GP (car brand)

emblem

GP is a British car brand.

Brand history

John Jobber, who previously worked for Jaguar Cars and Brabham , the South African Pierre du Plessis, who worked at Lola Cars , and Peter Allnutt founded GP Speedshop in Brentford in 1966 . GP stood for Grand Prix. First of all, they prepared vehicles like the Ford GT 40 and Lola T 70 for races, e.g. B. Denis Hulme , Frank Gardner and Paul Hawkins drove. In 1967 du Plessis became aware of VW buggies . In 1968 the production of automobiles and kits began . The brand name was GP . At that time, around 100 kits were made every month . In September 1968, the company moved to Hanworth . Many of their dealers received the molds for trial purposes. Some dealers started their own careers as buggy manufacturers. In 1972 vehicles were exhibited at the Geneva Motor Show . A fire destroyed the factory in 1972, so the company moved to Islington . In the same year was moved again within Islington. There were takeovers in 1972 and 1974, while Jobber continued to be a director. During this time du Plessis got out, who returned to his homeland and died there of peritonitis . In 1975 Jobber took over the company again and renamed it GP Concessionaires . Neville Trickett joined the company around 1980. In 1982 it was renamed GP Specialist Vehicles . Together with a move to Princes Risborough in 1993, the company was renamed GP Developments and in 1994 GP Projects . From 2002 to 2004 the company resided as GP Technical in Helston .

GP Buggies (1992–2005), GT Moldings (1987–1991) from Portslade , Halifax Beetles (2005–2006), Madison Car Company (1989–1999) from Brands Hatch , later Suffolk and OB & D (1989–1995) took over the production of some models by GP and continued to offer them as GP . Kingfisher Kustoms from Birmingham has been the only company of its kind since 2006 .

Exports

So far exports have been made to France , Switzerland , Spain , Germany , the Middle East , the West Indies , Singapore , Greece , Austria , the USA , Australia and South Africa .

vehicles

Below is an overview of the models, periods, approximate production figures, manufacturers and brief descriptions.

model	Period	number of pieces	Manufacturer	Brief description
GP Alpine				see GP Super Buggy
GP buggy	1968–	4200	1968-1992 GP Projects 1992–1998 GP Buggies (Roy Pierpont) 1998–1999 GP Buggies (David Kuschel) 1999-2005 GP Buggies (Adrian House) 2005-2006 Halifax Beetles 2006– Kingfisher Kustoms	VW buggy with a shortened chassis from the VW Beetle .
GP Camel	1977	3	GP Projects	Multipurpose vehicle.
GP Centron	1970-1971	12	GP Projects	Coupé on a Beetle chassis. Designed by Pierre du Plessis and Val Dare-Bryan, who previously worked for Unipower . Statestyle took over the molds in 1983, but did not bring about any further production.
GP Centron II	1974-1975	4th	GP Projects	Further development of the GP Centron. GV Plastics Fiberglass Products (1983–1985) from St Colomb Major and Alternative Autos (1985–1986) from Threemilestone as Lalande and MDB Sportscars (1986–1988) from Tredegar as MDB Saphhire tried unsuccessfully to continue production.
GP Kübelwagen	1976-1991	30th	1976-1983 GP Projects 1987-1991 GT Moldings	Replica of the VW Type 82 with a fiberglass body on the chassis of the VW Beetle. Designed by Neville Trickett. Several of these replicas were used in the film The Bridge of Arnhem . GT Moldings only made one copy.
GP LDV	1970-1992	250	GP Projects	LDV stood for Light Delivery Vehicle . It was some kind of buggy pickup . Lots of sales in third world countries .
GP Madison	1980-1995	910	1980-1989 GP Projects 1989-1995 OB&D	Roadster that vaguely resembled a Packard . Designed by Neville Trickett. Initially rear engine from VW Beetle, from 1983 front engine from Ford Cortina , from 1989 rear engine from Porsche . From 1989 no longer available as a kit. Bufori from Malaysia took over the project.
GP Madison Coupe	1983-1999	10	1983-1989 GP Projects 1989-1999 Madison Car Company	Coupé in the style of the 1930s, similar to the Bugatti Type 57 C Atalante . Front engine from the Ford Cortina.
GP Ranchero	1975-1998	150	1975-1992 GP Projects 1992–1998 GP Buggies (Roy Pierpoint)	Estate version of the GP Super Buggy with four seats, presented at the Geneva Motor Show 1975.
GP Spyder	1982-2003	1500	1982-2001 GP Projects 2001-2003 GP Technical	Replica of the Porsche 718 RSK, designed by Neville Trickett. Optionally shortened chassis from the VW Beetle and its engine or engine from the Porsche 911 in mid-engine construction , later also engine from the VW Golf .
GP Super Buggy	1970–	1600	1970-1992 GP Projects 1992–1998 GP Buggies (Roy Pierpont) 1998–1999 GP Buggies (David Kuschel) 1999-2005 GP Buggies (Adrian House) 2005-2006 Halifax Beetles 2006– Kingfisher Kustoms	VW buggy with unabridged chassis, presented at the Specialist Sports Car Show 1970 in London .
GP Talon	1979-1987	155	GP Projects	Two-seater on an unabridged VW Beetle chassis, with hinged doors that were removable. British Sports Cars from Dortmund offered the kit in Germany for 10,150 DM . Talon Sports Cars took over the project in 1987 and produced six copies.
GP Turbo Beetle	1984-1985	275	GP Projects	Tuning of the VW Beetle based on an idea by Alois Barmettler from Albar Vehicles , who sold 200 of them in Switzerland .

literature

Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter GP
George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): | The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. | Volume 2: G – O. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 640. (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. 107-110 (English).
James Hale: Dune Buggy Handbook. The A – Z of VW-based buggies since 1964 . Veloce Publishing, Dorchester 2013, ISBN 978-1-84584-378-6 , pp. 80-89 (English).

Web links

Commons : GP - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Allcarindex (English)
VW-Buggy.at

Individual evidence

↑ Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter GP
↑ George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 2: G – O. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 640. (English)
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d 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. 107-110 (English).
↑ James Hale: Dune Buggy Handbook. The A – Z of VW-based buggies since 1964 . Veloce Publishing, Dorchester 2013, ISBN 978-1-84584-378-6 , pp. 80-89 (English).

[Die_Internationale_Automobil-Enzyklopädie-1] Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter GP

[Beaulieu-2] George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 2: G – O. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 640. (English)

[Kit_Cars-3] 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. 107-110 (English).

[Dune_Buggy_Handbook-4] James Hale: Dune Buggy Handbook. The A – Z of VW-based buggies since 1964 . Veloce Publishing, Dorchester 2013, ISBN 978-1-84584-378-6 , pp. 80-89 (English).