Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #113

Stirling Moss and the Ogle he never owned

Gitane GT - now we really now what happened to it

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #105

Solved after 20 years! This is what happened to the Gitane GT

More North-American Landars - from Canada

Remembering Paul Ogle

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #62

Film footage of Gitane GT in action found

Le Mans Mini Marcos: engine turned pattern dashpots

Deep Sanderson 301 for sale again

Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #29

The Best of 'Minis at Le Mans'

The Ogle that almost made it to Le Mans

Le Mans' coolest trick: the Marcos' modified roof

Gitane GT - a bit more information

Tom Kenny is as eager as I am to find out more about the Gitane GT, of which just occasionally a snippet or a pictures comes up (see here). Could it survive? We shared information to see if that would bring up something new. It didn't. But Tom asked around in hillclimbing circles, which did bring a few insights that I'd want to share here, too, hoping they may get another ball rolling.

David Brown wrote to him: "I seem to remember seeing it in the early 1970s fitted with a supercharger? My initial thought is to say it was at Blackbushe, 1972-ish or possibly at Greenham Common. If it is the car I am thinking of something happened to the installation (the supercharger was mounted high up and I seem to think it came loose), it was a long time ago!" 

John Opie added: "I remember seeing it at Trengwainton hillclimb in West Cornwall around the mid '60s, and was impressed by it. I believe that it was converted from a fastback shape to this notchback."

Tom continued: "A follow up from Malcolm Mitchell led to Linda Collins. Turns out she was the daughter of the doctor who was an official at the events at Trengwainton and donated the programs on the death of her father. Only one was retained with entrants." However, nothing about the Gitane was found.

Meanwhile I was sent a link to a most interesting article on Joe Saward's F1 blog (click here). Joe wrote about Gitane instigator Gordon Fowell, who later made a career in Formula 1. This is what he wrote about the Gitane GT: 

"George Fowell Ltd was a company based in the unglamorous Birmingham suburb of Smethwick. It manufactured small plant machinery: dumper trucks, mini steam rollers and cement mixers. These were branded GF. The founder’s oldest son Gordon began working for the family business in the late 1950s, designing dumper trucks. In his spare time he competed with a Lotus Eleven sports car. The arrival of the Mini in 1959 gave Gordon Fowell an idea: why not diversify the business and have GF build a lightweight GT coupé, based on the Mini sub frame and running gear. It was in the same era in which Lamborghini was transforming itself from being a tractor manufacturer to becoming a supercar company so perhaps there was sound logic in the idea. The only difference was that Lamborghini had more money to play with. The GF coupé was given the rather exotic name of Gitane, the French word for gipsy. Creating the prototype proved to be sufficiently difficult to convince GF to give up on the idea, although the Gitane that was built was use quite successfully in hillclimb events in the late 1960s."

It goes on about Fowell's later adventures in selling audio tapes of racing engine sounds under the Goral name, designing F1 cars for Martini under the Tecno name and for Chris Amon plus the later Sana Formula Atlantic car and eventually the successful PowerJog running machine.

Although interesting it doesn't bring us much further. I'm sure there's more though, so if you happen to read this and know about the car, its checquered past or any Fowell relatives (Gordon Fowell died in 1999), do not hesitate. 

The Gitane GT seen in its later 'notchback' guise at Prescott Hill, now supercharged

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

It's engine in its original fastback styling and without the blower. That's a 997 with Weber

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Entered at the Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres in May 1962 where it did not arrive. I spoke to 2nd driver Dan Margulies not long before he passed away in 2010. He said he'd never even seen the car!

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Gordon Fowell went on to design this in the early 1970s, followed by the PowerJog

Picture Rainer Schlegelmilch / Motor Sport

Gitane GT still missing, new picture found

People keep on alerting me when Mini based cars come up for sale or when new automobilia or pictures emerge, which is great. And when a previously unknown photograph of the long-lost Gitane GT comes to the light, it's a perfect opportunity to write about that car once more. It's shown here in its second guise, as modified by Tony 'Podge' Dealey in what has to be a hill climb. This is the first picture that I see of it wearing no wire wheels. So is it earlier or later than the other photos that I have of it? Hard to say as it also came with a radiator opening in its aluminium nose in a later stage, but still used wires then.

The car was initially registered '947 GEA' but later wore the number '232 HWD'. More information is naturally more than welcome. I still hope to find the West-Bromwich-built Gitane one day. More on the beautiful GT in articles from 2011 (here), from 2015 (here) and from 2018 (here).

The Gitane GT being hill climbed with, I think, Tony 'Podge' Dealey behind the wheel

Picture Jeroen Booij archive, thanks to Scott Barrett

The elusive Gitane GT as seen in Motor magazine when it was new in 1962

Picture Motor, colourisation Jeroen Booij

Gitane GT photo needs amendment

I was slapped on my wrist for naming the wrong person in a picture that I posted some years ago. And it was not just any picture, but one of my all-time favourite photographs. This is the message I received from Jon Dealey: "Hi Jeroen. I came across your article on the Gitane which was built by Gordon Fowl and my father Michael Dealey (see the article and the picture here). I was disappointed to see that the photo of my father fixing the Gitane in France by the roadside has been described as being a picture of Gordon Fowl. I seem to remember you getting in touch with my mother regarding your research on the Gitane. The photo I am pretty certain we sent to you so as you can imagine I was not pleased to see it labeled with the wrong person."

