1967 Gilbern Genie Historic Rally Car

Gilbern was a truly Welsh car company founded during the late 1950's by the unlikely combination of a master butcher and a German engineer: It was Giles Smith and Bernard Friese, who developed a one-off special in 1959. The well-known local amateur racing, driver Peter Cottrell, was asked to inspect the car when nearing completion. It was considered to be too good to be simply a one off - hence the Gilbern GT was born and remained in production for some 8 years.

During 1966 a new car, the Genie, was produced and it was a radical departure from the original GT. A much larger , more angular, 2+2 Grand Tourer body was added and the new Ford V6 Essex engine offered considerably more power. Whilst most cars had 3.0 litre engines some had 2.5 litre units. The original Genie was based around MGB mechanicals, although Austin Healey 3000 rear axles were also used, the first 30-40 cars were all on wire wheels. During this period and up to 1968 Giles and Bernard had managed to keep the company going well enough but they were constantly short of money so there was little available to further expand the business and increase production. There was also concern that they did not wish to increase production too quickly.

Another big change at that time was that Genies could be bought factory built as well as in component form. The first 30 or so produced came with MGB front suspension and rear axle, then these were upgraded to MGC spec. The Gilbern Owner's Club records that 197 Genie's were built.

In July of 1973 the company's debts had increased and the receiver was called in, but by September 1973 a new investor had joined the company with a proposed 5 year investment programme and production resumed, but by March of 1974 Gilbern had once again ceased trading.

The car offered for sale today is number 19 out of a total production run of 197. The car was registered in 1967 - the history from then is unknown until 1971 when it was stored until 1996. Then the rebuild / restoration started and this took three years to complete.

The car has full historic rally identification MSA papers in the history folder, with old MOTs from 1999 when the car was rebuilt - 7 MOTs show the history of the car over the subsequent years, during which time it has been laid up and stored because of personal circumstances of driver and navigator, resulting in low (less than 10,000) miles since the restoration in 1999.

The Genie was road tested for an article which was published in Classic and Sport scar magazine July 2001, a copy of which is in the history file.

In its current ownership over the last 4 years the car has only been used over the summer months where it is has been displayed with some success at some rally and classic car shows and used sparingly on a few local fun / road rallies.

Currently SORN.

Specification -Engine - Ford V6 3litre engine completely stripped and reassembled by SD Edmund Motorsport. Hepolite pistons, lightened flywheel, gas-flowed, balanced, road rally Kent cam, steel timing wheel, hardened pencil shaft from distributor to oil pump. (Engine overbored plus 20,000 3029cc.) New Weber 38 DGMS carb. Return spring and cables. New exhaust manifolds and stainless steel exhaust systems. New distributor fitted, K&N filter and car tuned on rolling road.Gearbox - 4 speed with Laycock overdrive 3rd and 4th gear.Rear axle - MGC axle with MGB final drives fitted.Front suspension - rebuilt using new springs and shock absorbers.Rear suspension - completely overhauled with strengthened mountings and new original fitment Spax adjustable shock absorbers fitted. Original design adjustable spring platform retained with new springs. New original design panhard rod fitted plus bushes replaced.Chassis - professionally replaced and strengthened/triangulated/ re-engineered by SD Edmund Motorsport with magnesium sumpguard mounted to chassis rails (for engine/gearbox protection).Full roll cage - designed and made by roll centre to MSA Q6. Removable door bars/rear bar. Cage bolted to chassis.Radiator - re-cored and fitted with Kenlow electric fan with override switches.New steering column bushes fitted with new engine mounts. New heater box made and matrix improved. Wiring - Completely rewired with additional fuse boxes and fitted as necessary.Brakes - Mintex pads and new shoes fitted. New brake pipes. New master cylinder. New wheel cylinders.Interior - Restall rally recliners front and original seats rebuilt and retrimmed. New dashboard trimmed and fitted with retro trip dual mileage recorder and two stopwatches. Original instruments refitted - oil pressure, battery condition, amps, clock, fuel and 3 water temperatures (1 for top of engine temperature, 1 for temperature into radiator and 1 for temperature out of radiator). (Car runs about 55psi oil and 85-90 water temperature in summer.) Speedo recalibrated and rev counter rebuilt/recalibrated. Map reading lights fitted. Navigator horn switch fitted on bracing bar on floor. Door interiors rebuilt and retrimmed. Overhauled electric window motors fitted (driver and passenger side). New heated rear window fitted. New steering wheel and boss slightly smaller than the original wheel to allow for extra legroom). Safety equipment - plumbed in fire extinguisher to MSA rules with internal and external pull switches. Electrical cut off master switch internally and externally operated. Hand held fire extinguisher. Four point full harnesses fitted to both front seats attached to chassis. Fire retardant bulkheads front and rear.

Boot - new fuel tanks fitted by North Devon Metalcraft. New electric fuel pump with filter.

Wheels and tyres - all 5 very good 165/15 tyres on undamaged 5 Gilbern alloy wheels.

Rally History - mileage totals approximately 3000 miles in 5 trips.1. July 1999 Somerset to Lands End Shake Down Rally (local UK rally).2. July 1999 Rally Continental Belgique - 3 day road rally in Belgium and France.3. November 1999 - Palladwr road rally - 1 day rally in UK.4. March 2000 - Powderham Historic Rally - 2 day road event in Devon, UK.5. September 2000 - another Rally Continental Belgique.