Tony Crook in Octane Magazine

[lansdownplace]

Originally Posted by Ronald G. Stephenson

That certainly cannot be a real name, let alone the owner of so many leisure companies. I still cannot fathom the need for the company to start building 'hot rods' instead of personal cars that fit a niche in the market that few could fill. Perhaps this time some conservative people will be in charge and get back to the roots of the company. Hotspurs; indeed.

Hi, Joe Lewis is very real, before Bear Stearns he was the tenth wealthiest Briton. The group is named after the Piccadilly restaurant he started out with.

On the hot rod front, the general demand on cars is for more power. There is a bhp war on, the Fighter was emourmously powerful when launched and is now out gunned by tuned Audi and BMW mid level cars. Also build quality in new cars now far exceeds aircraft finish even in the cheapest of cars and it is difficult to achieve the same standards on very small volume intricately detailed cars at a competitive price if you are working by traditional methods. Even Morgan have their panels formed superplastically these days.

The company probably needed a replacement for the Blenheim some tears ago and it was working on developing the Bristol Cub alongside the Fighter but had to choose between them. I have seen the full sized clay for the Cub and it was very handsome. Perhaps that and the implementation of the independent rear suspension design they had developed would have changed the outcome. It is unfortunately just a what if?

Paul