Peerless

Bernie Rodger, a racing car designer, and John Gordon teamed up in 1957 to design and manufacture a new sports saloon car to fill what they perceived to be a gap in the market, cheaper than the Aston Martin but comparable in performance.

Based on racing car design but using readily available components, they reasoned that a 4-seater GT specification could be marketed at little more cost than the range of 2-seater sports cars available at that time.

The chassis was assembled from 1 inch square tubular steel. The engine and gearbox with optional overdrive were standard TR3 giving 100bhp at 5,000 rpm. The front suspension was also standard TR3 but the rear suspension was a De Dion tube located on standard TR rear springs and telescopic drive shafts from the Salisbury differential unit. The petrol tanks (6 gallons each) were mounted beneath the doors giving wide sills. The body shell was of glass-reinforced plastic, 2-door and built locally in Slough.

Performance was good by the standards of the day; the car was capable of 120mph on the new UK motorway system (before the Castle era).

There were about 250 Phase 1 cars built between 1958-59 and a further 46 Phase 2 cars, with minor bodywork changes, were built before financial difficulties, a boardroom crisis and sluggish sales closed the business.