Dellow Motors
Dellow Motors were founded by Ken Delingpole and Ron Lowe to produce cars for use in motor trials.
Dellow cars were made in factories at Alvechurch, Birmingham, England between 1949 and 1959.
The first cars used a Ford 10 engine in an A frame chassis with very light simple aluminium bodywork, early cars having no doors. These early chassis frames were made from government surplus rocket launching tubes. The RP3 rockets were used by Hawker Typhoons and Bristol Beaufighters, the UP3 was a ground-based weapon.
The design emphasis was on light-weight and a rearward weight bias for trials. Many sporting awards were won by drivers of Dellow cars in the early 1950s, not only in trials (for which they were mainly designed) but also in other events such as driving tests and hillclimbs. Dellows also took overall honours in the MCC-organised Daily Express National Rally and the Circuit of Ireland Rally. Dellow drivers often shone in other forms of motor sport, Tony Marsh from Kinver went on to become RAC Hill Climb Champion on no less than 6 occasions. Peter Collins from Kidderminster, later drove for HWM, BRM and Vanwall, then for Ferrari.
Dellow styling was created by Lionel Evans at his Radpanels coachbuilding workshop in Kidderminster. The car evolved through several variants known as Mk I to Mk V. Early cars had a beam front axle with transverse spring, quarter elliptics at the rear, Andre Hartford friction shock absorbers. The Ford E93A engines were mildly tuned and many used twin SU's on a specially cast alloy 'Dellow' manifold. However, as an option the factory also offered the car with a supercharger installation. The vast majority of cars used the 3-speed Ford gearbox but a very small number of cars were produced to order with a Morris 4 speed box (from the 10M series Morris). The MkII saw the introduction of coil springs at the rear and telescopic shock absorbers. The Mk V version was derived from the "Lightweight" Dellow constructed by Tony Marsh for speed events. It saw coil springs introduced at the front although still with a Ford beam axle. About 300 Dellows are thought to have been made.
A new company, Dellow Engineering, based in Oldbury near Birmingham, produced a MK VI - often incorrectly quoted as having a glass fibre body, it too was in fact built with alloy panelling. Very few MK VI's were made.
Dellow Mk 1, 11, 111 and V 1949-57. About 500 cars made.
- Dellow Prototypes-1947 - Ford 10 powered Austin 7 chassis.
- Dellow Mk I - 1949 - Ford 10 powered basic 2 seater (no doors).
- Dellow Mk II - 1951 - Rear coil springs, telescopic dampers,(optional doors).
- Dellow Mk III - 1952 - 2+2 model.
- Dellow Mk IV - 1954? - 2+2 one-off with Ford Consul engine.
- Dellow Mk V - 1954 - Coil sprung beam front axle, tuned engine, Mk Vs generally still only had the 3 speed Ford box although the "Lightweight" WRF 81, now owned by Nigel Brown, had a 4 speed ex-Morris unit.
- Dellow Mk VI - 1957 - Independent front suspension, ladder chassis.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Wikipedia
- A-Z British Cars 1945-1980 by Graham Robson. Published by Herridge and Sons. ISBN 0-9541063-9-3