1950 Dunsmore Boattail Special c.1950s

JT (Bill) Hines was the man behind the Dunsmore Specials. He began a one-man business repairing crashed vehicles in 1959, in sheds behind his bungalow at Stretton-on-Dunsmore in Warwickshire. Having a part-time helper who was an expert welder and metal fabricator, Bill Hines decided the time had come to form Dunsmore Motor Traction, the kind of small enterprise Mrs. Thatcher liked, and built Dunsmore Specials for any customers who wanted them. He had already made himself a two-seater special, using the floor-pan and 2. 3 litre engine from a Vauxhall VX-4/ 90, cantilever back springs and a fabricated body with wooden mudguard blades. The result was a charming two-seater very much in the pre-war sporting idiom but without pretending to be a copy of any particular make. As for cost, a complete Dunsmore Special, trimmed and ‘MoTd’, would come out at about £7, 500.