CHAMPION OF THE UNDERDOG
It was a nice surprise to open the latest issue of C&SC (January) and find you guys having a metaphorical coffee with Peter Filby. I say ‘metaphorical’ because, during all the years he reported on the annual Marcos Owners’ Club Marcos & Kit Car Rally on the Melbourne Loop at Donington Park, I don’t remember him getting a round in once!
That said, Peter was one of the few automotive journalists that took an interest in what he later called Alternative Cars. Several of us in the Marcos Owners’ Club – including club founder Colin Feyerabend – had interests beyond the cars produced by Jem Marsh. Colin and I admired Frank Costin, and the Vauxhallpowered Costin Amigo owned by Jon Till was a regular visitor to the rally in the late 1970s. While the Amigo might not have looked as sexy as a Marcos, driving one was a revelation: Frank claimed that if you slipped it into neutral at 100mph, you’d still be breaking the speed limit after a mile on a level road.
Colin had his Adams Brothers ‘Probes’ (I think he still has at least one) while, in addition to the Marcos cars present (often more than 200), we had a good crop of visiting TVRs, Gilberns, Pipers, Unipowers, Davrians and a large percentage of all the surviving Gordon-Keebles, thanks to the efforts of the legendary Ernie Knott. And that’s not to mention a number of one-offs and rather less impressive commercial efforts. Does anyone remember the Ikenga? We drove it around the Loop!
The stories of those marques that made it from humble kit roots to mainstream stardom is a rich seam worthy of further investigation. Peter didn’t – and, I note, still doesn’t – look down on ‘kit cars’ like many did back then. In contrast to the stuffy ‘old gentlemen’ image of Motor Sport in the late ’60s and early ’70s, Peter Filby was one of the few automotive writers who tried to write in a way that readers actually spoke. So... “Groovy, Peter. Far out.” I would go so far as to say, “Fab!”
Malcolm Bates
Bedfordshire
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A Jeep to cherish
The January issue of C&SC featured two vehicles that have given me a great deal of pleasure. The first was the Fiat 850: I bought mine for £50, and it served me well during
