66 David Hooper Writes…(David Hooper Started as an Apprentice at Allard and later became Chief Engineer and Chief Designer) “I believe it is fair to classify the Clipper as one of worlds worst cars, however it did, in my view, have a number of redeeming features of which later. The Allard involvement in the project came through David Gottlieb who had already set up a potential sales outlet (Raymond Way - North London), and from his prototype we were contracted to produce a vehicle which was mechanically reliable and could be produced at a very competitive price. On the plus side it did have hydraulic brakes (Lockheed), Andre Neighart Trailing arm rubber suspension units, 12 volt electrical system with starter motor and dynamo. The body was fiberglass with colored gel coat of three basic colors. The prototype Clipper did require considerable development, one of several items was to replace the bobbin/cable steering arrangement with a Burman steering box. I believe Sydney Allard took on this project because he had been convinced it was a viable production vehicle - this was far from the truth. I cannot remember how the body shape was evolved, but probably from sketches from Gottlieb. Horden & Richmond of Haddenham, a company which manufactured helicopter blades, quoted for the fiberglass bodies requiring a steel shell, rather than an aluminum ’plug’. Difficulties were experienced right from the start because body sections could not be released from their molds incurring additional costs which the company would not pay. Bearing in mind the build price for the Clipper was a meagre £267 there was no room for increased build costs which prompted the cancellation of the whole project. On the minus side the single rear wheel drive system was not a practical solution to provide a viable drive system, also the single cylinder two stroke Villiers industrial engine was far from suitable being plagued with high levels of vibration, overheating and noise. A triple V belt drive coupled the engine to the gearbox, which was an attempt to damp out some of the engine vibrations, however that resulted in problems with clutch operation. This was resolved by fitting a clutch stop which work quite well but required constant adjustment. The small tires were marginal in capacity being more suited to trailer use than for carrying three people - I think a spare wheel was not even supplied with the Clipper, being an extra!”
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