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Meadows Frisky is the name of a series of small British cars manufactured at the factory of Henry Meadows Ltd at
Fallings Park Fallings Park is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, and a ward of Wolverhampton City Council. It is situated in the northeast of the city, bordering South Staffordshire and the Wednesfield North, Heath Town, Bushbury South and Low Hill ...
in
Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...
between 1958 and 1961, during which time production was under the control of a number of companies.


History

The Frisky car project was conceived by Captain Raymond Flower, racing driver and managing director of the Cairo Motor Co Ltd., Nuffield distributors in Egypt. Flower operated the company with his two brothers, Derek and Neville, all of whom were part of the brewing dynasty of Flower & Sons of Stratford on Avon. From February 1955, under the auspices of the Cairo Motor Company, a number of projects for the manufacture of cars in Egypt under the general name of Phoenix were mooted in the press, possibly as a way of gaining favour with the government of President
Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...
. However, as the relationship between Egypt and Britain deteriorated with the onset of the
Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...
in 1956, little of substance materialised. As the potential for manufacture within Egypt dissipated, Raymond Flower took his idea of a small,
mass produced Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. ...
, economical lightweight car for every-man to manufacturers in the UK, eventually reaching agreement with Henry Meadows Ltd to proceed with the project.


Henry Meadows (Vehicles) Ltd

The Meadows company was a well-established supplier of automotive, marine and industrial
engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
and was a part of the Associated British Engineering Company. Gordon Bedson, formerly a
design engineer A design engineer is an engineer focused on the engineering design process in any of the various engineering disciplines (including civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, textiles, aerospace, nuclear, manufacturing, systems, and struct ...
for
Kieft Cars Kieft Cars, founded by Cyril Kieft, was a British car company that built Formula Three racing cars and some road going sports cars in a factory in Derry St, Wolverhampton.''The Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present''. By G.N. ...
and the
Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...
aircraft company, had joined Meadows as Export Sales Manager in 1954. Bedson, whose work at Kieft had included the design of their first
sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...
, and who had also designed a
saloon car A sedan (American English) or saloon (British English) is a automobile, passenger car in a three-box styling, three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo. The first recorded use of ''sedan'' in refer ...
prototype for the Phoenix project, was called upon to bring his design experience to the Meadows car alongside Keith Peckmore, a
project engineer Project engineering includes all parts of the design of manufacturing or processing facilities, either new or modifications to and expansions of existing facilities. A "project" consists of a coordinated series of activities or tasks performed by ...
who had also joined Meadows from Kieft. Commencing around July 1956, in a back room at the Meadows factory, a
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...
vehicle nicknamed ''The Bug'' was constructed and developed. This small, four-wheeled, two-seater had a moulded
fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...
shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...
with
gull-wing doors In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door, McLaren anhedral door, or an up-door, is a car door that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, first as a race car i ...
and a Villiers air-cooled
two-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categoriz ...
engine fitted to a
brazed Brazing is a metal-joining process in which two or more metal items are joined by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, with the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal. Brazing differs from welding in ...
ladder-type
chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
. To make a differential unnecessary, the car had a narrow rear track, with drive to the solid rear axle by
roller chain Roller chain or bush roller chain is the type of chain drive most commonly used for transmission of mechanical power on many kinds of domestic, industrial and agricultural machinery, including conveyors, wire- and tube-drawing machines, pr ...
. The car was fitted with a four-speed motorcycle
manual gearbox A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canadian English, Canada, British English, the United Kingdom and American English, the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed ...
, with reverse obtained by running the engine backwards through the
Dynastart SIBA Elektrik G.m.b.H is a former German automotive electrical manufacturer, noted as manufacturers of the Dynastart combined starter motor and dynamo, used on many cars, motorcycles and scooters in the 1950s and notable for providing an electric m ...
unit. Whilst ''The Bug'' was under development, the Italian coachbuilding company
Vignale Vignale is the luxury car sub-brand of Ford Motor Company used in automobiles sold in Europe.Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
was commissioned by Flower to design the bodywork for the production version, a task they allocated to
Giovanni Michelotti Giovanni Michelotti (6 October 1921 – 23 January 1980) was one of the most prolific designers of sports cars in the 20th century. His notable contributions were for Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati and Triumph Motor Company, Triumph marques. He was ...
. On 5 December 1956, ''The Bug'' which had been taken to
Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced Race track, track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England, from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...
motor racing circuit commenced a seven-day 24-hours a day test run, completing with a fastest lap of . Although ''The Bug'' had nothing to do with the Egyptian ''Phoenix'' project, because of the attendance of Raymond Flower at the circuit with his ''Phoenix SR150'' sports racer and an embargo on the use of the Meadows name in connection with ''The Bug'', Press reports of the test run erroneously referred to the Meadows project as the ''Phoenix minicar'' or ''Phoenix Frisky''. The disclosure of the Meadows company involvement and the correct nomenclature – Meadows Frisky – was announced by the press on 11 March 1957 just prior to the
Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...
. The press release included information about the Oulton Park test run and information about the involvement of Raymond Flower in the project and Michelotti in the design. The release also stated that the Frisky would be priced at "under £400". Vignale delivered the body of the new car directly to the Geneva show. As this left no time to install the engine, it was displayed separately in front of the car. The design retained the gull-wing door concept from ''The Bug'' and the car attracted widespread interest and acclaim. Two of these bodies were produced by Vignale, but it quickly became clear that the design would be too expensive for mass production and so work began on completely redesigning the car in time for the
Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
Motor Show An auto show, also known as a motor show or car show, is a public exhibition of current automobile models, debuts, concept cars, or out-of-production classics. It is attended by automotive industry representatives, dealers, auto journalists a ...
in October. In June 1957, a new subsidiary of the Meadows company – Henry Meadows (Vehicles) Ltd – was registered in anticipation of production of the car. Amongst the design changes that took place before October were the replacement of the gull-wing doors with a more conventional
suicide door A suicide door is an Car door, automobile door hinged at its rear rather than the front. Such doors were originally used on Horse-drawn vehicle, horse-drawn carriages but are rarely found on modern vehicles, primarily because they are less saf ...
type and the fitting of a larger Villiers engine of . Immediately before the show it was reported that the prototype had now covered over and pre-show publicity stated that there would be two cars on show, the Frisky Saloon and the Friskysport, a
convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air drivin ...
version. Brochures displaying artist's impressions of both vehicles were printed. However, at the show, only the convertible Meadows Friskysport appeared. Once again this new design met with an enthusiastic reception from the press. Reports from the show stated that the car was "not yet in full production". Production of the car did not commence until five months later in March 1958. In February 1958 a controlling interest in Henry Meadows (Vehicles) Ltd. was acquired by the Flower Group of companies. Raymond Flower was appointed chairman and managing director.


