Old, Long Forgotten Car Manufacturer Plants

Number Nine

SHAMROCK CARS

The Shamrock was a car produced in Ireland for a brief period during the late 1950s.

The business was established by an American businessman, William K Curtis in Tralee, Co. Kerry, but was moved to Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan, before production began. The aim was to produce a large luxury car model for export to the US market.

Shortly after production began, however, design flaws became apparent. Although the car was big and heavy, it used a relatively small Austin A55 1.5 litre engine, which limited performance. The A55 also provided the transmission and suspension. Another problem was that the rear wheels were shrouded by body panels and a rear wheel could not be removed (for puncture repair for example) without dropping its axle. The car used fibreglass body panels and was styled as a four seat, two door, coupé with removable hardtop. The wheelbase was 98 inches (2487 mm).

Production of up to 10,000 cars a year was talked about but eventually, only eight complete cars were produced during the six months before production ceased. After the factory closed, the unused parts were dumped into the local Lough Muckno.

The car is now very rare, and only four are believed to be still in existence: three in Ireland — one each in Killarney, Thurles and Drogheda — and one in the USA (Seattle).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamrock_(car)

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kev1.3s

I'm almost embarrassed of that thing! but to keep in the Irish vein,
The TMC Costin was a lightweight sports car built from 1983 to 1987 at the Thompson Motor Company in Wexford, Ireland.
It was designed by the aerodynamicist and Marcos founder Frank Costin and was intended to be an Irish-made rival to Lotus Seven-inspired cars as manufactured by companies such as Caterham and Westfield. Costin had previous associations with Lotus and Maserati for race-car chassis designs. The cars were very successful in racing, but just 39 cars were built before TMC went bankrupt in 1987. The chassis rights were sold to the American Daniel Panoz, founder of Panoz Auto Development, which still builds the Panoz Roadster which is based on the Costin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMC_Costin

shagman

I think Frank Costin still works with Panoz.
Seeing as the Shamrock was built by an american lets just call it american built and leave it at that shall we .

kev1.3s

Perhaps not a forgotten plant but a forgotten marque anyway

The ASA was an Italian automobile created by Giotto Bizzarrini and manufactured by the Bizzarrini company in Milan (in a factory owned by the De Nora Electrochemical Group) from 1964 to 1969. The 1000GT model was presented in 1962, but production started two years later.
This small, high-efficiency "dream car" featured an OHC 1,032 cc (63.0 cu in) four-cylinder engine designed by Enzo Ferrari,[citation needed] whence the nickname, widely used by the press, of Ferrarina for the ASA Mille.
A racing version of the 1000 GT Coupe had a 1,092 cc (66.6 cu in) engine which produced 95 bhp (71 kW); later versions featured 105 bhp (78 kW). Only a few of the cars were made, but they had a good deal of success at Italian sporting events.
A few larger four- and six-cylinder vehicles were individually built to order; almost all were prototypes. All had fiberglass bodywork.

Such a shame these never got into full production, one of my dream cars!

seamusfamous

Pitty they never went into production :mad:

Hermy

kev1.3s wrote: »

The TMC Costin was a lightweight sports car built from 1983 to 1987 at the Thompson Motor Company in Wexford, Ireland.

Here's one I made earlier:

Hermy wrote: »

Here's a TMC brochure I picked up somewhere years ago.
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

bijapos

I seem to remember TMC were on the Late Late Show back in the 80's. I think it was Freddie Starr who was on the show and bought one on the spot.

Other great car manufacturers no longer with us:

Alvis



Voisin



DeTomaso



Facel Vega



Iso



Borgward



Auburn

carchaeologist

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Arent DeTomaso back?

Not sure, but here's an Irish one from back in the day.

corner back 2

kev1.3s wrote: »

The TMC Costin was a lightweight sports car built from 1983 to 1987 at the Thompson Motor Company in Wexford, Ireland.
Slightly off topic but does anyone remember the promotion wher you could win a TMC Costin on cans of Batchelors Baked Beans?
Also I think Barry Mc Guigan bought one and/or maybe Stephen Roche

shagman

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Arent DeTomaso back?

Yeah but with one of the kind of hideous crossover SUVs that you'd cut off in traffic for spite!

DarenO

Stephen Roche was the man promoting the TMC Costin, have that and other brochures, not a great survival rate as they were mostly raced, but the thread on octane has survivors being rebuilt locally as well as Germany and the US.

I got a pm about Shamrock cars, there is a guy putting together a radio program about them. I know of two in Ireland but the above would make 4 in Ireland so not a bad survival rate for a 50 year old car

kev1.3s

seamusfamous wrote: »

Pitty they never went into production :mad:

I said!

kev1.3s wrote: »

Such a shame these never got into full production,

as these used a four cylinder Ferrari engine which was effectively 1/3 of the v12 engine in the 250 tr. It had much more potential than it's limited production at bizzarrini!

gfwd

Alvis does still exist in some form or other, although they stopped car production in the sixties. I seem to remember reading something about car production being revived in the last few years. Anyone?

Number Nine

DarenO wrote: »

Stephen Roche was the man promoting the TMC Costin, have that and other brochures, not a great survival rate as they were mostly raced, but the thread on octane has survivors being rebuilt locally as well as Germany and the US.

I got a pm about Shamrock cars, there is a guy putting together a radio program about them. I know of two in Ireland but the above would make 4 in Ireland so not a bad survival rate for a 50 year old car

I worked part time in a shop in Blayney 79/80 and the owner had a Shamrock sitting in a garage looking like something from the hillbilly's . It was white with a red interior . Chassis number was 000001 . Last time I was talking to him was in the ninety's , at that time he still had it . I will try to see him on Saturday and get you a few photos if its still there .

Ali Babba

Does anyone know of any TMC Costins around? I haven't seen one in years, I think Murphys Brewery in Cork had one also iirc.

rotorhead

The same question was asked here
http://www.octane.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=835&highlight=costin

Long but very interesting read

68deville

there was a shamrock sitting inside a ditch outside enniscorthy up til
last year!white in color and in a state!!must make inquiries.,think a green
and yellow costin still resides in dublin,my accountant raced one backin
80s too!!

DaveCol

I have a (bad) photo somewhere of a 5 or 6 roadgoing TMC's parked together at the Phoenix Park races, will scan it and post it up

G Luxel

gfwd wrote: »

Alvis does still exist in some form or other, although they stopped car production in the sixties. I seem to remember reading something about car production being revived in the last few years. Anyone?

They continued with military vehicles such as the Stalwart, a 6 wheel amphibious. There hasn't been any car production but the company that now owns the rights to the Alvis name is going to build a few cars from 1930s drawings.

Max_Damage

Gone, but not so much forgotten:

DaveCol

DaveCol wrote: »

I have a (bad) photo somewhere of a 5 or 6 roadgoing TMC's parked together at the Phoenix Park races, will scan it and post it up

Here you go, apologies for the bad quality!

G Luxel

and it appears that was another Irish car........

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz122/carclassics/Overlandtransporter.jpg

G Luxel

G Luxel wrote: »

and it appears this was another Irish car........

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz122/carclassics/Overlandtransporter.jpg

Click on the link because my computer isnt working properly.... :-(

mb1725

Looks like it could have inspired the 'bug eyes' lights on the Fiat Multipla!!

Conor_M1990

The costin so we actually made a good car ?

johnos1984

mb1725 wrote: »

Looks like it could have inspired the 'bug eyes' lights on the Fiat Multipla!!

Do I spy a Wolsley 1300 Grille?

Anyone know any more?