Here’s a European oddity that’s quite rare and perhaps affordable, that is if I performed my currency conversion correctly, but the bad news is you’ll have to travel to a different continent to pick it up if you’re a U.S. citizen. What we have here is an offering from Fairthorpe cars, a company in Buckinghamshire, England with roots dating back to 1954, who offered a few different cars over the years including the Electrina, a 4-seat variant of their more common Electron. The seller of this 1963 Fairthorpe Electrina here on the Car And Classic website claims it’s one of the two known remaining examples from the 6 produced during its final year in ’63, and it’s located in the south Lincolnshire area of the United Kingdom.
A big Barn Finds thank you is owed to reader Kyle K, who sent us the tip on this one! So the asking price is listed as 3,500 in pound sterling, and my calculation is that’s just a bit less than 4,200 in U.S. dollars, but math isn’t one of my specialties so please help me out readers if that’s not correct. But if it’s even in the ballpark, this seems to be a reasonable price to pay for such a unique car, at least before you factor in what it’ll cost to transport it from point A to point B.
These cars featured a fiberglass body, which the seller points out is lightweight and bolted to the chassis, making it a basic and hopefully not-to-difficult restoration. The Electrina is also stated to be a one-owner vehicle and complete, and as simple as this car appears all the way around I’m guessing this one may be somewhat of a breeze to tackle compared to many other European undertakings of this vintage.
The Fairthorpe is powered by a 1147cc Triumph engine mounted up front, of which the seller doesn’t give us too much information. I believe I found this same Electrina featured on a Fairthorpe blog from 2019, which does give some additional details regarding the car, and if everything is still accurate the motor is not running but will turn over by hand. No word about the manual transmission.
Steering can be found on the right, and what a minimalist and easy-to-understand interior! Unfortunately, this is the lone picture we get of the inside, although we do get to see inside the trunk, but no photos at all from the underside. I’m thinking once this one’s on U.S. soil it may make a pretty cool project for somebody. What do you think?
Triumph tail lights too.
License plate light, deck and door hinges look familiar too to this old TR-3 owner.
I briefly owned a similar car: a Fairthorpe Electron OTS. I did a lot of research into the Fairthorpe cars, and from what I recall, the company made about 20 of these Electrina coupes, not 6 as stated in the ad.
Mechanical and electrical parts are fairly easy to source, as everything came from other car company parts inventories. That said, ‘Fairthorpe only’ parts can be difficult to obtain.
Update: I was correct; Electrina production was “about 20” as per Wikipedia Fairthorpe page.
Early ’70’s I bought an Electron Minor MKIIIb from a shop on Sepulveda Blvd in Los Angeles. Fun little roadster until the Lucas electrics decided to melt down!
Back in the early eighties I worked for a classic car auction company in South Africa and standing outside, under a car port, was a Fairthorpe Zeta. The Ford Zephyr Six (British) engine and gearbox was missing otherwise it was all there. Didn’t think anything of it until I met up with people from the Fairthorpe club here in UK and they were flabbergasted to even hear of one as none of the members had ever seen one even though they knew that some had been made. The picture is of one being raced in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, back in the sixties.
Two left? I’d say closer to one and a half.
Jeez, the interior of that thing looks like something you’d find on the kiddie rides in an amusement park. No thanks, at any price. I’ll just buy my kid a couple of strips of tickets instead.
The one that summitted this entry, Kyle K. the same Kyle K. that use to submit all sorts of stuff to BaT years ago? He was everywhere on that site before they went all auctions.
Looks like it’s missing a chromosome….
A LS swap would sweeten it up.
Another LS clown!
About the tailights, almost every manufacturer of this era used this Lucas light.
Thought it might be an early electric car… but not with two SU’s on it!
Today (Feb 9th) £ 3,500 = US$ 4,253.
https://i.ibb.co/syYCkJX/GBP.jpg
I doubt if this will leave UK as such things have a dedicated following there and the offer is obviously not greedy.
I know Fairthorpe but not this model. 1964 was too late to sell something as crude as this to enthusiasts with families, such people had hot Minis and Anglias by then.
Fairthorpe was kind of halfway between a special builder and a manufacturer, the product was a bit crude for most tastes. Look at the doors on this, for example…
It was for sale and on display at the big NEC show in Birmingham in 2019, no interested buyers. In the years after 2019 I’ve seen it for sale numerous times on both UK and European car sites.
Yes, panel gap, fit and finish reminds one of early Tesla model 3s
Here’s the same car at the British NEC car show in 2019.
According to the photographer, the engine is a 948 CC unit from a Triumph Herald.
And the Wikipedia article says the same, the closed version of the Electrina had a Triumph Herald engine under the bonnet:
https://i.ibb.co/WHkLCbq/PB.jpg
Twin SUs now, so that means 1147 cc Spitfire I think. It was the same engine, didn’t stay at 948cc for long.
No, twin carburettors didn’t mean that it’s the 1147 CC engine.
The seller knows best:
“It is complete but requires restoration as it hasn`t run for a number of years, the engine is a 948cc Triumph engine on twin SU carbs and it turns over by hand.”
Link:
http://fairthorpe.blogspot.com/2019/11/rare-1963-fairthorpe-electrina-for-sale.html
If only Crowley had lasted long enough to get into fiberglass…
Actually Roger they did. Check out the Hotshot.
Crosley Hotshots and Super Sports are steel-bodied. http://www.facebook.com/CrosleyCarClub
Damn spellcheck! Crosley
Glad you cleared that up, Roger. I thought you meant that spooky worlock guy, Aleister Crowley.
2019 Blog about this car being for sale on http://fairthorpe.blogspot.com/2019/11/rare-1963-fairthorpe-electrina-for-sale.html
Same engine as my 64 Herald , but ,look out, Twin carbs!
Same engine as my 64 Herald , but ,look out, Twin carbs!
Without a serial number (or at least a close look at the oil filter), it’s pretty hard to tell which Standard/Triumph engine this is. However, the carburetor and manifold setup appears to be that of a Herald 948 Coupe and Convertible twin-carb specification, and that setup was also part of a “catalogued” earlier Herald 1200 (“1147cc engine”) optional upgrade.
The seller knows, so why don’t you read his blog and learn a thing or two about those engines from an expert?
This looks like a job for Wheeler Dealers!
Fairthorpe cars were produced by Australian Air Vice Marshal Donald C T Bennett. He was OC Pathfinder Squadron in WW2 RAF Bomber Command. The name Fairthorpe came from his birthplace in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
These cars would have been featured in the Daily Express Review of the Earl’s Court Motor Show.
I will adjourn to my shed to investigate!
1961: Electron Minor 948cc, 42BHP, convertible. Zeta 6 cyl (presume Zephyr)
1963: EM3, to replace Electron Minor. Triumph 1143cc, 63BHP, 9.25 hundredweight, max speed 95MPH. Convertible displayed, hardtop planned.
The also produced a 500cc sports model to fit the under 500cc sports or racing category, as well as other models.
It is interesting that an Australian company famous for its cement mixers, also produced a Zeta model, available in little wagon and little sports car (probably Frua designed)