Moss mamba
The Moss Mamba is an open, two-seat kit vehicle with a retro look that was manufactured in small series from 1981 to 1985 by the West Yorkshire- based Moss Motor Company . The design of the body was based on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider of the 1950s. A new version of the vehicle was named Mamba Phoenix in 1987 .
Model history
.jpg)
The Moss Motor Company was founded in 1981 by John Cowperthwaite. Cowperthwaite had primarily worked as a restorer of MG vehicles since 1975 . Moss offered simply constructed and inexpensive kit vehicles that were tailored to the use of older donor vehicles and based on the shape of classic sports cars. The company's volume model was the Moss Roadster and its 2 + 2-seat version Malvern. They had structures in the style of the 1930s, without being a copy of a specific template. At the same time, the Mamba was created, with which the company recreated the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, which was manufactured from 1954 to 1961.
The Mamba kit contained the body made of glass fiber reinforced plastic and the base plate made of coated plywood . The frame, chassis, engine and transmission as well as the electrics had to be taken over from a used donor vehicle. Like the Moss Roadster, the Mamba was originally designed for the use of technical components from the Triumph Herald or Vitesse , two sports sedans whose production had ceased in 1971. From 1984 a revised version of the Mamba was available for the technology of the Ford Escort .
The Mamba kit is described as not fully developed and crude.
Production of the Mamba ended when the Moss Motor Company's plants were destroyed in a major fire in 1985. Moss only resumed production of the Roadster and the Malvern; there was initially no revival of the mamba. The scope of production is unclear. Some sources assume "about 10 vehicles", others from "16 to 22 copies".
Revival 1987
In 1987, John Cowperthwaite sold the company, now called JC Autopatterns, to CSA Character Cars , a Radstock- based investor. CSA produced a few copies of the Moss Roadster and also brought the Mamba back onto the market, which was now called Mamba Phoenix. The scope of production is unclear; In the same year, CSA sold the company to another investor who limited itself to manufacturing the Roadster and the Malvern.
literature
Steve Hole: AZ of Kit Cars. The definite encyclopaedia of the UK's kit car industry since 1949 , Haynes Publishing, Sparkford 2012, ISBN 9781844256778
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Steve Hole: AZ of Kit Cars. The definite encyclopaedia of the UK's kit car industry since 1949 , Haynes Publishing, Sparkford 2012, ISBN 9781844256778 , p. 177.
- ↑ a b The Moss Mamba on the website www.classic-kitcars.com (accessed on June 27, 2017).