Spartan Cars was a manufacturer of kit cars based in Pinxton, Derbyshire, United Kingdom, which operated from 1973 to 1995. The company was founded by Jim McIntyre.
Steve Beardsall, who had been the production manager, took over in about 1991 and introduced the Spartan Treka, a Jeep style car, which was based on the Ford Fiesta Mk2. Over 4000 kits were produced and they have been exported to over 23 countries.
The main product was an open, 2+2 seater, traditionally styled kit car based at first on the chassis and mechanical components of the Triumph Herald. An aluminium panelled body and glass fibre wings completed the car. As the Triumphs became rarer, and collectable in themselves, a complete new chassis was designed in 1980 to take components from the Ford Cortina Mk III-V.
The Sherwood was an estate car conversion based around the Ford Cortina but using a new chassis. The rear roof section was detachable to make the car into a pick-up.
More unusual was the Starcraft, a six-wheel motor caravan conversion for the Ford Cortina Mk III to V. A new steel chassis took the Cortina's mechanical components and on this was mounted a large body shell which included an overhanging section above the driver and passenger seats. The bonnet area was restyled but the centre section of the Cortina was retained including wiring, instruments and windscreen.
A Locost is a home-built car inspired by the Lotus Seven. The car features a space frame chassis usually welded together from mild steel 1 in × 1 in square tubing. Front suspension is usually double wishbone with coil spring struts. The rear is traditionally live axle, but has many variants including independent rear suspension or De Dion tube. Body panels are usually fibreglass nose and wings and aluminium side panels. Each car is highly individualized according to the resources, needs and desires of each respective builder.
A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor vehicles or purchased new from other vendors. Kits vary in completeness, consisting of as little as a book of plans, or as much as a complete set with all components to assemble into a fully operational vehicle such as those from Caterham.
The Ford Anglia is a small family car that 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. In total, 1,594,486 Anglias were produced. It was replaced by the Ford Escort.
The Ford Zephyr is an executive car manufactured by Ford of Britain from 1950 until 1972. The Zephyr and its luxury variants, the Ford Zodiac and Ford Executive, were the largest passenger cars in the British Ford range from 1950 until their replacement by the Consul and Granada models in 1972.
Elva was a sports and racing car manufacturing company based in Bexhill, then Hastings and Rye, East Sussex, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1955 by Frank G. Nichols. The name comes from the French phrase elle va.
Gilbern, Gilbern Sports Cars (Components) Ltd , was a Welsh car manufacturer from 1959 to 1973, based in Llantwit Fardre, Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales.
Ginetta Cars Limited is a British specialist builder of racing and sports cars based in Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Rochdale cars were a series of mainly glass fibre bodied British sports cars 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.
Turner Sports Car Company Limited was a 1950s British sports car manufacturer, that closed in 1966.
Locust is a kit car inspired by the Lotus Seven. It was first developed in the mid 1980s as a cheap kit car to be built onto the chassis of a Triumph Spitfire, it was later developed into a full kit car which used its own fully designed ladder chassis - unlike others using space frame. The car was famed for its cheap to build construction using MDF in the body, the last kits were produced in early 2000.
Carbodies was a taxi design and manufacturing company based in Coventry, England. In its latter years it also traded as London Taxis International and The London Taxi Company.
Dutton Cars, based in Worthing, Sussex, England, was a maker of kit cars between 1970 and 1989. In terms of number of kits produced, it was the largest kit-car manufacturer in the world.
The TVR Grantura is the first production model in a long line of TVR cars. It debuted in 1958 and went through a series of developments leading to the Mark I to Mark IV and 1800S models. The last ones were made in September 1967.
The European Ford Granada is an executive car manufactured by Ford Europe from 1972 until 1994.
Marlin is a British sports car manufacturer founded in 1979 in Plymouth as Marlin Engineering and now located in Crediton, Devon, England.
The TVR M series is a line of sports cars built by automaker TVR between 1972 and 1979. The series replaced the outgoing TVR Vixen and Tuscan models, and is characterized by a common chassis and shared body style. As with other TVR models before and since, the M-series cars use a front mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout and body-on-frame construction. The bodies themselves were built from glass-reinforced plastic (GRP). The era of the M series is commonly associated with Martin Lilley who, together with his father, took ownership of the company on 30 November 1965.
Haynes Roadster is a replica of a Lotus Seven home-built car, according to the book Build Your Own Sports Car: On a Budget by Chris Gibbs (ISBN 1-84425-391-0). A Ford Sierra is used in the car as a donor for drivetrain and suspension components.
Mills Extreme Vehicles (MEV) is a kit car design and manufacturing company based in Gloucestershire, England, founded in 2003 by Stuart Mills and Julie Wilson.
New Zealand had a long history of small garages and vehicle enthusiasts modifying and creating sports and sports racing cars. Out of these interests grew the New Zealand kit and replica car industry with the introduction of fibre-glass car bodies in the 1950s.
The Ginetta G26 and its derivatives, the 'G28, G30, and G31, are a series of two-door sports cars, designed, developed, and manufactured by British company Ginetta, from 1984 to 1992, primarily in kit form. All models are based on Ford mechanical components. They differ in length as well as in different bodies and engines. All variants together, about 360 vehicles were built in eight years.
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