"Gordon designed the chassis and engine mountings but he had no experience of designing body work his cousin Colin Pratt had served his apprenticeship with my father and recommended him to Gordon to produce the body design. The model of the Gitane was also made by my father. Dan Margulies never saw the car and was in fact my father who drove the car to France with Gordon. My father fondly told us stories of how the were given large supplies of Gitane cigarettes when they got to the event but couldn't race the car due to the poor condition it arrived in. My uncle took the car off their hands, he had been building and racing cars since his late teens. My uncle's view on the car was that it was very poorly put together hence the unreliability and trouble they had getting the car into races, as a fully qualified mechanical engineer he went about fixing the its short comings and went on to win a significant number of races with it on the hill climbing circuit. My father died in 2007, however my uncle is still alive and if you wanted so further information I would be able to put you in touch with him."

Well... I stand corrected! However, I got back to Jon and told him how I got hold of the photograph. I did indeed speak to his mother, but it was in fact his uncle who I visited in West Bromwich in 2007 who gave it to me. And I believe it was also his uncle who told me he thought it was Fowl on the photo! Anyway: I have the name amended in the article now and have added some more Gitane GT images for your pleasure below. A bit more about the Gitane GT's failed attempt at Le Mans in 1962 here.

Both The Autocar as The Motor reported about the Gitane GT in May 1962

Picture Jeroen Booij archive / The Autocar

The Motor magazine showed it with bumpers where The Autocar had it without

Picture Jeroen Booij archive / The Motor

This picture shows the car in a later stage when owned by Jon's uncle Tony 'Podge' Dealey who converted the car's roof/bonnet section. Seen here at the Chateau Impney hill climb

Picture courtesy Guy Loveridge / Jeroen Booij archive

Today in 1962

This could well be my favorite photograph of all time. It was taken 53 years and shows the mysterious Gitane GT on the right hand side. It is pictured on its way in France to a race that took place July 15th, 1962 at the Circuit de la Charade just outside Clermond Ferrant, called the Trophée d’Auvergne. The Gitane was driven over the road by designer/builder/entrant/driver/mechanic Gordon Fowell who supposedly lost a wheel and missed the start. What I like is the idea that you could really build your own car and race the big names on a shoestring. Just have a look at the results list of the '62 Trophée d’Auvergne here to get an idea of the competition Fowell faced...

Fowell did become a big name later in his life, supposedly racing a Ford GT40 and inventing the jogging machine which left him far from penniless. But look at the gear scattered on the road side here: wooden toolboxes, petrol cans, a pair of shoes… The Gitane was sold in the mid-1960s to Tony 'Podge' Dealey who modified it for hill climbing and had it re-registered '232 HWD'. It's missing since 1968, but I still hope to find it one day. I guess Fowell would never give up!

UPDATE 18 May 2018: According to Jon Dealey, the man in the picture is his father Michael Dealey, not Gordon Fowell. More here.

A French roadside near Clermont Ferrand in July 1962. The man is Gordon Fowell (or not - see update), the car his Gitane GT

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

Minis at Le Mans: 1962

It's June, and in motor sports circles that means 'Le Mans' is under way. This is the first part of a series about Mini derivatives that made it to the legendary 24 hours race. Or, well, who attempted to do so as the very first Mini based sports car meant to tackle the French endurance never even made it to the circuit de la Sarthe. It was Gordon Fowell of West Bromwich who entered his Gitane GT in the experimental one-litre class in the 1962 race, starting on June 23 of that year. The pretty aluminium bodied Gitane, named after the French cigarette, had only just been finished with an 887cc 84bhp Mini-engine at the rear. It used wire wheels which did not give a clue to its Mini-motorisation while suspension used coil springs although the idea was to use the Mini’s original rubber springs for production versions.

Production was to start later that year, but first Fowell wanted to promote the car with a comprehensive racing programme and he entered it not only for Le Mans, but also to that year's 1000 kilometers of the Nürburgring in May and the Trophée d’Auvergne in July. Fowell was to drive the car himself with London-based car dealer Dan Margulies as a co-pilot. But Margulies, who passed away in September last year, told me he never even saw the car when I spoke to him a couple of years ago about the Gitane. The car was sold to the brother of the man who helped Fowell build it, who raced it throughout the 1960s. He sold the prototype in 1968 'to a chap in Devon', but it never reappeared. Gordon Fowell passed away at 62 in 1999 but had a stake in a few more racing cars. For more information and cool pictures of the Gitane GT you will have to buy my book, I am affraid.

Original sketch for the rear-engined Gitane GT shows an extremely low sports car. This is
years before the Unipower GT came to life but there are some definite similarities

This is a picture of the clay model. Note the sketching on it that was done by
Gordon Fowell who clearly found the design not low enough

And that's what the prototype looked like when finished. This could have been fun in between the
big Ferraris. The last trace of it dates from 1968 when it went to Devon

Not a Mini derivative but the famous Morgan Super Sports that won the two-litre class in '62. It lead to a string of Le Mans entries for driver Chris Lawrence who returned the next year with his
Mini powered Deep Sanderson