Speedster Article Octane May 2014

[AlanD]

A good article on the Speedster in this issue. The featured car is owned by Simon Draper. Any one know how many Speedsters were made? Also the factory were offering a 5.4 liter engine on their website at one time rather than the 5.9 liter engine used in the Blenheim. Did this 5.4 lite engine ever make it into production?

Regards

AlanD
Sydney

[backseateducation]

Thanks for the heads up - I'll get hold of a copy.
I often wondered whether that was the only one ever built!

[Sam410]

There are photos of a Speedster with no hood and only an aeroscreen, which would imply there are at least two (unless the first car was modified to become Draper's roadster of course).

[Thor]

There have never been any volume built 5.4 Chrysler engines, at least not since the 'Fire-Power' first generation Hemis of the 1950s. My feeling is that this Speedster 5.4 engine is just a typo for 5.9. I do hope 2 or more Speedsters were built, but I would be surprised. Simon Draper has a soft spot for extremely odd cars !

[Thor]

I suppose the 5.4 might have been the Ford engine ??

[lansdownplace]

Originally Posted by backseateducation

Thanks for the heads up - I'll get hold of a copy.
I often wondered whether that was the only one ever built!

There are at least three, the one made for Toby Silverton that was alleged to have been found in the factory which was a mule from the 60s (it wasn't, it was a latter day confection of a re-bodied 410 with new clothes from a 405 saloon and additional panels), the blue beautifully trimmed version that used to appear on the BCL website and the Draper car. I have been told there was another car as well but I don't have any information on that.

Brabazon did a version with a screen and hood on a shorter wheelbase as a one off.

The screenless car is beautifully proportioned and does make you wonder what might have been..........

[GREG]

It was built on a 408 ,not 410

[backseateducation]

Thanks for the info.
They are lovely looking cars - always good to have a bit of wind in the hair (if I had any!)

[AlanD]

Originally Posted by lansdownplace

There are at least three, the one made for Toby Silverton that was alleged to have been found in the factory which was a mule from the 60s (it wasn't, it was a latter day confection of a re-bodied 410 with new clothes from a 405 saloon and additional panels), the blue beautifully trimmed version that used to appear on the BCL website and the Draper car. I have been told there was another car as well but I don't have any information on that.

Brabazon did a version with a screen and hood on a shorter wheelbase as a one off.

The screenless car is beautifully proportioned and does make you wonder what might have been..........

Do you have any pictures of the Brabazon car? The shorter wheel base would make the handling a bit more sporty perhaps?

Regards

AlanD
Sydney