Build your own sports car with a bargain body
IN our July 27 edition, on page 5, we took a look at some hand-drawn artwork from the long-lost Stourbridge print firm of J Thomas Ford.
The illustrations spanned many decades, but at the top of the page we featured a photograph of an unknown two-seater sports car, pictured in the early 1960s.
We asked if anyone recognised the car, and of course we haven’t been disappointed. Tipton reader David Cooper has been in touch to fill us in on this rarity, which though not from the Black Country was in fact a Midlands creation ...
“This car was produced by Edwards Bros Ltd of Stoke-ontrent,” David told us. “The model is the EB60 Sports.
“It was bought as a glass fibre body shell and was made to fit any Ford 8 and 10 built between 1938- 1958.
“It sold for around £39 as a self build kit.
“I actually own a special builders manual by G.B. Wake that features this very model. I enclose photos of the manual and a picture of the car.”
Edwards Brothers were renowned for the extremely low prices of their kits. Founded in 1959 by brothers John and Wilf, later to be joined by a third sibling, Sid, they were located in Tunstall, Stoke, and set up in a vacated pottery building.
The EB60 was the second model, following the EB50. According to internet sources, the first EB50S came without any accessories or even a manual, and its initial £39 price tag, surely seen as a steal, was soon reduced by another tenner.
The updated EB60 looked very similar in style, but had a choice of frames with which to fit it to the Ford chassis, and could also be bought with custom-made suspension parts. Another step up altogether was the EB Debonair, which featured a roof, a longer bonnet, hatchback with rear window, leather dashboard and chrome grille and bumpers. Not quite such a snip, this one cost nearly £150, and only about fifty were ever made. It certainly looked the part though, and LMB Components of Guildford even sold the Debonair as a complete
Edwards Brothers were renowned for the extremely low prices of their kit cars
finished car.
Edwards Brothers sold up to William Boulton Ltd in 1962, but after continuing to make the glass-fibre bodies themselves for a couple of years, as well as body panels for ERF lorries, they were swallowed up by the latter, and production of their sports car bodies ceased in 1964, five years after the firm’s founding.
Do you know of any surviving Edwards Brothers kit cars? Email gjones@blackcountrybugle.co.uk, or write to us at Black Country Bugle, Dudley Archives, Tipton Road, Dudley, DY1 4SQ.