Having tracked down some emails between Barrie Wills and Nigel, I thought this deserved its own section.
This is part of an exchange between Nigel and Barrie as a response to Nigel asking for information on his car:
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If your car is the one that I believe it to be, it was built during the
later stages of the receivership after I sought and obtained permission from
Sir Kenneth Cork for us to design, develop and build a couple or more cars
to meet European Type Approvals that could be submitted to the Vehicle
Certification Agency (VCA) after development, and also shown at the
forthcoming Birmingham International Motor Show at the NEC in October 1982.
The fact that Cork agreed to invest in this activity is a real tribute to
his commitment to getting the business up and running again.
We had been working on a European powertrain with Renault since before the
receivership and - without the Californian emission controls which included
a catalytic converter - the cars performed as a typical UK journalist of the
time, who had hardly ventured further than Turin, would expect a sports car
to perform. A BBC World at One team came over to test a RHD car on the plant
test track and the news reporter in question raved about the performance
during the live test within which he drove the car in the company of our
chief engineer Peter Milner. A detective job to establish whether the BBC
still has the recording of this would be an interesting exercise for a club
member with time on his hands!
By the time of the decision to enter liquidation, which came on the eve of
JZD's arrest in LA on 19th October 1982, the cars were signed off as meeting
European Type Approval; the tests were booked but were not yet undertaken.
Your car had been built as the one that would take pride of place on the
circular turntable, which had been used at previous shows in Belfast, London
and Geneva, as the launch of the RHD and European specification cars. The
stand space at the following week's NEC show was cancelled in the wake of
JZD's arrest and an embarrassing gap was all that was left on the floor of
the hall in question.
When it came to liquidation, I gave a guy called Gerry Castle, a flamboyant
character to say the least, who prior to working in the parts and service
operations of DMCL had worked in a similar capacity within Reliant during my
time as a director there, free reign to get the best possible prices for the
RHD cars as he knew the British specialist car dealer network very well
indeed. I recall him coming to me with a proposition to sell the show car to
the Patrick Collection in Birmingham. The price was good and it seemed
appropriate that a car as unique as this one should go into a car museum for
public appreciation. I was horrified when, a few years later I saw the car
at a show with a sign near it claiming it to be Don Lander's personal car!
Why Gerry decided that such a cock and bull story was better than the truth
(Don never even saw the car as he was in the USA trying to hold the dealer
network together whilst I held the fort in Belfast!), I'll never understand.
Gerry died several years ago and took the secret to his grave.
I recall writing to the then owner of the Patrick Collection to explain the
truth. My letter brought no response and the falsehood lived on. Yes, you
have a one off but, as I understand it, the Bill Towns-styled and designed
rear lamp arrangement (the lamps were from a bus parts bin as these were the
only one's the purchasing guys could find that were E-marked and came close
to suiting the car and the space available) and black painted hand-lay
composite moulded lamp and number plate surround have been removed and
replaced by the better looking regular and expensively tooled
Giugiaro-styled US specification lamp clusters. You may realise that to this
day, USA and the Rest of the World have different legal requirements for
rear lamps! It's called trade protectionism when the Japanese do it but the
Yanks have got away with it forever - and not simply with lamps!
Look after your unique car - and tell the truth!