Falcon Cars

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Falcon Shells Ltd. (1958–1961)
Falcon Cars Ltd. (1961–1964)
legal form Limited
founding 1958
resolution 1964
Seat Hatfield
management Peter Pellandine, Len Terry, Tom Rohonyi
Branch Automobile manufacturer

The Falcon Cars Ltd. was a British automobile manufacturer in Hatfield, Hertfordshire .

Company history

Peter Pellandine founded Falcon Shells Ltd. in 1958 . at Waltham Abbey . He was previously a co-owner of a fiberglass body manufacturer called Ashley Laminates . The brand names were Falcon and, for a short time, Peregrine . From 1959 the company headquarters was in Epping . In 1961 the company was renamed Falcon Cars Ltd. renamed. In 1962 Pellandine sold the company to Mike Moseley , who moved the headquarters to Hatfield, while Pellandine emigrated to Australia . Since that year, Falcon has also manufactured boat hulls and other GRP products in addition to automobiles and bodies. In 1964, the company had to close due to the slump in sales. A total of over 3000 copies were made.

At the end of the 1980s, a replica of the Falcon Mk. 2 from Autotune came on the market as Autotune Gemini .

Between 1982 and 2002, other companies also used the Falcon brand name for their vehicles.

vehicles

Brand name Falcon

Pellandine still had the rights to the Ashley 750 and Ashley Sports Racer kit car bodies developed by Ashley Laminates . This resulted in the models Falcon Mk. 1 based on the Austin 7 , whose body looked similar to the Austin Healey 100 , and Falcon Mk. 2 , whose shape was inspired by the Jaguar D-Type .

In 1958 the company's first complete vehicle, the Falcon Competition, appeared . It had the body of the Mk. 2 and the engine of the Ford Anglia 100E. In addition to the complete kit car, only the body was available on request.

In 1959 the Falcon Mk. 3 appeared . The car was later renamed Falcon Caribbean and was based on the Ford Ten . There was a coupé and a convertible version of the car, which was inspired by Italian design. This model was built more than 2000 times by 1963.

In 1961 the Falcon Bermuda came out, a 2 + 2-seater version of the Caribbean, of which about 200 were made. The Falcon 1000 , a coupe with the engine of the Ford Anglia 105E Cosworth, was also developed. The car, which was smaller than the Caribbean, was offered as the Falcon Peregrine , but ultimately only two copies were built. Pellandine set lap records at Brands Hatch with one of them .

In 1963 the company introduced the Falcon 515 . The coupe based on the Ford Cortina us had its top controlled four-cylinder in-line engine with 1.5 liter displacement, which, equipped with two SU carburetors, a power of 70 hp (51 kW) at 4700 min -1 gave. The body was reminiscent of the Ferrari 400 Superamerica from 1960. Only about 25 copies were made until 1964.

Brand name Peregrine

In 1961 one model was marketed as the Peregrine. A Ford Anglia engine powered the vehicle. There was a choice between open and closed bodies. Only a few copies were made.

Models

model Construction period cylinder Displacement power at speed wheelbase
Mark 1 1956-1957 4 row 747.5 cc
Mark 2 1956-1957 4 row 2108-2235 mm
Competition 1958–? 4 row 1172 cc 36 bhp (26.5 kW) 4400 min −1
Caribbean 1959-1963 4 row 1198 cc 48.5 bhp (35.6 kW) 4800 min -1 2286 mm
Bermuda 1961-1963 4 row 1198 cc 48.5 bhp (35.6 kW) 4800 min -1 2286 mm
Peregrine 1961–1962 4 row 997 cc
515 1963-1964 4 row 1498 cc 70 bhp (51 kW) 4700 min −1

literature

  • Peter J. Filby: Sports Cars Specialist. 1974.
  • GN Georgano: Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars 1885 to present. 1982.
  • David Culshaw, Peter Horrobin: The Complete Catalog of British Cars 1895-1975. Veloce Publishing, Dorchester 1999, ISBN 1-874105-93-6 . (English)
  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter Falcon (VI).
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 3: P – Z. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 1206. (English)
  • Steve Hole: AZ of Kit Cars. The definitive encyclopaedia of the UK's kit-car industry since 1949 . Haynes Publishing, Sparkford 2012, ISBN 978-1-84425-677-8 , pp. 93-94 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Steve Hole: AZ of Kit Cars. The definitive encyclopaedia of the UK's kit-car industry since 1949 . Haynes Publishing, Sparkford 2012, ISBN 978-1-84425-677-8 , pp. 93-94 (English).
  2. ↑ George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 3: P – Z. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 1206. (English)