Le Mans cars reincarnate in Boksburg
FEATURE/ Bailey Edwards workshop builds race-ready replicas for local and international petrolheads, writes Phuti Mpyane
Peter Bailey manufactures replicas of legendary sports cars by hand, from scratch, in a nondescript corner of the East Rand. Customers from all corners of the world come knocking on his Boksburg factory door. He also has US and EU-based agents who sell his products.
He has created and sold about 80 bespoke sports cars since opening Bailey Edwards cars in 2003.
What makes his entrepreneurial journey more remarkable is that the products he creates existed when he was still a little tyke playing with toy cars.
To this day, some clients arrive at his office brandishing a toy car to be recreated in lifesize operational form.
Not any hot wheels toy though. It has to be a Le Mans World Sports Car racer from the sensational 1965-1972 era when the Ford GT40s, Porsche 917s, Lola T70s, Chevrons, Alfa Romeos and Ferrari P4s were beasts of note, able to attain speeds upwards of 350km/h and outrunning even the period Formula One cars.
Bailey Edwards cars was established in 2003 by brothers Peter and Greg Bailey. You could charge Peter with turning a childhood dream into reality but the aim was to satisfy the yearnings of like-minded individuals who want a good-quality, raceready replica of those majestic Le Mans cars.
The replica-build business addresses this exact scenario. The race cars were built in small batches and remain elusive and unaffordable to the average person. For example, a few years ago an original Le Mans-winning Ford GT40 was sold for $9m. The Bailey 40, a reproduction of the legend, will cost about R1.5m.
Bailey Edwards says it puts in detailed efforts to align things as close to the real thing as possible, including the fitment of American V8 engines.
Although the company primarily builds these cars for racing, the Bailey GT40 can also be made in road-going trim, with the addition of niceties like cabin upholstery and air conditioning.
Other well-known and hand-built recreations are the Bailey GT1 a GT racer based on the first-generation Ford GT and a Bailey 917 inspired by the sports prototype car that gave Porsche its first overall Le Mans wins in 1970 and 1971.
Also produced is the Bailey T70, a replica of the equally popular Lola T70 endurance racer that scored a one–two finish in the 1969 24 Hours of Daytona. The T70 is produced in coupe
THE RACE CARS WERE BUILT IN SMALL BATCHES AND REMAIN ELUSIVE AND UNAFFORDABLE TO THE AVERAGE PERSON
and open-topped spyder form.
Although production has ceased, the other special racer the company built was the Bailey P4. This was a recreation of Ferrari’s revered 330 P4.
Most of the cars the company has built can be seen on local racetracks regularly taking part in historic and GT class racing.
The Bailey Edwards workshop also fully restores some of the most exotic road cars on the planet such as Porsche 911s, Aston Martin DB6s, and a Lamborghini Muira.
Peter Bailey says: “All is well going into 2019. The business model hasn’t changed much.
“If we aren’t building cars for customers we are restoring cars, maintaining existing client cars,” he says.
“And if time allows, work also continues on a special project to recreate the drop-dead gorgeous 1966 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33,” he adds.
For more information visit www.baileycars.co.za.