At last! – an opportunity to write about car trials, the gritty endeavor that evolved from reliability runs of the late 1880s. Reliability runs were designed to prove that a car could cover a convenient distance and become indispensable, replacing Old Dobbin, your four-footed transportation servant. The offshoot called trials began in Britain; by the mid-1930s, crazy people were pitting spindly, underpowered vehicles against steep, muddy, rocky hills, hoping to avoid flipping over. Company founders Ken Delingpole and Ron Lowe built a trials car from an Austin 7 augmented with Ford mechanicals to kick off their auto-making enterprise, giving Dellows the DNA to perform particularly well at trials. (Does anyone know what famous British brand – still making cars today – also established itself by producing a trials car based on an Austin 7?) Today’s 1954 Dellow Mk II has accumulated a 41-year history of racing in the New York area.
The first Dellow was introduced in 1950 – and not at some fancy motor show. Business grew because the founders were good at tuning and building trials cars, and competitors wanted their own copy of what Ron Lowe was racing. Around 94 Mk Is were made. Panels were aluminum, the first cars had no doors, and the engine was the Ford Ten E39A 1172 cc four-cylinder along with its balky three-speed manual gearbox. Juiced with an SU carburetor, output was 37 hp, but at least one Mk I was equipped with a supercharger. The Mk II was introduced in 1951, offering doors (optional!), a slightly longer body, and coils instead of ellipticals in the rear. No, the listing doesn’t include a photo of the motor, and no mention is made whether the original is in situ – or not. But this vintage radiator badge hints at the car’s racing pedigree: the Republic Motor Sports Club was a New York organization that – with Shell Oil Company – sponsored economy runs in the area.
Meanwhile, this interior oozes British charm – with seats beautifully worn, the Moto-Lita wood rimmed wheel designed to graze your thighs, and a wonderful set of bespoke gauges. The Mk II – as noted – could be ordered with doors and this one is so equipped. “Door cars” received an interior brake handle that applied mechanical brakes to the front and rear wheels simultaneously. If you rejected the door option, your brake handle was external, and pushing it forward engaged the front brakes, while pulling it back engaged the rears. Fun!
This thoroughly charming Brit is listed on facebook Marketplace for $19,500. It has a clear New Hampshire title but is currently located in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. Documentation is extensive and as we can see, the car appears to be in immaculate condition. I don’t know of any period racer even remotely as interesting or well-priced. The Dellow club is here, and if you’re worried about performance, see here. Ok, maybe I gotta call this guy!
I believe the sport the Dellow was built for was called “Mud-plugging” in the U.K. (one of the few places in the world where it was popular) and was contested by the likes of Sydney Allard and Colin Chapman, who went on to other — if not better — things.
What a gorgeous little car! Some “trials” specials were pretty crude, but this is a real car, capable of being driven on the road, albeit slowly. There was a variety of “speed” equipment available for 1172 Fords in England, and it’s a pity we don’t know what if any was applied here.
Still, the ask isn’t out of line if the Dellow is as good as it appears to be. I’d love to have it, and find some muddy, hilly terrain for it.
Not 100% sure but think trisls/ mudplugging is shorter tupe of event badsed aound a field/ wooded area . The cars are similar but developed into very light and specialised cars which are no longer road legal. Canon was the famous brand. This Dellow is designed for longer distance events which would need car to be road legal to arrive at the venues.
Make that call Michelle because it would be double the money and in worse condition in the UK. These cars were built to suffer and 41 years in NY doesn’t come close.
You’ll never see another, never forgive yourself if you don’t take this opportunity.
It would be very unusual for a Dellow not to have an upgraded engine (Aquaplane often) and I believe a few were fitted with MG XPAG engines. These cars werr factory built, not kit cars.
I guess Lotus is the marque which kicked off doing MCC trials.
Figures you would guess my riddle, Martin. You are correct, and the car is now called the Lotus Mk 1. But the first car actually labeled a Lotus didn’t come along until 1951, and we only call it a “Mk 1” retrospectively, after that ’51 car was assigned “Mk 2″…..
Most, if not all, Mark Ones only achieve that nomenclature after the Mark 2 arrives!
Not 100% sure but think trisls/ mudplugging is shorter tupe of event badsed aound a field/ wooded area . The cars are similar but developed into very light and specialised cars which are no longer road legal. Canon was the famous brand. This Dellow is designed for longer distance events which would need car to be road legal to arrive at the venues.
I did a “production car trial” on a steep grassy hill and a stream to cross in my 1965Mini Moke…all the bouncing and leaning forward by myself and my co pilot couldnt help the front wheel drive..but it was a lot of fun.It was the VW Beetles that did best that day..I would love this!!!
Cool! … You want rear drive and weight in the back. If you watch a couple early trials videos you can see co-pilots jumping on the rear of the car to gain traction!