Frisky Cars Ltd

In September 1958, production of the Friskysport was taken over by The Marston Group of Companies; they acquired a controlling interest in Henry Meadows (Vehicles) Ltd and the name of the production company was changed to Frisky Cars Ltd. The Marston Group were a diverse range of interests including car dealerships, caravan manufacture, vehicle body manufacture and Regency Covers Ltd., who were at the time the largest manufacturers of car seat covers in the country. The chairman of the newly formed Frisky Cars Ltd was Henry R Stone. Raymond, Neville, and Derek Flower were made directors. Distribution of the car was to be handled by The Arneston Motor Company Ltd. London, which belonged to Henry Stone. The franchise was also taken up by other companies of his such as The Pointer Motor Co. of Norwich. In September 1958, it was announced that production of the Friskysport was "being supplemented by a hard-top". This car, a saloon version of the Friskysport named The Frisky Coupe, went into production in August and made its public début at the 1958 Earls Court Motor show in October. Alongside were two other new models, The Frisky Family Three and The Frisky Sprint. The production versions of the Friskysport and Frisky Coupe were very similar and used identical chassis, but there are differences to the bodywork. Early versions of the Friskysport are fitted with a separate chrome
Reliant Sabre The Reliant Sabre (also "Sabre Four") and the Reliant Sabre Six were small two-seater sports cars produced by Reliant between 1961 and 1964. History Developed in collaboration with the Israeli motor company Autocars, as a result of the Mana ...
windscreen frame, and have a detachable tail section and dummy air intake scoops just behind the doors, whilst later cars have the same lower body as the Coupe. The Friskysport has overriders, whilst the Coupe has plain bumpers. The Coupe initially used the Friskysport body with an integral, glassed-on roof and steel framed front windscreen, until the Family Three one-piece body became available in 1959, which was then used for both cars. The Frisky Family Three was basically a three-wheeled version of the coupe fitted with a smaller Villiers 9E engine and
MacPherson strut The MacPherson strut is a type of automotive suspension system that uses the top of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in the front suspension of modern vehicles. The name comes from American automotive engineer ...
front suspension. Having three wheels instead of four meant the car qualified for lower vehicle excise duty and also meant that it could be driven with a motorcycle
licence A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...
. It entered production in about February 1959. The Friskysprint was a prototype sports racing car built at the Meadows factory and said to be capable of . Press reports stated that on production versions the front suspension and probably the chassis and running gear would be made at the Vickers–Armstrongs (Aircraft) factory at
South Marston South Marston is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The village is about north-east of Swindon town centre. History The earliest documentary evidence for continuous settlement dates from the 13th centur ...
, Wiltshire. The prototype was finished in the American national racing colours of white with a blue stripe. It featured two bucket seats and a three-cylinder air-cooled
Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...
engine mounted transversely in the frame with final drive by roller chain. Unlike all other Friskys, the rear axle was full width and fitted with a differential. The car was also independently sprung using a
swing axle A swing axle is a simple type of independent suspension designed and patented by Edmund Rumpler in 1903 for the rear axle of rear wheel drive vehicles. This was a revolutionary invention in automotive suspension, allowing driven (powered) whee ...
layout. It was expected to sell for between £675 and £750 including purchase tax. The Friskysprint never reached production and Gordon Bedson, who designed and built the prototype, left to join Lightburn in Australia the following spring to produce the Zeta Sports. The Friskysprint and Zeta Sports had some similarities in styling but were otherwise unconnected and despite Lightburn advertising to the contrary, Giovanni Michelotti was not involved in the design of either car. In June 1959, Frisky Cars Ltd experienced financial difficulties, and an
order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...
was made by Hills Fibre Glass Developments, who produced the bodies for the Frisky, for a debt of £3,500. Despite being in poor health at the time, Henry Stone vigorously defended the order and with the support of his employees and all the other creditors put forward an alternative plan. Because of the insistence of the creditor, the judge, Mr Justice Valsey, had no alternative but to grant the order saying that "he did so with some regret". All production ceased and the company was wound up.


