British kit and small-series microcars

From the mid-1970s a handful of small British firms sold microcars in kit form or in tiny series. Most were three-wheelers with a single wheel at the back; most borrowed the Mini’s front subframe, engine and gearbox, and a few used a motorcycle’s engine and rear wheel instead. Almost all of what is known about them comes from a few reference books, chiefly Georgano’s encyclopaedia and Steve Hole’s guide to kit cars, as German Wikipedia reports them.source 1source 2source 3source 4source 5source 6

In order of their start: Robert Moss’s Mosquito, from Kidlington, appeared in 1974, as did the Ranger Cub from Leigh-on-Sea; the Replicar Cursor from Whitstable followed in 1984, and the four-wheeled Alto Duo from Preston in 1985; the Berkeley Bandini, a replica of a three-wheeler of 1959, began in 1991, and the motorcycle-engined Gaia Deltoid in 1994.source 1source 4source 2source 3source 5source 6 The first four have sections of their own below; the last two, which made fewer than 20 cars between them, end this one.

Berkeley Bandini, 1991–⁠2002

Anthony Argyle founded the Berkeley Motor Company at Syston, Leicestershire, in 1991, its name an echo of the old Berkeley firm. Its Bandini was a replica of the Berkeley T60 three-wheeler of 1959–⁠60, with a single rear wheel and a Mini four-cylinder engine. In 1996 Dave Ratner took the business over as Berkeley Developments, at Langley Hill in Nottinghamshire, and it ended in 2002, after about seven Bandinis and about 13 cars in all; the rest were some six Camerotta roadsters inspired by BMC’s ADO 35.source 5 Whether Anthony Argyle was the Argyle who made the Trimin, a three-wheeler like the Mosquito, is not established.source 1source 5

Gaia Deltoid, from 1994

Guy Dormehl founded Gaia Cars at Dibden Purlieu in Hampshire in 1994, moved it to Parkstone in Dorset in 1997, and handed it to Jon Ridd in 2001; production ended in 2002, by Steve Hole’s account. Georgano and another reference give 1996 to 1999 instead. The Deltoid ran on three wheels, one of them at the back, and was built on a space frame under a glass-fibre body, with the drivetrain and rear wheel of a motorcycle, usually a Suzuki. About 11 were made.source 6

Robert Moss, not the racing driver, worked on his car from 1971 and founded Mosquito Cars at Kidlington, Oxfordshire, in 1974. The Mosquito was an open three-wheeler with a single rear wheel and a glass-fibre body, using the Mini’s engine, gearbox and front suspension, much like the Trimin made by Argyle. Moss built cars and kits until 1977, nine in all.source 1 In 1984–⁠87 two motorcycle dealers in Hereford and friends of his, Mead and Tomkins, built five more, until Tomkins died. In the 1990s Malvern Autocraft of Hereford, Rick Jones and Ian Bowse, took the design on and sold it as the Triad.source 1

German Wikipedia, citing the owners’ register, counts 14 Mosquitos, ten of them surviving. The register’s own home page in 2015 counted 26 or 27 Mosquitos and Triads built between 1971 and 1993, of which 22 had been traced; that total takes in the Triads and related cars.source 1source 7 The Mosquito & Triad Register kept its website from 2007 to 2015.source 7

Eric Salmons, a used-car dealer in Romford, began making cars there in 1971 and founded the Ranger Automotive Company at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Its main product was the Ranger 80, a Moke-like car on Austin 1100 parts, of which about 303 were built.source 4 The Cub of 1974 was a Mini-based three-wheeler with a single rear wheel on a space frame. Twenty were sold in its first year; after a revision in 1975, 180 more were sold in its second and last.source 4 One Cub was given an electric motor for tests. A four-wheeled pick-up, the Cub 4, followed in 1975–⁠76, four of them, and the firm’s Midlands agent, John Thomas, once of Broadspeed, showed a six-wheeled one-off, the Cub 6, in 1975.source 4 Production ended in 1976, and Ranger Ltd of Llangefni, in Wales, revived the name in 1984–⁠85. How many Rangers were made in all is disputed: about 500 by Steve Hole’s count, about 1,400 by Georgano’s and Linz and Schrader’s.source 4

Alan Hatswell founded Replicar Ltd at Whitstable, Kent, in 1981, with links to Keith Sharman & Co and Rawlson Racing; most of its business was replicas in the style of the Bugatti Types 35, 43 and 55.source 2 The Cursor Micro of 1984–⁠88 had three wheels, one at the back, and came as a doorless single-seater with a Suzuki single-cylinder engine, or a two-seater with a Honda engine as an option. It was 2,840 mm (112 in) long and 1,300 mm (51 in) wide, and weighed 160 kg (353 lb). About 100 were made, and Replicar closed in 1996.source 2

David Gornall founded Alto Component Cars at Preston, Lancashire, in 1985; it had nothing to do with Peerhouse Cars’ earlier Alto. The Duo was a four-wheeled two-seater with two doors and a large tailgate, a glass-fibre body on a space frame, and a Mini subframe; an electric version was offered in 1987–⁠88.source 3 The car passed in 1987 to A. G. Pipe’s Automotive Concepts of Portsmouth, in 1995–⁠96 to Rhino Engineering of Newburgh, and in 1996–⁠98 to Duo Cars in Lancashire. About 12 Duos were made, among about 24 Altos of all kinds, most of the rest Mini-based Boxer convertibles.source 3

Of the 14 Mosquitos, ten survive, and the Mosquito & Triad Register had traced 22 of its larger family by 2015.source 1source 7 How many Cubs, Cursors, Duos, Deltoids and Bandinis are left has not been found.