "B" in the centre of the steering wheel.

Any information greatly appreciated.

Re: Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

Richard........if you want to email me photos I'll put them into the photos section for people to see. The 70s produced many different cars but I'm sure we'll have enough anoraks between us to answer your question. chrishart@usa.net

Re: Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

Look at 2 photos in "Photos' section under "What Car?" for recognition.

Re: Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

This is a copy of an email from Jim via Chris Hart: "I was told about this car some weeks ago by Paul Bason who thought it was one of mine in view of the De Dion rear end. I did wonder whether it could have been built from the remains of Beagle Mk3 as,, although I thought I had scrapped the chassis, I don't actually remember sawing it up. Since this car was in Tamworth,only a few miles from home, it was possible. Anyway on seeing it, it clearly wasn't anything to do with me although the rear suspension is almost identical to my MK3 and 4. Although I would never claim my De Dion was unique I have never seen another quite like it until this one. That is apart from the fact that the mystery car seems to be missing some triangulation in the De Dion frame which, unless I am very much mistaken, would distort horribly on cornering.This makes me think that the car perhaps was never run. The rest of it looks very well thought out with some nice March uprights and Bilstein shocks. The other odd thing is the very small opening for the engine with only one obvious mounting point on the top of the chassis. Was the engine mounted horizontally, I wonder, as was Beagles Mk3 and 4.I have attached another two photos of this car showing the engine bay and also the remarkably large fuel tank with flip up filler. Was it perhaps built for thundersports? It is clearly a sports car as one can see the mudguard supports which are shelf brackets! I gather the car was in someone's garden in the Tamworth area with trees growing through it! If this was true its not in bad nick.All in all a fascinating puzzle as to who built it". Jim Yardley

Re: Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

Its a good point that Jim makes about the size of the fuel tank (it probably rules means that it wasn't built for hillclmbing), but I doubt it was built for Thundersports as I suspect it pre dates Thundersports by several years. It seems more likely that it might have been for something like the six hour relay races that the 750 MC ran.

In terms of dating the car, the March running appears to be 1974 or thereabouts, but its impossible to say whether they were new or already several years old when the car was built.

What other Clubmans cars were there with names beginning with B? The only two I can think of are Bladons and Mike Barnby's "Special B" - can anyone either rule out or confirm it either of those?

Re: Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

Richard, you can get hold of Mike Barnby directly here;
Barnby Engineering, 2 Lakeside Park, Neptune Close, Medway City Estate, Rochester, Kent, ME2 4LT, England.

Tel. 44(0)1634 711801 Fax. 44(0)1634 711766 Email:- mikebarnby@aol.com

I think that's the same MB who built the Spectrum and other Clubmans cars.

Re: Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

I doubt very much if the car was a Bladon as Rob Cochran's technical man was very much into independant rear suspenions. However Rob used to live quite close by so I will try and track him down as he may know something to do with this car. I understood from Bob Simpson,who rescued the car,that the 'B' logo on the steering wheel was well known and does not necessarily give a clue to its name.

Re: Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

Mike Barnby tells me that none of his cars used March uprights and a de dion rear end.

Re: Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

The problem of ID'ing cars from the early days is that we had many different designer/builder/drivers in that era - when I last researched it was 50+ by the mid 80s. My instinct tells me that it's an "Apogee" built by Richard de la Rue mid-70s. More guess than judgement though.

Re: Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

Sorry Chris, but it definitely isn't the Apogee. I sort of persuaded Richard de la Rue to build the Apogee which had beam axle front suspension but a live rear axle,not De dion. This car was quite succesful and after driving it confirmed my belief that this was the way to for Beagles Mk3 and 4.

Re: Unidentified 70s Clubmans Car

Hello Mr Yardley! I am trying to contact you in regards to your Monoposto winning Beagle. I have your 1969 Beagle in Colorado and am interested in any information you could forward. Thank you. Haystack1@bresnan.net