Restorer of the Year finalists revealed
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Danny Hopkins pays tribute to a legend: Tom Karen
Designer, Tom Karen, has passed away at the age of 96. From the Reliant Robin to Luke Skywalker’s Land Speeder (with its Bond Bug seats) via Ogle Design, Raleigh Chopper, Reliant, the Anadol, the Robin and Scimitar, his designs are branded into the psyche of any petrolhead.
I first met Tom at The Practical Classics Classic Car and Restoration Show in 2018, where I interviewed him on stage. He was quietly spoken and serious, taking his time to process and formulate his responses, but the packed audience hung on his every word because every word had worth. He bemoaned the current obsession with multiple folds, tricky swage lines and over-complicated aggressive styling affectations. Tom asserted that the chaotic nature of modern automotive styling was bad for the human spirit. ‘I can always sense when objects have been created with love and talent, they make you smile,’ he said.
I asked him to single out the one item from his design back catalogue that made him most proud. He thought carefully and then looked over his shoulder at the Reliant Scimitar that was parked just behind us on the Live Stage. ‘The rising waistline on the Reliant Scimitar,’ he said. His showstoppers, the Bond Bug and Raleigh Chopper, grabbed the headlines – he loved them too – but this simple, subtle moment of genius, that rising kick on the swage of the Reliant’s midriff was his favourite.
We still see it today… look at most modern SUVs from the B-pillar back. That's Tom’s influence at work right there. ‘Pleasing objects are what I live for,’ he once said. What a huge loss. Thank you Tom. Our thoughts are with his friends and family.
After a hotly contested competition sponsored by Adrian Flux Insurance, with single votes dividing the 26 restorers competing for this year’s Golden Spanne
