| Britain’s forgotten Beetle |
|
A few years ago, I wrote a lengthy piece for Classic & Sportscar magazine about the Fedden car, under the title ‘Britain’s forgotten Beetle’. The car’s designer, Sir Roy Fedden, was at one time Technical Director of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. On leaving the company after a dispute with the board, in 1942 he joined the Ministry of Aircraft Production to assist Sir Stafford Cripps in this particular branch of the war effort. Whilst at the Ministry, Fedden begged, borrowed, and came close to stealing, the essential materials to construct a prototype, radial-engined, rear-drive car. This was at a time when research and development work in the motor industry seldom received official sanction. Helped by Alex Moulton, Gordon Wilkins, Peter Ware and others, Fedden, against many and varied odds, managed to construct a road-going car. Unfortunately the car crashed and injured one of the passengers, and Fedden eventually consigned his damaged prototype to a shed at the Cranfield College (as it was then), where he had become one of its founders. According to Peter Ware, whom I interviewed in 1999, the damaged Fedden car was still in the shed until the latter was demolished by the contractors building the Nissan Technical Centre, which opened at Cranfield in 1991. As a consequence of the demolition of its long-term home, Fedden’s car vanished without trace, although it seems unlikely that it was destroyed. Can anyone provide me with a clue as to the present whereabouts of the Fedden, or confirm, once and for all, that it was destroyed, along with its historic shed?
|
In what issue does your article appear?
J Traquair | 26 Feb 07 - 19:29I think it was April 2000, or it might have been 1999. The same article appears under a different title on my own website and this link will take you directly to it.
http://www.ukautomedia.com/hist_sample_pge.htm
Graham Whyte | 26 Feb 07 - 20:04