The Enthusiast's Guide to Vintage Specials

The great British special building era began in the years after the First World War when motor racing was split into two camps. On the one hand, Brooklands provided glamour, spectacle and celebrity drivers. In contrast was the busy sprint and hill climb scene supported by amateur enthusiasts from all walks of life. These short events offered an opportunity for the impecunious amateur constructor to apply imagination and ingenuity, and he frequently equaled or even beat the works drivers in their expensive 'proper' machinery. The combination of a lightweight chassis and a powerful engine worked wonders at low cost in the fifty frenzied seconds of a hill climb. At Brooklands, the special building concept was pursued to the ninth degree with giant vehicles based on often primitive Edwardian running gear, and war-surplus aircraft engines providing the sort of power to weight ratio necessary to thunder round the Outer Circuit at frightening speed. Vintage Specials can be looked at as being a complementary volume to John Bolster’s Specials book. It presents a representative selection of over 80 of these and other types of sporting vintage specials. The history of each car, including origin of component parts, specification table and photographs help to illustrate the evolution of this fascinating and continually evolving branch of motor sporting activity. Contents of this volume include: AEL St Phall, All T'Cok, AMAC Special, Amilcar-Riley, Anderson Special, Appleton Special, Aries 1, Aston Martin-Riley, Atalanta Special, Attenborough Special, Austin-Fiat, Austin-Ford, Avon-Bentley, Babs, Barnato-Hassan, Becke Powerplus,Beckenham Special No. 1, Beckenham Special No. 2, Becquet-Delage, Beetle, Bentley-Napier, Bentley-Royce, BHD Special, Bloody Mary, Brooke Special, Brookes Special, Caesar Special, Chamberlain Special, Chawner-GN, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, Cognac Special, Crouch-Helix, Delage-SS, Derby Specials, Dragonfly, EHP Special, Emeryson Specials, ERA-Delage, ERA-Riley, FHN Special, FIAT Mephistopheles, Fuzzi, Gillow Specials, GN-Ariel, Gnat, Grannie, Halford Special, Hamilton RR Special, Hardy Special, Hardy Special III, Harker Special, Hispano-Suiza Special, Jaguette, Jemima, Lancia-MG, Lightweight Special, MAB-Liberty, Martyr 1 and 2, Maybach-Metallurgique, Mercedes-Maybach, MG-Riley, Mitchell-GN, Monarch-Curtis, Morgan-Riley, Multi-Union, Nanette, Napier-Railton, Norris Specials, Pacey-Hassan, Parker-GN, Peugeot-JAP, Phoenix-GN, Richard Bolster Special, Ridley Special, Riley-Alvis, Riley-ELF, RIP Special, Salome, Salote, Scarisbrick Special, Semmence Special, Spider 1, Spider 2, Spikins Bantam, Stafford Special, Stanton Special, Triangle Skinner Special, Trice, Unicorn Special, Vauxhall-Villiers, Wasp, and the Young Special.