Frisky Cars (1959) Ltd

In August 1959, Mr C. J. Wright, a Wolverhampton business man with
garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicl ...
and
haulage Haulage is the business of transporting goods by road or rail between suppliers and large consumer outlets, factories, warehouses, or depots. This includes everything humans might wish to move in bulk – from vegetables and other foodstuffs, to c ...
interests, bought the stock, jigs, tools, fixtures and fittings, along with the rights to manufacture and the trade name of Frisky from the Official Receiver. He formed a new company, Frisky Cars (1959) Ltd. and he and E F Wright became directors. A Mr G A Stuart was made General Manager. The company announced that they hoped to restart production in September at
Fallings Park Fallings Park is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, and a ward of Wolverhampton City Council. It is situated in the northeast of the city, bordering South Staffordshire and the Wednesfield North, Heath Town, Bushbury South and Low Hill ...
, Wolverhampton, with a target of 30 three-wheeled cars a week; also that a deluxe version would follow and that it was hoped that the Friskysprint would be built later. Also announced was the intention to build a new production plant on a site in
Penkridge Penkridge ( ) is a village and civil parish in South Staffordshire, South Staffordshire District in Staffordshire, England. It is to the south of Stafford, north of Wolverhampton, west of Cannock, east of Telford and south-east of Newport, Shro ...
, Staffordshire, but this never happened. In September 1959, a new version of the Family Three was announced. The Frisky Family Three Mk2 dropped the MacPherson strut front suspension of the original car, replacing it with the Dubonnet system used on the Friskysport. The chassis was lengthened to allow the engine to be moved back out of the cabin and it was now offered with the choice of either a or Excelsior Talisman twin engines having the advantage of an Albion gearbox with a true reverse gear. Twin front seats replaced the original bench seats and production commenced in early 1960. In October 1960, a new model, The Frisky Prince, was shown at the Earls Court Motor Show. This was basically a re-bodied Family Three with front hung doors. Around the same time, a deal was done with a company called Middlesbrough Motorcraft and
kits KITS (105.3 FM broadcasting, FM, "Live 105") is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock radio format known as "Live 105". The studios ...
and 'build your own Frisky' became available from them. Anthony Brindle, who had become joint managing director of Frisky Cars, took part in a publicity run, attempting to visit five European capitals, Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels, Amsterdam and London while not spending more than £5 on fuel. A four-wheel version of the Prince was announced for 1961, but never reached production.


Frisky Cars (1959) Ltd, Sandwich, Kent

In February 1961, the company was purchased by Mr R Bird, the chairman of Petbow Ltd. of
Sandwich, Kent Sandwich is a town and civil parish in the Dover District of Kent, south-east England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour and has a population of 4,985. Sandwich was one of the Cinque Ports and still has many original medieval build ...
. Petbow were one of the world's largest manufacturers of engine-driven power plants, including
welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, primarily by using high temperature to melting, melt the parts together and allow them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Co ...
and generating equipment. All Frisky production and stocks were moved from the Meadows factory and a production line within Petbow's existing factory was set up. The Frisky Prince, with strong competition from the
BMC Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...
, was not proving popular and chassis problems meant increasing time was spent rectifying customers' cars rather than producing new ones. Despite valiant efforts by staff and management, all work ceased towards the end of 1961, bringing to an end the production of the Frisky car.


Frisky Spares and Service Ltd, Queenborough, Kent

In 1962, a group of Petbow employees set up Frisky Spares and Service Ltd in
Queenborough Queenborough is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England. Queenborough is south of Sheerness. It grew as a port near the Thames Estuary at the westward entrance to the Swale where it joins the River ...
, Kent and all remaining stocks of Frisky parts were moved there from Petbow's works. This company mainly supplied spares for existing car owners. No real production took place, although they would assemble a car for a customer if required, but preferred to provide a kit, so that customers could construct their own. They ceased trading around 1966.


Specifications

* Above specifications courtesy of The Frisky Register. a. The 324 cc Villiers 3T engine was also available as an option in these two cars.


The Frisky Register

The Frisky Register was set up in 1978 by John Meadows, grandson of Henry Meadows, offering assistance and advice to owners to encourage the preservation and restoration of these unique cars.


See also

*
List of microcars by country of origin A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...


References

{{reflist


External links


Official Frisky Register website


Car manufacturers of the United Kingdom Microcars Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Three-wheeled motor vehicles Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles