As regular readers will know, here at ViaRETRO we rejoice not only in Ferrari’s, Porsche’s and Jaguars, but also in Austin Maxi’s, FIAT 124’s, VW Type 3’s and the like. We find such non-exotica even more interesting when they come from either a manufacturer or a country where cars were made only in small numbers, or if there is something particularly unusual about the car itself, and especially if they are few and far between nowadays.
The history of small specialist manufacturers in the UK is rich and varied, scattered with a few well-known names such as AC, Lotus, or Morgan, and many lesser-known marques such as Bond, Fairthorpe, Peerless, Piper, Rochdale and Unipower and many others. Many had the lifespan of a gadfly, and while AC, Lotus and Morgan survive, they have had their share of financial ups and downs.
Just a few of the UK’s many specialist motor manufacturers
Often made of fibreglass with a bought-in powerplant from Ford or British Leyland, frequently slightly unusual in design, erratic in build quality and with what you could at best call “selective appeal” a la Spinal Tap.
This week’s Prime Find is all of these things – made in small numbers for just a few years in that motor industry metropolis Pontypridd, in North Wales, and the chances of you seeing more than one at anything other than a major show are remote.
Originally set up in 1959 as Gilbern Sports Cars (Components) Ltd. Intriguingly, the founders were a Welsh butcher and a German engineer – Giles Smith and Bernard Friese – and the name was created by combining the founders’ names – Gil and Bern. The first fruits of this collaboration – a 2+2 coupé known as the Gilbern GT – were mostly supplied as kit cars, although the body was supplied fully painted and trimmed, leaving the buyer to complete the mechanical parts. The GT was made for eight years, to be superseded in 1966 by the bigger and more powerful Gilbern Genie, equipped with either a 2.5-litre or 3-litre Ford Essex V6 with steering and rear axle courtesy of the MGB.
The Genie was replaced in 1969 by Gilbern’s final car, the Invader – great name! – which was effectively an upgraded Genie – visually almost identical – but by 1973, the combination of the oil crisis and changes to the VAT rules, resulting in price increases for kit cars that made them poor value compared to buying completed vehicles, the company’s luck ran out, and motor car manufacturing in Pontypridd came to an end, after a total of just 1080 cars were built. Of that total, 197 were Genie’s, and our Prime Find this week is one of that number, a 1968 Genie with the 3-litre V6.
The Gilbern Genie was an attempt by the Welsh company to move into Alfa Romeo and BMW sports saloon territory – no-one can say they lacked ambition! – and wasn’t a bad effort at all. Designed by Bernard Friese himself with a stylish 2-door coupé body offering full 4-seat accommodation, in 3-litre form, with 141bhp being produced, the Genie could hit 115mph and complete the 0-60mph sprint in 10.5 seconds.
What was the Genie like to drive? Our old friend Bill Boddy from Motor Sport can help us once again, reporting in the magazine’s December 1968 issue that the Genie was a very quick car – at least, the fuel injected version that he drove, which was one of very few so equipped – and that it handled well. It was also relatively spacious, even for rear-seat passengers, and while not particularly refined, was nevertheless quite comfortable.
He was less impressed by some of the ergonomics, not least the placement of the gear lever, and he found the steering heavy. He also found the Genie noisy and there were aspects of the car that betrayed its relatively modest origins, such as the less than perfect fit and finish. Fuel thirst was on the heavy side, as low as 13.2mpg when driven hard, averaging 18.7mpg for the duration of the test.
So a bit of a curate’s egg, but one advantage that the Genie had – and still has – over some of its rivals is exclusivity, and there are people who will tolerate – or even celebrate – the odd quirk or characteristic as part of the price one pays for not seeing a car like theirs around every corner.
Indeed, I doubt I’ve seen more than a handful of Gilberns over the years – in fact, I’ve included a photo of every one of them in this piece – and while the original GT doesn’t do much for me, I do like the lines of the Genie and its successor, the Invader. Bernard Friese had considerable experience in working with fibreglass, and in the Genie created a nicely integrated design – I think it looks well-proportioned and purposeful, with no superfluous flourishes.
All of which leads us to this week’s Prime Find, a 1968 Genie for sale with a private vendor in Norfolk, finished in a bright shade of red known as Rosa Corsa, in which it has been resprayed, although the advert doesn’t specify how long ago this was or what the original colour may have been. From the photos, the body looks clean and straight.
The car’s smart wire wheels – if you like wires – have covered only 62,371 miles with just three owners showing in the original log-book, so it’s hardly been over-used. I must admit I prefer to see the Genie in alloys, but that’s just my personal preference.
Despite its rarity, mechanical parts will be in good supply since they are largely standard Ford or BL, and there is a good owners’ club for advice and support – the vendor is a member of the Gilbern Owners’ Club, so the car is likely to be well known among the membership. While the fibreglass body cannot rust, it can of course craze, but the photos show little evidence of this, although a closer look is of course essential to be sure.
The interior is finished in brown leather and looks to be good shape, and the advert lists a fairly lengthy set of replacement items and general works done to keep the car in what is said by the private vendor to be “not concours, but very presentable” condition. It certainly isn’t cheap for a Genie, with an asking price of £15,950 – I’ve seen them for quite a bit less – but with this mileage and claimed condition, and not forgetting exclusivity, this Welsh dragon could be a very interesting alternative to a BMW ’02 or Lancia Fulvia, for example, and you’ll be a lot less likely to see another, even in Wales.
As per our regular practice, we have borrowed a few photos from the advert (actually, there are only a few, so we’ve borrowed all of them), and also as usual, if this intriguing Welsh GT has piqued your interest, we recommend arranging an inspection before you buy.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us inspire by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same. Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk