Quote:
Originally Posted by PJ GRABOWSKI
Correct me if I am wrong guys but my understanding was that although the Sammio has drawn inspiration from many models of cars from the early to middle fifties , Miglia Mikes biggest influence was the Lancia D24 , hence Toweds homage.
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Didn't
quite work like that PJ. If you go back and read the original Sammio build thread started by Lancelot link (Gary Janes) there's some background reading -
http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/foru...splay.php?f=17
Gary had a long track record in fibreglass fabrication in the custom car field, but had always wanted a Porsche 550 Spyder replica (the James Dean one).
Only problem was the 550 kits out there that actually look like the real deal cost an awful lot of money and Gary couldn't/wouldn't stump up the readies (I was in the same boat as my dream car was the Porsche 718 RSK, which I also couldn't justify the £15k+ outlay for).
His solution was to buy a 1950's Nikkri body shell he saw advertised on ebay and set about it with a circular saw, remodelling it both to look a bit more like the 550 and to fit an old Herald chassis he happened to have laying about the workshop.
He sold that project on partially finished but took moulds from the first body so he could make himself another. When the first car was finished the new owner drove it to Le Mans then sold it on ebay, putting a link to Gary's business, Bay Area Rods, on the listing.
This led to a flood of enquiries from people wanting to know if he could make them a body, and is how the Sammio business began. Although designed to fit a Herald chassis, Gary started to get enquiries about using the Vitesse 6 cylinder as a donor, but the longer motor wouldn't fit under the 550 style nose. A redesigned bonnet, taking
inspiration from the nose of the Lancia D24 Spyder, was then developed to allow the bigger engine to fit (albeit with some further modification), which is how the car ended up looking like it did.
I'm not sure how many of the 'German' front ends were produced, but the 'Italian' version really made sales take off with well over a hundred sold.
Although a runaway success in terms of a kit car business, Gary seems to have got (characteristic?) wanderlust and sold the business to Andy's P57 and P85. Mike then set up his own, rival business, selling a product so, ahem, radically different from the Sammio that you couldn't see the lineage, apparently.
Mike (Miglia) worked for Gary when he owned the Sammio business and the way I saw their working relationship was that Gary provided the brains/finance/ideas and Mike pitched in with the technical skill to bring Gary's ideas to life, and swept up potential customers (bores with no intention to buy ususally) that Gary had lost patience with and walked away from at kit car shows (check out the glazed expression).
If anyone has anything to add/change to the above history please feel free to put in your two new pence worth as it's just my understanding of the course of events.