Vintage Thing No.53.1 - The GP Centron

Well, as I'd hoped, I've made contact with the owner of the Centron mentioned on here as Vintage Thing No. 53. It belongs to Gerald Dawson who has confirmed that it was once black. He's kindly passed on some better images of his car to use on this blog. As the registration number is the same as the Statestyle car that I once knew, Gerald's car must be that demonstrator as well as the Lalande show car.

As you may have gathered I have a soft spot for the Centron. I think the front end styling is highly successful but there are some awkward angles to the window aperture in profile. Softer lines here might improve the overall look but the kamm tail doesn't bother me at all. Gerald's Centron is a striking motorcar.

Gerald says, "By the time I got it, it had already been painted red, with a black vinyl roof. The auction catalogue I was given describes it as a black show car, and that it was featured in a magazine article. I have been unable to find which magazine, and would be grateful if you can remember where you saw it."

I think this must have been in Kit Car magazine. It was on the strength of a news item in this magazine that I went over to Threemilestone near Truro to see if there was any chance of a summer job in 1983. I seem to recall that the cover of this magazine was mostly green. If I still have this copy it must be buried in my attic but if anyone out there has a back number Gerald and I would be very interested to know about this article.

Gerald goes on, "One of the features of this car is the wind up windows, unusual in kit cars at that time."

This rings a definite bell with me - I believe Lalande were actually in the process of developing these. I seem to recall a discussion with Colin Clifford about TR7 mechanisms because these had a down and forward course of travel. This suited the door shut line of both TR7 and Centron, otherwise the window glass would only go down so far.

"I was in touch with the owner of the other Centron (FCV 144L) a while ago, but he sold it and I didn't make contact with the new owner."

This is interesting because FCV144L is a Cornish number. We wonder where it is now.

"I also had contact from a chap in Holland (I think) who discovered an unbuilt Centron "Targa Top". I have not heard if he has built it yet."

One of my long lost speculative design drawings that I did around the time of my visits to the Statestyle factory was of a targa version. The lines of the Centron seem to suit this treatment but I cannot now recall whether this was something that Statestyle wanted to develop or if it was my own idea.

What I do remember is that Colin Clifford felt the VW engine was too exposed at the back and that he'd had some covering panels made up to fir under the bumper. They looked like afterthoughts and I'm happy to say that Gerald's car doesn't have these.

Anyway, if that really is a total of 3 survivors that's not a bad survival rate - 12 examples of the original GP Centron, with a forward hingeing canopy, were built from 1970-71 with only 4 of the revised Centron II, which offered a fixed rear window and conventional doors. How many Lalande and Statestyle made is anyone's guess although according to Chris Rees in his book Classic Kit Cars they made two from 1983-87.

Chris also reckoned that 5 of the original dozen Centrons produced by GP were exported. I'm guessing here but maybe the Dutch targa top example is a modified version. The flop forward canopy - popularised by the Bond Bug no less - leaked a lot and was a bit too much of the fun-car-explosion and not enough drive-to-work-in-a-suit-and-stay-dry-practical. It must have looked radical when paying car park tolls - I reckon the sliding windows would have been too low to pay yer money or take yer ticket, so opening up the roof/windscreen/doors/windows would have been the only way to cope.

The Centron II was a far more practical proposition and had an Escort front screen. I remember Colin Clifford saying that they didn't believe this when they made their car and neither did the windscreen fitter who came to fit it. But it all went together beautifully.

"When I bought the car it had been left out in the weather with no glass. The chap I bought it from had taken the body off and welded new floors. I took it from there. I painted it red (not very well), the surface has cracks and bubbles now. The rear window was a one piece fixed glass, but I made it an opening hatch to improve access to the engine."

Many old kit cars don't make it back from being in this state so I'm pleased to hear that Gerald has brought his Centron back into the land of the living.

I had a feeling the rear window was originally recessed with buttresses down each side but I might be swayed by pictures of other, earlier Centrons.

"I have tried to find Peter Gilbert (of Lalande) to tell him his car is still around, but have failed. If you have any contacts I would be grateful if you could pass the message on."

I'd also like to know more about Val Dare-Bryan and Pierre du Plessis who created the Centron as an insurance policy against the bottom falling out of the beach buggy boom. So called "exotic" kit cars had already appeared in the US - probably for the same reason - so GP were simply following anothe trend. Consequently, the GP Centron is thought to be the first UK exotic.

Val Dare-Bryan was ex-Unipower - seeing how much Unipower GTs go for these days, there's a kit that should be resurrected. I believe Pierre du Plessis developed other GP designs for John Jobber before our old friend ex-Siva man Neville Trickett joined GP and took GP into entirely new markets with the tongue-in-cheek but highly successful GP Madison. I'd like to know - what other projects did Dare-Bryan and du Plessis work on?

Chris Rees book is probably the only place apart from Peter Tuthill's book on the Cornish Motor Industry that chronicles the Centron. The moulds were last heard of in 1987 when owned by a firm called MDB Sportscars. By then the car had been re-christened the Sapphire.

"The Centron has been without MOT lately," explains Gerald, "as the stub axles were loose on the King Pins. I found some second hand ones but the later hubs used would not fit, so I had to have them altered. This just shows what happens when kit cars develop. I have just finished one side, and have moved the car ready to fit the other side. I have found some more suitable headlamps, which are nearly ready to fit, so I hope to get it tested and taxed for the spring. I may even take it to Exeter later this year. It has been there before."

I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with it there Gerald.

Meanwhile, if anyone knows any more about Centrons, whether built by GP or otherwise, drop me a line or feel free to comment on this blog.