Birkin Cars, Ltd. is a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n-based car manufacturer. The company's specialty and only currently-produced vehicle is the S3 Roadster, a

kit-car A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor ve ...

copy of the Lotus Super 7. The founder and owner of the company is John Watson, a descendant of pioneering race car driver

Tim Birkin Sir Henry Ralph Stanley "Tim" Birkin, 3rd Baronet (26 July 1896 – 22 June 1933) was a British racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. Background and family Birkin was born into a wealthy Nottingham family in 1896, the son of S ...

. Birkin Cars was formed in 1982. Founder John Watson, an automotive enthusiast, was a fan of the classic Lotus Seven. However, the car had since finished production from the manufacturer and could no longer be purchased as new. Through the early 1980s, Watson developed and built his own version of the Seven. The cars were unveiled to the public at the

1983 South African Grand Prix The 1983 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 15 October 1983. It was the fifteenth and final race of the 1983 Formula One season. Race summary Before the race, three drivers were still in a position to wi ...

. The first shipment of completed S3 Roadsters were delivered directly to be sold at Lotus car dealerships.Birkin History
at Xmission.com Since the 1980s, Birkin has expanded several times, but has kept its base of operations near

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

. Cars are currently sold through dealers around the world in the United States, Japan, and across Europe. The car can be purchased as either a turn-key car, or as a

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

kit, that can be completed by the owner. Several

inline 4 A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the e ...

cylinder engines, such as the

Ford Zetec Ford Motor Company used the Zetec name on a variety of inline 4-cylinder automobile engines. It was coined to replace "Zeta" on a range of 1.6 L to 2.0 L multi-valve engines introduced in 1991 because Ford was threatened with legal acti ...

Zetec-Powered Birkin Road test
at Kit Car Magazine and Toyota 4AG can be used in the vehicle. Further developments to the car include using an independent rear suspension as opposed to the previously used

live axle A beam axle, rigid axle or solid axle is a dependent suspension design in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically they have als ...

. As of July 2013 Birkin has added a wide body version, this car is approximately 4" wider and 3" longer.

References

External links

Birkin Performance Cars
Manufacturer of Birkin Cars his link says "Birkin Performance Cars Is no longer operational."
Birkin Direct-USA
Import and sale of Birkin car in North America Car manufacturers of South Africa Companies based in KwaZulu-Natal Lotus Seven replicas {{motorvehicle-company-stub

See also

References

External links