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The 2 seat Sylva Leader was derived from the Sylva Star kit car. Slightly less extreme styling led to better sales. Based on the ever popular Lotus 7 style of car there were many similar designs over the years. [1]
Engines ranged from the Ford crossflow 1300 to the 1600. Other options were the Ford Pinto, though this was rather tall for the bonnet line, and even a Rover V8 was fitted.
Suspension was originally from the Vauxhall Viva or Magnum and there was a Chevette based version as well. Carburettors were usually twin 40 Webers or Dell'Ortos as the low bonnet made fitting the standard downdraft carb difficult.
The very strong steel spaceframe chassis was covered by a non stressed fiberglass body with the flip front bonnet giving excellent access to the engine bay.
Slightly larger and heavier than the later Striker it had a small boot accessible via the rear of the cockpit so if a full roll cage was fitted little could be carried. The front suspension was twin wishbones without an anti roll bar with a live rear axle with a 4-point location system. This worked surprisingly well due to the low centre of gravity.
The later Strikers had a 5-point location system which improved handling.
Later production was taken over by Robbley Motors but this was short lived. Front engined rear wheel drive cars such as this are becoming rarer due to a shortage of suitable donor vehicles.
The Ford Anglia is a small family car which was designed and manufactured by Ford UK. It is related to the Ford Prefect and the later Ford Popular. The Anglia name was applied to various models between 1939 and 1967. A total of 1,594,486 Anglias were produced. It was replaced by the Ford Escort.
The Morris Marina is a small family car that was manufactured by Austin-Morris division of British Leyland from 1971 until 1980. It served to replace the Morris Minor in the Morris product line, which had first been built in 1948. The Marina was also sold in some markets as the Austin Marina, the Leyland Marina and the Morris 1700.
The Princess is a large family car which was produced in the United Kingdom by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland from 1975 until 1981. The car inherited a front-wheel drive / transverse engine configuration from its predecessor, the Austin/Morris 1800 range. This was still unusual in Europe for family cars of this type and gave the Princess a cabin space advantage when compared with similarly sized cars from competing manufacturers.
The Ford Falcon is a full-sized car that was manufactured by Ford Australia from 1960 to 2016. From the XA series of 1972 onward, each Falcon and range of derivates have been designed, developed, and built in Australia, following the phasing out of the American-influenced Falcon of 1960 to 1971, which had been re-engineered locally as the XK to XY series for the harsher Australian conditions. The luxury-oriented Ford Fairmont model joined the range from 1965. Luxury long-wheelbase derivative versions called the Ford Fairlane and LTD arrived in 1967 and 1973, respectively.
Marcos Engineering was a British sports car manufacturer. The name derives from the surnames of founders Jem Marsh and Frank Costin.
Lotus Elan is the name of two separate ranges of automobiles produced by Lotus Cars. The first series of cars was produced between 1962 and 1975 as a rear-wheel drive vehicle. The second series was produced between 1989 and 1995 as a front-wheel drive vehicle.
Automobile handling and vehicle handling are descriptions of the way a wheeled vehicle responds and reacts to the inputs of a driver, as well as how it moves along a track or road. It is commonly judged by how a vehicle performs particularly during cornering, acceleration, and braking as well as on the vehicle's directional stability when moving in steady state condition.
Lotus Cortina is the commonly used term for the Ford Cortina Lotus, a high-performance sports saloon, which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1970 by Ford in collaboration with Lotus Cars. The original version, which was based on the Ford Cortina Mark 1, was promoted by Ford as the "Consul Cortina developed by Lotus", with "Consul" later being dropped from the name. The Mark 2 was based on the Ford Cortina Mark II and was marketed by Ford as the "Cortina Lotus".
A swing axle is a simple type of independent suspension designed and patented by Edmund Rumpler in 1903. This was a revolutionary invention in the automotive industry, allowing wheels to react to irregularities of road surfaces independently, and enable the vehicle to maintain a strong road holding. The first automotive application was the Rumpler Tropfenwagen, later followed by the Mercedes 130H/150H/170H, the Standard Superior, the Volkswagen Beetle and its derivatives, and the Chevrolet Corvair, amongst others.
The Triumph Vitesse is a compact six-cylinder car built by Standard-Triumph from May 1962 to July 1971. The car was styled by Giovanni Michelotti, and was available in saloon and convertible variants.
The Vauxhall Cresta is a British car which was produced by Vauxhall from 1954 to 1972. The Cresta was introduced in 1954 as an upmarket version of the Vauxhall Velox, itself a six-cylinder version of the Vauxhall Wyvern. The Cresta models were the E (1954–1957), PA (1957–1962), PB (1962–1965) and PC (1965–1972). The Viscount (1966–1972) was an upmarket Cresta PC.
The Ford Escort is a small family car which was manufactured by Ford of Europe from 1968 until 2000. The Ford Escort name was also applied to several small car types produced in North America by Ford between 1981 and 2000.
Rochdale cars were a series of mainly glass fibre bodied British sports car made by Rochdale Motor Panels and Engineering in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England between 1948 and 1973. The company is best remembered for the Olympic coupé made between 1959 and 1973.
Sylva Autokits is a kit car manufacturer based in Lincolnshire, England. Sylva was founded in 1981 by Jeremy Phillips and has developed and produced a number of small and lightweight sports cars. Sylva cars have won a number of 750 Motor Club Kit Car championships.
The Ford Falcon (AU) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1998 to 2002. It was the sixth generation Ford Falcon and also included the Ford Fairmont (AU)—the luxury-oriented model range. The AU series replaced the EL Falcon constructed on the new at the time EA169 platform, and was replaced by the updated BA series.
The Ford Falcon (EL) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1996 to 1998. It was the fifth and final iteration of the fifth generation of this Australian-made model and also included the Ford Fairmont (EL)—the luxury-oriented version of the Falcon.
The Bedford CA was a distinctive pug-nosed light commercial vehicle produced between 1952 and 1969 by Bedford in Luton, England.
The Sylva Striker is the most enduring of the Sylva models and was a radical evolution of the Star and Leader, dropping the Viva donor car in favour of purpose-built suspension and lighter bodywork. The car was aimed at two markets, the home car builder that required an economical kit that could be built using readily available mechanics tools and the more demanding race car builder who favoured good handling and simple design.
Subaru launched the third generation Japanese and world-market Legacy in June 1998, while the North American model was introduced in May 1999 for the 2000 model year. In all markets except for the United States, production lasted through 2002, with a limited production Blitzen model sold mid-cycle under the 2003 model year in Japan. Production in the United States lasted through 2004.
Tickford Vehicle Engineering (TVE) was responsible for numerous automotive projects and upgrades for Ford Australia between 1991 and 2002. In 1999, TVE setup Ford Tickford Experience (FTE) as a competitor to Holden Special Vehicles (HSV). In 2002, the operations changed to Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) coinciding with Tickford's global operations being bought out by Prodrive.