Grand Frisky Line Up Malvern

[john Meadows]

Big Al
Frisky Family Three Chassis No 20147  (FR No 3017) was a 1959 Model first registered 1704 PX  in March 1960 having a Villiers 9E . Colour light Blue. This was the car Gordon Higlett and Martin Keene owned. Martin replaced its then Villiers 11E with a correct 9E and hand built a new petrol tank for it..

The car in the museum still has chassis number 20147 but that’s about all, it has been retrofitted with a yellow body that had at some time been on a four wheel car (the glassed over cut outs are evident) indeed it may have been an early Coupe body as the roof is bolted on and the front window mounted in a steel frame and then the whole lot glassed over as the first few Coupe’s.

It now supports the registration SFO 217.

The front suspension  is wrong, it has no interior fittings or electrics and the last time I saw it, it had a “foreign” bench seat, no dash and was fitted with the front bumper off a mark 2 Frisky..

It would seem that this little car, which I understand was given to the BCLM as part of “The Marsden Trust collection” has had a bit of a rough time and I agree with Jim Janecek they are unlikely to ever restore it.

[Big Al]

What on earth did they do to it? It was a very good car when I sold it to the collection for £3,000 which was a very good price for a Frisky then, though it was a strange yellow colour by then. It appeared in several photoshoots and I have a framed pic of the car with my Dalmatian, Morse, sat in it. Sounds like it has been used to sell off reg numbers and broken up to hide the activity with the other parts split between the cars so as to obscure what was done. 
It is very depressing when you find a good car sold has been butchered by someone later. I still cannot get over the really nice ink blue Bamby I had which I sold to Hook, Hants only to find that someone later rescued it from a scrap yard in a very poor state. But when the botchers are folk claiming to be a collection or museum you have to question quite what is going on. Will not be the first or last 'collection/museum' being used to front trade. Seller beware!

[barchetta]

Ah, the Museum question,
 my pal had a very nice frisky that just needed finishing off , chassis brakes ,engine ,bodywork all good ,needed a topcoat or paint ,was approached saying they had been looking for a frisky for a long while and were desperate to add it to their collection ,their budget was limited but they would get it restored and have it on display, he sold it to them under this understanding at a very reasonable price,   6 months later it was sold on ebay for three times the price paid.....

[john Meadows]

Hi Barchetta, Dave could you let me have a bit more info on your friends Frisky I would like to look it up in the Register.
my email is John.meadows1898@btinternet .com

many thanks

John

[Jim Janecek]

Ah, the Museum question,
 my pal had a very nice frisky that just needed finishing off , chassis brakes ,engine ,bodywork all good ,needed a topcoat or paint ,was approached saying they had been looking for a frisky for a long while and were desperate to add it to their collection ,their budget was limited but they would get it restored and have it on display, he sold it to them under this understanding at a very reasonable price,   6 months later it was sold on ebay for three times the price paid.....

If this ever comes up again (and it will, it always does), get the Buyer for "the collection" to put IN WRITING that you are selling them the vehicle under these conditions and make sure you put penalties if they breach the contract. (ie: they resell the vehicle). 
If they cannot do that, they are simply lying.
I only know of one person that has ever done this.  He had some Ford that everyone wanted to buy and he would not sell it.  It was the old "He wanted it to go to a good home".
The Henry Ford Museum had been trying to get it as well and he did not trust them either as he knew what went on behind the scenes of various collections and museums.
Eventually he drew up a sales contract that stipulated that the car could be purchased but it must remain in the Henry Ford Museum collection for "X" number of years and on display for "X" percent  of that time.
They agreed and he was quite happy.

I guess the moral of the story is that once you sell something, it is no longer yours and the new owner can do what they want with it unless you have a contract with them that says otherwise.

[Big Al]

I guess Jim's plan might work for a Museum which had an entity but otherwise it is a pretty hopeless situation in Britain. The Frisky scam sound reasonably modern. EBay was still being born when I sold my F3 to the collection. However there has been several serial 'buying for museum' types in the market recently. Another nail in the coffin. As I was saying to Grant it is getting so taking an interesting car to an event risks getting pestered by traders of all different sorts from straight out to deeply devious. It removes something of the abience and enjoyment of being there.

