Fairthorpe Cars

Fairthorpe Cars, by John H Allan. Bookmarque Publishing, £24.99.

It is good that the lesser makes among those sports cars which have given enthusiasts pleasure in the past, have books written about them, as do the great makes from the big manufacturers. This one, about all the Fairthorpe models, small-output but fun, is a welcome addition to such one-make contributions. It is not another book about the accomplished Air ViceMarshall Don (Pathfinder) Bennett, whose cars these were and who has had a number of books about his varied and remarkable career. Only one of these biographies has a (two-page) mention of Fairthorpe cars, and like the others neglects the car-side of the equation. The new work describes all of them — the Electron, Electron Minor, the EM Mk 2, the Minors, the Zeta, Electrina, Rockette and Phoenix, most of which get a chapter each (I cannot now remember in which one I once ventured out for a few laps of Goodwood on a GMW Test Day). Competition and Club links are included, there are masses of good pictures and only 1000 copies are to be printed. So, Fairthorpe followers, you should hurry to the shops. W B