After over twenty years of neglect, things finally looked good for the Chambers Special in December last year. The 1967 designed and 1969 registered one-off is based on Mini and 1100 mechanicals and was the brainchild of engineer Michael Chambers. It’s an interesting car with some unusual features. Among them rear seats that face backwards, a heating and ventilation system, made to blow air through eyelets in all four of the seats, doors with built-in armrests, safety locks and strengthening for side impact plus a very clever adjustable steering column.
But it had become a ghost of its former glory after having been neglected since 1997. But then it finally found its devotee late last year, who was eager to get it restored. But things started to go wrong when the car was transported from Kent to Cheshire. The company that did so, lost the car's rear hatchback door in transit. The new owner, never the less, persisted to believe the Chambers Special deserved to be brought back to its former glory, and made plans to have a new rear door refabricated. That plan is still there, but sadly the project has been put up for sale once again never the less. Will the Chambers Special ever return to the road after all?
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But it had become a ghost of its former glory after having been neglected since 1997. But then it finally found its devotee late last year, who was eager to get it restored. But things started to go wrong when the car was transported from Kent to Cheshire. The company that did so, lost the car's rear hatchback door in transit. The new owner, never the less, persisted to believe the Chambers Special deserved to be brought back to its former glory, and made plans to have a new rear door refabricated. That plan is still there, but sadly the project has been put up for sale once again never the less. Will the Chambers Special ever return to the road after all?
On its way to a new owner, when the future looked bright for the Chambers Special
Picture Simon Pike
Rear hatchback door is still in place here. But it got lost somewhere between Kent and Chechire
Picture Simon Pike
Interior had been stripped out, but moulded-in seats - facing backwards at the rear - are still there
Picture Simon Pike
A new home and new plans to get it back on the road, even if a new rear door had to be made
Picture Simon Pike
Mostly complete, too, but restoration is a daring task never the less. Who is going to do it?
Picture Simon Pike
Chambers Special is now on the market once again, looking for somebody to give it some tlc
Picture Simon Pike