[john Meadows]

Come gather round Friskys where ever you roam
And admit that around you your value has grown
 and accept that you’ll probably get drenched to the bone
but your time at Malvern’s worth givin
Then you better join up or be all on your own
For the line it is a growin

Apologies to Bob Dylan

Please bring your Frisky to Malvern and be in

The Grand Frisky Line Up

Sunday 5th September

John (Fingers crossed) Meadows

[Big Al]

'Don't give your Friskys (Friskies) to bad cats, take them to the Grand Frisky line up at the Malvern National'.

Like apologies to Bob Dylan fan, yeah.

So is that going to be a frazzle of Friskys?
A skip of Friskys?
A wriggle of Friskys?
A Meadows full of Friskys?
An excitment of Friskys?
I expect there are more.

[Bob Purton]

The weather here has been as bad as it can be
Although it doesn't really matter much to me
For all the fun we'll have at Malvern far away
It might as well rain until September

Don't need a Frisky Sport for thing I have to do
but love to see them so its really down to you
As far as I'm concerned its Isettas all the way
So It might as well rain until September.

Sorry Carol King!

Whos next with alternative micro lyrics?

[Jim Janecek]

Sly Stone was hip to this in 1973, actual lyrics:


I gets all the way down
If I don't keep smilin' witchall
You gonna see me frown
That's why I keep music
All around the bed
So I can call Frisky
Very hard to be led
In the wrong direction
Frisky, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh Frisky, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh Frisky, yeah, yeah
Oh Frisky, yeah, yeah

etc etc etc...

[Big Al]

I am looking forward to this one off gig of the Frisky Prince of Bil-ston and the Zetas in front of a line up of flashy Friskys doing these numbers.

[zetasports]

Has anyone seen Fred Diwell's frisky?

He was telling me about his Frisky the other day

But I would love to see a photo of his car one day, as I am confused where 1001 has exactly come from?

was it the first Australian chassis and if so was the body mould taken from the Frisky? or did Gordon bring the Body Moulds and Chassis Jigs from England

How different is the Zeta from the Frisky in the engine and drive system?

Looking at a  Frisky on the Frisky web site I wonder if Gordon Brought a Frisky to Australia?

We will be in Adelaide from 23 Sept till 28 Sept to remove the Sports and take some photos for you to see what has survived all these years.

Shane Buchanan from Cairns has offered to complete my Triumph car in exchange for the Zeta car which is the best offer at this stage considering  the short notice and cost involved to collect and transport the car in pieces.

I would love to hear your thoughts have a nice day Robin

[john Meadows]

Sorry if this is a bit off topic but

a)   I am sure Fred would be only to happy to send you a picture of his car if you ask him

b)   Yes Gordon Bedson did import a small number of FriskySports  (not the Sprint) to Australia, Fred has one

c)   No he did not bring the Frisky mould , chassis etc with him (Sport or Sprint) there was only one Sprint built plus a prototype wider sprint chassis that was to hold a larger engine this was never completed.

d)   All four wheel Frisky’s are chain drive to a solid rear axle

e)   The Frisky & Zeta engines are obviously very different

f)   I can not help you with the origin of 1001, however there were probably several prototypes before production as with the Meadows Frisky, it does not follow that 1001 was the very first. (The First FriskySport was 00056)

g)   The Chassis was Gordon’s own design as with the Sprint but as you know he fell out with Lightburn over build quality issues that he felt compromised the car.

I hope this helps sort out your confusion, please feel free to email me direct if I can help further

John Meadows

[blob]

How many men does it take to fix a frisky?

[Grant Kearney]

Clearly too many  but we did fix it.
2010, the 35th anniversary Rally will always be remembered (by those who did attend) for the Grand Frisky Line up.  The 'Frisky man' said there would be 12 and we did not believe him.  He was wrong though  , 13 turned up.  Legendary.