Brothers Dennis and Peter Adams came onto the scene in 1968 with the Dennis Adams designed and Peter Adams engineered Probe 15. Only 2 were ever made before further development created the Probe 16. This is probably the most famous as it starred in Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' film. Adams Bros continued until around 1972 with the Probe 2001 but then passed the project on.

Alber are a Swiss based company headed by Alois Barmettler. Famous for its Albar beach buggy which the company started to produce around 1973. This was followed by the Sonic GT and the Jet. The Buggy and Sonic have also made TV appearances during their lifetime in a couple of films. The range of Alber cars came to the UK for a brief period between 1983 and 1986.

Ashley Laminates Ltd was formed by Peter Pellandine and Keith Waddington in 1955. They started producing body shells at their Loughton workshop at Robin Hood Roundabout, Loughton, Essex. During the companies life they produced many specials with the last being the Sportiva. The company existed until 1972.

1982 - 1986

Bohanna Stables Ltd was the company owned by Peter Bohanna and Robin Stables in High Wycombe Buckinghamshire. Bohanna Stables was a design company that found itself manufacturing cars between 1975 and 1977. Chrysler got involved with the BS Nymph project as it saw the Nymph had potential as a Mini Moke competitor. Chrysler was to supply the Hillman Imp mechanical components. Unfortunately Chrysler pulled the plug on the Imp and Bohanna Stables preferred designing cars rather than building them and stopped production in 1977.

Broadbest Ltd operated from Poole in Dorset and offered one of the first Lamborghini Countach replicas. Not entirely sure if any were actually built, but quite a few kits sold. All you got was the chassis and bodywork. Very tricky to put together.

The Burlington marque was born around 1980 by founder Haydn Davies in Leamington Spa with the innovative idea of providing paper plans from which customers would build the 1930s inspired Burlington Arrow. Burlington traded with great success during the 80s selling thousands of paper plans of the Arrow and later the Berretta (basically the Arrow with fibreglass flowing wings). The 1990's saw Burlington disappear but Haydn is now back and offering the original paper plans and a bit more on CD.

Calvy Motor Company Ltd operated from Southend on Sea Essex and produced the Calvy Mitchel, a re-work of the NG TC. The company operated from the early 1980's to the early 1990's.

1983 to 1994

The Clan Motor Company started life in 1971 by a group of ex Lotus employees and under the stewardship of Paul Haussauer. Based in Washington Tyne and Wear the company moved into a purpose built factory to cope with the predicted manufacturing output. At one point it is said that 5 Clan Crusadors were being built each week. Approx 350 cars were produced by the time the company closed in 1973 due to financial difficulties.

The Corry Car Company was created by Will Corry in 1983 following the purchase of the extremely successful Davrian motor car. Rather than continue producing the Davrian Will Corry adapted the Davrian and created the Corry Cultra. Produced in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland the Cultra was intended as a cheap entry into motorsport. The Corry Car Company ceased producing the Cultra in 1985.

Davrian Developments Ltd was the company setup in 1967 by Adrian Evans as the commercial venture for a car he developed 2 years earlier, the Davrian. Davrian Developments started in Clapham, London and produced the Davrian with an eye on rallying and other auto competitions. In 1976 the company moved to Wales where production continued and the Davrian went through further development updates to finish on the Mk8 of 1980. Davrian Developments attempted to go upmarket and offer the Davrian as a fully built production car but costs finally got the better of the company. The company ceased trading in 1983.

Domino Cars first introduced the Domino Pimlico in 1986 and are still producing the car, albeit with no marketing (so you wouldn't know it exists) under the Fibretech Ltd banner (www.fibretechgrpltd.co.uk)

Not a great deal known about DS Ltd other than they were based in Tangmere West Sussex. Believed to have only produced the DSL Spyder which is a retrofit design for a Triumph Spitfire.

If there's one kit car company of this era that is the most recognised and known then its got to be Dutton. Started in 1969 Dutton kits have sold in huge numbers over the years, Tim Dutton got the recipe of 'pile em high' sell them cheap spot on. Dutton kits were simple and no frills (some might say crude) and along with the single donor principle meant that building a Dutton kit was cheap.

Elva Cars was started in 1958 by Frank Nichols in East Sussex with the intention of building a small batch of road going sportcars suitable for racing. A tie up with a USA importing ensured the first batch of cars went stateside. The Elva Courier was to have much success on the race track and that success was to transfer to the production of the Courier, proving popular as a kit. 1961 saw Trojan Cars take over the Elva name and they took production forward producing several versions of the Courier. Production of several Elva models took them up to 1974 when they ceased trading. Around 600 cars were made.

Based at High Wycombe Buckinghamshire. Produced the Charger and Charger 2 in the early 1980s

Fairthorpe Ltd sold cars between 1956 to 1976 producing many kit car models over those years. Founded by Air Vice Marshall Donald Bennett. The first cars were lightweight models powered by motor cycle engines with glass fibre bodies. Fairthorpe had a works unit at Station Road Gerrards Cross.

Falcon Shells Ltd was started by ex Ashley co founder Peter Pellandine in 1957. The bodyshells were designed to fit various frames of the day although complete kits were also available. Looking extremely cheap by today's standards bodies were available for £115 and chassis for £50 for example for the Falcon Bermuda. Very pretty designs and good quality finish are stand out features of the Falcon range.