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{{for, the surname, Dellow (surname) Dellow cars were made in a factory (owned by Delsons - who produced nuts and bolts) at
Alvechurch Alvechurch ( ) is a large village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove district in northeast Worcestershire, England, in the valley of the River Arrow. The Lickey Hills Country Park is 2.5 miles (4 km) to the northwest. It is south of Bir ...
, just south of
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, England between 1949 and 1956. Dellow Motors Ltd was started by Ken Delingpole and Ron Lowe to produce road-going
sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
s for the enthusiast to use in
trials In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...
, rallies and
hill-climb Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...
s. A small number of very early cars used
Austin 7 The Austin 7 is an economy car that was produced from 1923 until 1939 in the United Kingdom by Austin. It was nicknamed the "Baby Austin" and was at that time one of the most popular cars produced for the British market and sold well abroad. ...
chassis as per Ron Lowe's special, FUY 374. The other prototypes included OP 3835 owned by Earl "Mick" Heighway, HAB 245 (Eric Penn) CAB 282 (Lewis Tracey) and EDE 384 (Merrick). From 1950, with scrap Austin 7's in short supply, an 1172cc
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
10 engine was utilised in an
A-frame An A-frame is a basic structure designed to bear a load in a lightweight economical manner. The simplest form of an A-frame is two similarly sized beams, arranged in an angle of 45 degrees or less, attached at the top, like an uppercase lette ...
chassis with a very light tubular steel framework welded to the chassis and panelled in
aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
, early cars having no doors. The main chassis frame was made from Government-surplus chrome-molybdenum
rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
tubes from WW2, these rockets being
RP-3 The RP-3 (from Rocket Projectile 3 inch) was a British air to ground rocket projectile introduced during the Second World War. The "3 inch" designation referred to the nominal diameter of the rocket motor tube. The use of a warhead gave rise to ...
(Rocket Projectile 3 inch) types as used by
Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...
and Bristol Beaufighter aircraft. Brakes were standard Ford cable/rod operated drums all round. The tubular A-frame design upposedly inspired by the pre-war BMW328 chassisachieved light weight and had a rearward weight bias for trials. Many sporting awards were won by drivers of Dellow cars in the early 1950s, not only in trials but also in other events such as driving tests and hillclimbs. Dellows also took overall honours in the MCC organised
Daily Express National Rally Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
and the Circuit of Ireland Rally. Dellow drivers often shone in other forms of motor sport, Tony Marsh from
Kinver Kinver is a large village in the District of South Staffordshire in Staffordshire, England. It is in the far south-west of the county, at the end of the narrow finger of land surrounded by the counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire and the ...
went on to become RAC Hill Climb Champion on no less than 6 occasions. Peter Collins from
Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...
, later drove for HWM, BRM and Vanwall, then for Ferrari. Dellow styling was created by Lionel Evans at his Radpanels coachbuilding business in Kidderminster. The car evolved through several variants known as Mk I to Mk V. Early cars had the Ford beam front axle with a transverse leaf spring and short Panhard rod, quarter elliptics at the rear and Andre Hartford friction dampers all round. The Ford torque-tube was suitably shortened and the vast majority of cars used the 3-speed Ford gearbox but a very small number of cars (KOX 300 being an example) were produced to customer order with a 4-speed gearbox, from the 10M series Morris. The use of a 4-speed Morris box was pioneered by the "Lightweight" of Tony Marsh. Wheels were 5-stud from Ford and could be 16" diameter from the Prefect (narrow rim), 16" from the van (wider rim), 17" from the Popular, 18" also from the van. Later owners often fitted Ballamy 15" wheels in order to use more modern radial tyres. Dellows usually carried twin spare wheels. Some rolling Dellow chassis were sold to individuals who wished to build their own body hich were rarely as good looking as the factory cars ... One or two 'Replicas' have been built since the factory closed ... The Ford E93A engines were mildly tuned and many used twin SU's on a cast alloy 'Dellow' manifold. However, as an option the factory also offered the car with a Wade-Ventor (Roots type) supercharger installation. The MkII saw the introduction of a new and much more robust rear chassis section with coil springs, separate telescopic shock absorbers and a Panhard rod. This stiffer chassis allowed doors to become an optional fitting. The Mk V version was derived from the "Lightweight" Dellow (WRF 81) constructed by Tony Marsh for speed events in 1954. It saw coil springs introduced at the front (over telescopic dampers) although ''still'' with a one-piece Ford beam axle. About 300 Dellows in total are believed to have been constructed at Alvechurch. Complete cars were available from selected dealers across the country and a now-rare sales leaflet was accordingly produced. One Dellow owner even towed a caravan for family holidays and a firm of agricultural engineers bought several Dellows for their reps to drive. A new company, Dellow Engineering, based in Oldbury near Birmingham produced a Mk VI. It is often incorrectly quoted as having a glass fibre body, but it too was in fact built with alloy panelling. Very few Mk VI's were made.


Cars

* Dellow Prototypes-1947 - Ford 10 powered Austin 7 chassis. * Dellow Mk I - 1949 - Ford 10 powered basic 2 seater (no doors). * Dellow Mk II - 1951 - Rear coil springs, telescopic dampers,(optional doors). * Dellow Mk III - 1952 - 2+2 model. * Dellow Mk IV - 1954? - 2+2 one-off with Ford Consul engine. * Dellow Mk V - 1954 - Coil sprung beam front axle, tuned engine, Mk Vs generally still only had the 3 speed Ford box although the "Lightweight" WRF 81, now owned by Nigel Brown, had a 4 speed ex-Morris unit.(information from David Haley of the Dellow Register.) * Dellow Mk VI - 1957 - Independent front suspension, ladder chassis.


See also

* List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom


External links


Dellow Register website

Site all about Classic Trials with lots of pictures and bits about Dellows in Trials


Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Companies based in Worcestershire