Vintage Thing No.21.1 - Toniq R

Well conceived and brilliantly styled, the Toniq R is now even better

It's especially good to do follow ups on Vintage Things but here's a VT that's got more of a future than a past. I first discovered the Toniq R at the Royal Cornwall Show in 2008 and was impressed in how it puts an original take on the Locaterfield type of kit car or track day car. To be honest, may of these open wheelers are getting a bit hackneyed. I like either the traditional ones or the radical ones. Most, though, fall between these extremes and seem to be neither one thing nor the other to me. The Toniq R is a fresh new interpretation of the four wheeled motorbike and I think it looks great.

People ask Colin where gets his distinctive headlamp pods. The answer is he makes them. The battery and pedal boxes are pretty neat, too, certainly too good to hide under the bonnet, which fits so neatly over the brackets.

Over the last two years, Colin and his dad have been developing the Toniq R and at this years Exeter Kit Car Show they launched the latest version with a new chassis. This is aimed at the North American market where customers are used to bigger cockpits.

It hasn't acted as a bar to sales, though. They've already exported 3 cars to the states.

But do you think the local media have picked up on this? No they haven't. This is not good enough - shame on you BBC Spotlight, West Briton and Cornish Guardian! Bad news is all you seem to trade in these days, that and estate agent's publicity and bloody gardening. (They tell me gardening is the new rock'n'roll - no it isn't - rock'n'roll is the new rock'n'roll)

Here's a Cornish success story going on under our noses and the press is ignoring it! And the Toniq rocks!

And then there's the Blackjack, too. That's two creative, local businesses you are mis-serving, right now. I groan at this kind of blindness. Two successes on their doorstep! Having made one glaring omission, the media luvvies compound it with another.

This is the bigger chassis for (ahem) wider customers.

Now that I've calmed down a bit, I feel I can talk more sensibly about the new chassis and forthcoming restyle. What I like is this outfits attitude - let's make our design even more attractive, let's tailoring to our prospective market. Because the company is small they can react quickly in this way and Colin Williams has also taken the opportunity to sharpen up the looks with a new mask to the car.

Everything is derivative - is there any H R Giger influence in the new look for the Toniq? I keep thinking of Alien and the monster he designed with its bio-mechanical exo-skeleton.

This is the new fencer's mask that fits on the front of the Toniq R. It's very easy to change the personality of the face of this car. This bare but highly finished front panel makes me think that "in space no-one can hear you scream".

One thing that hasn't changed is the powerplant options. The Toniq can be fitted with a balls out/brain off Busablade or a torquey Duratec motor. Performance is equally radical with either option but each offers a different driving experience.

Colin Williams was one of the upbeat types at the show. The way he sees it, the latest recession means those who can no longer afford a Ferrari will take a broader look at what's available for their money and discover cars like his Toniq.

Sounds to me like its happening already