Beauford is a British family run automobile company based in Biddulph, Stoke on Trent. The cars are supplied in kit form and are therefore highly customisable. Beauford are founding members of S.T.A.T.U.S. (Specialist Transport Advisory and Testing Utility Society). [1]
Originally based in Upholland, Lancashire the company later moved to Stoke on Trent. The first cars were made in 1978 and used a Mini bodyshell as the passenger compartment later replaced by a glass fibre moulding. The company has supplied over 1,500 kits.
The Beauford Tourer is designed to look like a vintage car. At the front is a long bonnet with flowing wings at either side to give the appearance of a 1930s Style Grand Tourer luxury car. There are both 2 door and 4 door versions. Cars come in both open and closed bodies. With detachable hard top or convertible soft top there are also half soft-top versions. [2] Because of the classic look of the vehicles the cars have become popular as wedding transport.They are suited to Rover V8 engines, and the M119 5 liter Mercedes Benz engine with over 300 BHP and high torque.
The shell of the body is made of Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP), and the bonnet and panels are alloys. The body is mounted on a ladder chassis. The vehicles have a long wheel base of 3.2 m (126"). A variety of power units can be fitted to the kit, including Ford, Nissan and Rover. The suspension, steering, pedal box and master cylinder can be sourced from the Ford Sierra. The manufacturer provides multiple choice in body parts such as windscreens and lights, meaning there are many unique vehicles in circulation.
| DIMENSIONS |
|---|
| 475cm (15’ 7") long |
| 168cm (5’ 6") wide |
| 152cm (5’ 0") high |
| WHEELBASE |
| 320 cm (10’ 6") |
| WEIGHT allowed on axle 1st axle 975 kg 2nd axle 850 kg |
| 1,000 kg (2,200 lbs) approx |
| ENGINE |
| 1593 ccm the engine produced 53 kW (71 hp) of power and 156 N·m (115 ft·lbf) of torque.136 CO2/km (combined) |
| TRANSMISSION |
| Either Manual or Automatic gearboxes may be used |
| RUNNING GEAR |
| Front & rear suspension, steering, pedal box, master cylinder & handbrake lever - Ford Sierra or Cortina. |
| CHASSIS |
| 4" x 2" x 1/8 (100 x 50 x 3mm) steel box section ladder chassis |
| BODY & PANELS |
| Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) body with alloy bonnet & closing panels |
There is an owners club known as The Beauford Club. They attend automotive events and produce publications for members. [3]
Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers in Brazil, China, India, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. The Land Rover name was created in 1948 by the Rover Company for a utilitarian 4WD off-road vehicle; currently, the Land Rover range is comprised solely of upmarket and luxury sport utility vehicles.
Caterham Cars is a British manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars established in Caterham, England, with their headquarters in Dartford, England. Their current model, the Caterham 7, originally launched in 1973, is a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by Colin Chapman. In the 1990s the company made the Caterham 21, a two-seater soft top alternative to the MGF and Lotus Elise,. A track-only car, the SP/300.R, a joint project with Lola was released for customer testing in 2010 and was scheduled for release in 2013. On 27 April 2011, Team Lotus owner Tony Fernandes announced that he had purchased Caterham. On 2 April 2021, news was leaked that Caterham Cars was acquired outright on 31 March 2021 by VT Holdings, Japanese importer for the Caterham Seven since 2009. As well as being a Caterham importer, VT also imports Lotus cars and Royal Enfield motorcycles into Japan.
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Eagle Cars Limited was an English company, based in Lancing, West Sussex, originally operated by Allen Breeze, although it has undergone a number of ownership changes since. Originally making a Jeep lookalike called the RV, between 1981 and 1998 they built several iterations of a gull-winged car called the Eagle SS. The SS was based on an American kit car called the Cimbria, and was brought to the UK by Tim Dutton. In 1988 Eagle Cars moved inland, to nearby Storrington.
The Dax Rush is a lightweight two-seater sports car that's offered as a kit. It has a multi-tube triangulated steel space frame chassis, front engine and rear wheel or four wheel drive. The body is constructed in Glass-Reinforced Polymer (GRP) with optional aluminium side panels and bonnet. It complies with the Single Vehicle Approval (SVA) scheme. Two optional rear suspension technologies are offered; De Dion and the IRS. The car is known for its 0–100 km/h performance of close to 3 second runs.
The Mini Hatch, stylised as MINI Hatch, also sold as Mini Cooper, Mini One, or simply called the (BMW) Mini, are a family of retro-styled two-door supermini hatchback and convertible; and a longer, subcompact 4/5-door hatchback. They were introduced in early 2000 by German automaker BMW under the 'Mini' brand. The second generation was launched in 2006 and the third, adding a longer 4/5-door hatchback, in 2014. A two-door convertible version was added in 2004, followed by its second generation in 2008.
Minari Engineering Ltd. was a Limited company based in Staffordshire, UK. They manufactured two vehicles, the Minari Club Sport, and the Minari Road Sport. They specialised in producing the components required to build cars based upon the Alfa Romeo Alfasud and 33 running gear, with bodies mainly constructed from GRP. These could either be purchased in Kit form or through a build agent, Chameleon Cars. Around 130 Mk2 kits were sold before production finally stopped in 2000.
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