I found it as I was looking for North Downs Engineering Company, NORDEC, information. I am trying to find out who made my Trials car. It came from the Croydon catchment area. NORDEC is a good candidate as the construction was bang on when they were most actively trying to build cars. It has a Ballamy front axle and brakes, might have had a supercharger (NORDEC sold Marshall superchargers and held license to supply LMB parts). After Wrenn left, moving to Market Harborough, he made some double dual rail semi monocoque chassis in 3 inch tube to go under GRP bodies. While not the same, it is sounding much like that which is in my car, where the rest of the body is structural steel sheet and being a full monocoque. It is clearly made cribbing the successful early Lotus and Dellow for much of its style and layout.
Sadly the archive of entrants and results of 50's-70's Trials is not great, nor digitised. So I cannot easily work backwards. The car has been heavily modified at least once, so most of the original running gear is gone. Yet who edver originally made it knew what they were doing. Its the modifications that are poor.
The car has little value beyond a novelty, and any performance in its class - shared with Dellow, Cannon, Troll etc. But I like to know what things are and occasionally you get lucky and find out a lot. Even better you find folk who had, or made, the car back in the day. Its a pleasure to show them that the product of their efforts still exists, to be reborn into a usable vehicle once again.
(Dear old Mr Brooke, who was nearly in tears on finding the Grossmans driving has old Goggomobil after its serious surgery and an engine change, and another attending while in work, at Olney National.Rally. I could tell him car 3 was in Cornwall and 4, badly damaged, was now a Coupe. He was, of course, treated to a whizz up the road for old times sake. He passed away not long after, but his son wrote and said that he had made his fading father attend, as a treat, and he never stopped talking about it thereafter. Silly little cars, but we love them.)
For those scratching there heads. NORDEC went on to become something of a successful manufacturer of model plane engines.