It has been suggested that the Dellow was developed with the country vet in mind, cheaper than a Land Rover and more agile. Simplicity and cheapness of parts available all over Britain made the Dellow a good option. Can’t understand why more were not made.
Yes, I think the Dellow also had good ground clearance – useful when you are driving over a muddy pasture to take a look at Bessie.
As to production, the founders were busy with day jobs, too, making fasteners and whatnot….
Martin, I found that the early hillclimb was very similar to trials, but later, hillclimb cars evolved with specialized construction including a very light front end wheeled with what look like slightly-beefier-than-bicycle tires. Hillclimbs also feature fast drivers over paved courses racing for time (Goodwood Festival). Then there are classes within trials – special, classic, and so forth. Fun!
Hillclimbs are just uphill tarmac speed events against the clock in Europe. The Festival of Speed at Goodwood is a hillclimb course.
I think the divergence in trials came post WW2. The originals were endurance events which had road sections leading to speciak sections up car-breaking tracks. These were important promotional events for sports car manufacturers like MG, Healey and Allard etc. Dellow is built for these events.
Post WW2 the “Sporting Trials” became popular. These deveoped into specialist lightweight machines with shorter courses based on mud rather than rough roads. Production Car trials are similar, but for road cars.
So pretty!
Nice to read all the comments. There is an active Dellow Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/Dellow
I did contact the seller, and he confirmed that this Dellow is powered by a British Ford 100E and indeed the engine compartment is as immaculate as is the exterior. He did send me 4 photos via Messenger, but I don’t know how to post them here for everyone to view.
Michelle, if you are contemplating buying this lovely 70 year old from the past, then let it be known that although I can’t afford this little gem this year, due to the expense of totally new flooring and a new kitchen installation in the “old homestead”, but I would definitely and most happily be bidding on it a year from now!
Cheers, Jeffrey Hamilton
Reminds me of a Plymouth Prowler
Plenty of Austin 7 trialling still going on in the UK, great fun & very cheap motorsport.
One of ours doing a short section, (not all are uphill, some are tight & technical as this one is.)
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/249439749
Does the “Republic Motor Sports Club” pictured on the grille badge have any connection to Republic Aviation Corp.?
Oh, now you’re getting tricky, you guys. I had a devil of a time finding anything at all on the Republic Motor Sports Club – virtually the only item I found was that reprint from an ancient Triumph club newsletter, and that took me an hour to surface. Soooo, as to the relationship with the Aviation Corp – you’re on your own! But let us know if you find anything – or if any readers know anything about a link, we’d love to hear about it.
Republic Aviation Corp produced the P-47 Thunderbolt in WW2.
Was the other Austin 7 a BMW?
BMW’s first car, (or Dixi at that point) was an Austin 7 made under licence.
You can also count:
Mclaren, (first car raced was an Austin Ulster)
Jaguar, coachbuilt “Swallow” on top of A7 running gear
They made it across the Atlantic as well, Bantam’s were built although didn’t sell very well.
yes, the mini car the usa bantam wuz an Austin.
So too the nash Metropolitan (an Austin) no?
(I like the nash healy, esp pre-face lift. something different again
but werent all by BMC (kinda like gm w/all the divisions)?
The badge looks surprisingly similar to the Republic Aviation Corporation logo of the late 40’s & early 50’s; my Dad was a sports car racer in those days and worked for Republic. Wondering if there was a tie-across?
Still doing mud plugging here in NZ in a variety of locations with an annual event just up the road where the Dellow would be a perfect candidate. A variety of slightly modified vehicles are used (no Dellows) with great rivalry between the Austin 7 specials and Model A Ford brigades. Usually one or other wins depending on how wet the conditions area. There are also some surprising stock vehicle used – Fiat 501, Fiat 509, Bugatti Brescia (given the muddy state the vehicles end up in) plus some COVID specials (vehicles built by bored Vintage car types during COVID from bits lying around their sheds! Young drivers also feature – which is great for the vintage vehicle movement. There are various ʻtestsʻ mud bogs, corners on slippery hills, short hill climbs, etc. From memory, points are awarded for how far you fail to proceed to get through a test and the winner is the car/driver that collects the least points, i.e. has made the most progress or competed the tests. Everyone gathers at a nearby local country hotel / pub where awards are given out and hard luck tales are shared.
‘hill climbs’ a lill different here (where invented 4 usa – rumor has it) as the Munson climb started turn of the century when local Spfld (just a few mi away) made the Indian cycle, would race the Harley (Milwaukee – two power house industrial cities in the day) up the hill (dirt). Still goin on 2day w/National org – full classes 125 – 900 cc & onto side by sides, etc
Viruses
car’n truck hill climbs like Pike’s Peak (paved) and others (dirt)…