THIS WEEK STEVE HOLE TELLS THE STORY OF THE GAZELLE.
It’s quite a well-used name in the kitcar industry, is Gazelle and this take on the name was an American import, of which some 3000 had found homes in the US during its incredibly long production life, which amazingly only came to an end fairly recently.
This Gazelle was conceived as a (sort of) replica of the 1929 Mercedes-Benz SSK, by American kit manufacturer, Classic Motor Carriages. The original UK company was based in Bishopgate Street, Leeds and was part of a company called Briton International, who actually specialised in airport and dockyard tractors.
The UK set-up called the US Beetle-based version the Mark VR, with the domestic-developed Ford variant underpinned example known as the Mark CF. Back in 1975, a fully built Gazelle cost £15,000, which was Porsche 911 money at the time.
Several attempts were made in the UK to get the car established here, with the Gazelle being the first effort. Over the years, it also saw the light of day as Amica, Delta, Spirit SS, Gatsby and Phoenix, all of which didn’t last long.
Classic Cars of Titchfield, Hampshire, run by Robin Gibbs and Andy Mitchell, put a lot of resources into having yet another attempt at shifting this American kit in the UK, from late 1991.
They went to the trouble of converting the kits to right-hand drive on arrival to the UK revising them to run on Ford Cortina mechanicals with a ladderframe featuring rear ‘kick-overs’ and a modified Ford subframe, which was rather less exotic than the American-spec Chevrolet Camaro donor underpinnings!
However, they obviously agreed because they ditched the Cortina rear suspension parts in favour of revised Capri five-link arrangement. They quoted £18,000 for fully built examples in 1992 with kit prices for this all-GRP bodied 1934 SSK-alike from £7500.
Amazingly, US production only ended very recently, not before around 3000 were sold there, which was about 2982 more than here!
Gazelle Sports Car Company 1975-76
Classic Cars of Titchfield 1992-94
Approx 18 made