In August's Classic and Sports car magazine
31 Jul 2014, 10:34am
In August's Classic and Sports car magazine
Is this a Mistral body?
In August's Classic and Sports car magazine
31 Jul 2014, 8:20pm
Yep it's the one from the original thread
http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4034&highlight=Mistral
http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4034&highlight=Mistral
31 Jul 2014, 8:28pm
I like how the tyres are tucked up inside the wheel arch, it doesn't look like you could get full lock?
1 Aug 2014, 4:06pm
This info (along with all of the pics) about the original Mistral cars and their production history is now at http://www.fordspecials.co.uk/microplas.html
Microplas Ltd
Micron Plastics, Woodcock Hill, Rickmansworth, Herts
Tel 3312
Stiletto
In 1954 a group of 750 Motor Club members got together and designed an all enveloping body for their Austin Sevens that would be made from the new material fibreglass. They were, Mike Eyre, Roger Everett, Bill Ashton, Sandy Wemyss and his brother Tony, and one other, whose family money was the Caesar (sic) Shipping Group, who amongst other acquisitions had taken on Hunting Clan, who were amongst the very first people to do MoD reinforced plastics and Microplas had access to their technology. The new shell was called Stiletto which had a wheelbase of 6`9"
Microplas Stiletto
New designs came thick and fast and by April 1955 Microplas announced what was to become their most popular shell, the Mistral. The price of £58 was to remain unchanged throughout production.
Microplas Mistral
Designed for the 7`6" wheelbase of the then current Ford Ten it was soon mated to the new Buckler DD2 spaceframe.
Buckler Chassid Mistral
By now the orders were pouring in and the company moved to new premises in Mitcham, Surrey.
The Stiletto shell was soon adapted to fit the pre-Ruby Seven of 6`3" wheelbase. This shell was called the Scimitar and was priced the same as the Stiletto at £49.
Roy Campbell in his 1954 Stiletto (love that headlight Roy)
By October 1955 yet another new shell had been announced, the Toledo. This was designed for wheelbases of 6`7" - 6`11".
Employees at Wemyss Woodhouse looking over a Toledo fresh from the mould.
No new models emerged from Microplas after the Toledo, although the Mistral was available at a later date with slightly revised styling.
Mk2 Mistral
The Stiletto was also revised into Mk2 form, although I'm not sure what the differences were apart from some of the colours being deleted from the specification list.
The Mistral shell was a very popular shell and was used by a number of firms to clothe their chassis inc Buckler, Fairthorpe and TVR.
It was used by Elmslie & Flockton Ltd in New Zealand and together with their own chassis was marketed as "New Zealand's First Kitset Sports Car".
New Zealand Mistral 100E chassis
The chassis was available for E93A, 100E and 105E Ford engines and running gear. Prices for the New Zealand car were £135 for the body and £95 for the chassis. A list of extras was of course available and included Front screen, hard top and the badge pictured above. The company boasted that one of their own cars, fitted with a Inlet Over Exhaust cylinder head could reach the scary speed of 110mph.
Microplas diversified into boats and hardtops and they carried on well into the 1980's although I doubt if the car shells were available by this time.
Microplas Ltd
Micron Plastics, Woodcock Hill, Rickmansworth, Herts
Tel 3312
Stiletto
In 1954 a group of 750 Motor Club members got together and designed an all enveloping body for their Austin Sevens that would be made from the new material fibreglass. They were, Mike Eyre, Roger Everett, Bill Ashton, Sandy Wemyss and his brother Tony, and one other, whose family money was the Caesar (sic) Shipping Group, who amongst other acquisitions had taken on Hunting Clan, who were amongst the very first people to do MoD reinforced plastics and Microplas had access to their technology. The new shell was called Stiletto which had a wheelbase of 6`9"
Microplas Stiletto
New designs came thick and fast and by April 1955 Microplas announced what was to become their most popular shell, the Mistral. The price of £58 was to remain unchanged throughout production.
Microplas Mistral
Designed for the 7`6" wheelbase of the then current Ford Ten it was soon mated to the new Buckler DD2 spaceframe.
Buckler Chassid Mistral
By now the orders were pouring in and the company moved to new premises in Mitcham, Surrey.
The Stiletto shell was soon adapted to fit the pre-Ruby Seven of 6`3" wheelbase. This shell was called the Scimitar and was priced the same as the Stiletto at £49.
Roy Campbell in his 1954 Stiletto (love that headlight Roy)
By October 1955 yet another new shell had been announced, the Toledo. This was designed for wheelbases of 6`7" - 6`11".
Employees at Wemyss Woodhouse looking over a Toledo fresh from the mould.
No new models emerged from Microplas after the Toledo, although the Mistral was available at a later date with slightly revised styling.
Mk2 Mistral
The Stiletto was also revised into Mk2 form, although I'm not sure what the differences were apart from some of the colours being deleted from the specification list.
The Mistral shell was a very popular shell and was used by a number of firms to clothe their chassis inc Buckler, Fairthorpe and TVR.
It was used by Elmslie & Flockton Ltd in New Zealand and together with their own chassis was marketed as "New Zealand's First Kitset Sports Car".
New Zealand Mistral 100E chassis
The chassis was available for E93A, 100E and 105E Ford engines and running gear. Prices for the New Zealand car were £135 for the body and £95 for the chassis. A list of extras was of course available and included Front screen, hard top and the badge pictured above. The company boasted that one of their own cars, fitted with a Inlet Over Exhaust cylinder head could reach the scary speed of 110mph.
Microplas diversified into boats and hardtops and they carried on well into the 1980's although I doubt if the car shells were available by this time.
1 Aug 2014, 5:19pm
I tried to get the same slammed look on my ML
35 bags in the boot were used to achieve this look which adversely affected the handling of one of the worse handling cars I have ever driven. I nearly left the round about backwards!
35 bags in the boot were used to achieve this look which adversely affected the handling of one of the worse handling cars I have ever driven. I nearly left the round about backwards!
1 Aug 2014, 5:29pm
35 bags of what though????
1 Aug 2014, 5:50pm
20 inch bling rings, black out windows and music pumpin hard - you want to buy a bag?
Unfortunately it was sharp sand and cement. This weekend I will mostly be mixing concrete.
Unfortunately it was sharp sand and cement. This weekend I will mostly be mixing concrete.
3 Aug 2014, 8:53am
Have you seen what they are asking for it????
It's a lovely car - one I'd dearly love to own, but pricing it beyond what a Lotus XI would cost you is crazy - they'll have it a while.
I know all to well you can own a great car with a lovely history, but if it's a one off it'll never make the money of a well known make. Compare 'my cars 'Pandora' and the Coldwell Mink' with the prices of their Lotus equivelents (23 and racing seven S2)
Al
It's a lovely car - one I'd dearly love to own, but pricing it beyond what a Lotus XI would cost you is crazy - they'll have it a while.
I know all to well you can own a great car with a lovely history, but if it's a one off it'll never make the money of a well known make. Compare 'my cars 'Pandora' and the Coldwell Mink' with the prices of their Lotus equivelents (23 and racing seven S2)
Al
3 Aug 2014, 8:59am
Have you seen what they are asking for it????...
Those magic words - "Mille Miglia Eligible" probably explain that.
3 Aug 2014, 9:01am
...It's a lovely car...
Yes, but I'd move those red stripes to the centre line.
And a lot more duct tape on it than I'd expect- especially the hub covers.
And the obvious modern alternator. Saw an alternator built into a dynamo body at the Old Ford Rally last weekend- most period looking.
3 Aug 2014, 3:04pm
My point is that an Eleven is Mille Miglia eligible (as is a Fiat 500 If I recall correctly!) and much more desirable.
High prices come from demand in the market. Lots of people want known makes as the market knows what they are worth. Not many folk want one off's.
They are asking 285,000 Euros which is £227,000!
A decent Lotus XI is ball park £90 - 130,000.
To my mind (having sold similar cars in the past) worth half the Lotus equivelent, NOT double, whatever 'parade' events it's eligible to do. Yes, it'll get you into Goodwood, but so will my old project car Pandora (it debut in the Whitsun Trophy in '64) but it took a long time to sell, and I got a LOT less than I'd have taken for a Lotus 23 in similar condition. I got under £20k for it in the end.
So, the EJS is a lovely thing, but that's daft money to ask.
High prices come from demand in the market. Lots of people want known makes as the market knows what they are worth. Not many folk want one off's.
They are asking 285,000 Euros which is £227,000!
A decent Lotus XI is ball park £90 - 130,000.
To my mind (having sold similar cars in the past) worth half the Lotus equivelent, NOT double, whatever 'parade' events it's eligible to do. Yes, it'll get you into Goodwood, but so will my old project car Pandora (it debut in the Whitsun Trophy in '64) but it took a long time to sell, and I got a LOT less than I'd have taken for a Lotus 23 in similar condition. I got under £20k for it in the end.
So, the EJS is a lovely thing, but that's daft money to ask.