Tough to Crack Car Puzzle #196

Back to the future? It is indeed a very special car that you don’t see every day. We found a few photos on the internet some time ago, but we are not sure if there is still one around.

We hope you can tell us. One of the things that surprised us most, is that the maximum speed of the car is only 135 km/h, or as they say in the country of origin: 84 mph. We would have expected more, but we found the reason. Do you know this as well?

We gave you already more than enough hints, so you might know which car it is.

Please tell us everything you know about the car and some anecdotes that we cannot find ourselves.

The rules:

Please send in your answer in a comment, in maximum 100 words. Do this before Monday evening and do not forget to give us your sources so we can check them. See next week if you are the winner of the full 5 points in the six months competition, sponsored by Hans Compter Rare Cars.

Gepubliceerd:

zaterdag november 10th, 2018

Verner Johnsen

12 November 2018, 12:31

Futura by Jem Cars in Penn, Buckinghamshire UK. Kit Car designed by Robin Statham, revealed at International Racing Car Show January 1971.
Built on any Beetle florpan from 1954 onwards, except 1302.
You enter the car by opening the entire top, and walk in over the front. 3 bodies were made, and one street legal car was made in 1979.
The puzzle-picture is from the brochure.
According to the brochure you could mount the finished body onto the florpan in a weekend.
The prototype was so costly that it took Jem Cars and the owner Fellpoint Limited into liquidation.

Links:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellpoint
http://www.allcarindex.com/auto-car-model/United-Kingdom-Minijem-Futura/
http://www.minijem.plus.com/futura/index.html

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Ace Zenek

11 November 2018, 23:29

1971 Jem Futura designed/built by Robin Statham of Fellpoint, Ltd. in Penn, Buckinghamshire, England, was fiberglass bodied and Volkswagen Beetle based. Expense of creating it caused Fellpoint to go bankrupt that year. Originally designed with no windshield wiper and four lights built into the windshield/central opening door, it was redesigned to meet vehicle regulations, and later shown with windshield wiper and lights built into the front fenders. One built? Surprising name as Ford owned the “Futura” name in the United States, Australia, and likely England, so production under this name was probably not feasible. Stratham died unexpectedly in October 2015.

Sources:
Complete Kit Car (magazine), April 2016, pages 34 – 37

Jem Futura Brochure
http://www.minijem.plus.com/futura/p3.jpeg

Futura name information.
90 Years of Ford, George H. Dammann, 1993, pages 420-429
Various Ford, and Ford Falcon websites on Wikipedia

Mini Marcos Owners Club
https://www.minimarcos.org.uk/mmhmj.html

Allcarindex
http://www.allcarindex.com/main-index/car-make-details/United-Kingdom-Futura/

Fellpoint on German Wikipedia
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellpoint

MaximumMini Blogspot
http://maximummini.blogspot.com/2015/10/robin-statham-passes-away.html

Sleek Look For An Old Chassis, Popular Science, September 1971, p.70

Robin Stratham passes away
http://maximummini.blogspot.com/2015/10/robin-statham-passes-away.html

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Till Jauernig

11 November 2018, 20:04

Hi,
it`s one of three (but I am nut sure!!!)british Futura based on a VW floorpan, The first was build 1970 at the workshop of Robin Stratham - which was exported later to brazil. Another reached the road in 1979. By the way - the headlamps behind the windscreen were illegally. My knowledge is from the book classic kit cars by Chris Rees.
Best regards,
Till

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fritz hegemann

11 November 2018, 13:25

Looks like a VW-beetle-based kit car in the weirdness of the early seventies. I guess it is a prototype of the Nova Sterling from the UK; with the 35kw-boxer-engine there is not much more to do than a 84mph high speed.

Best regards from the Nahe-valley

fritz

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Gerd Klioba

11 November 2018, 12:14

This is the Jem Futura, designed by Robin Statham, builder of the Minijem. First shown at the 1971 Racing Car Show in London. It was built on a VW floor pan, but had its own glass-fibre floor to ensure rigidity. The most striking feature was its mode of entry through the side-hinged windscreen. Only three bodyshells were made, the prototype seen above, a street legal version (registered DBC188T) with headlights in the front wings and a third one ending up in Brazil. The development of the Futura was too costly for Jem Cars which went into liquidation the same year.

Sources:
Chris Rees: British Specialist Cars
http://www.minijem.plus.com/futura/
http://maximummini.blogspot.com/2015/10/robin-statham-passes-away.html

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Tough to Crack Car Puzzle #196

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