Filling in the blanks
The best-known cars of Air Vice Marshall Don ‘Pathfinder’ Bennett are the Fairthorpe Electron and Electron Minor. There were earlier models, among which was the Atom Major, with a Standard Ten engine, and until recently it was thought that only one survived. Martin Collins has since bought a 1959 example, 126 VMV, which was the first produced and last had an MOT in 1972. “It came from Ian Makepeace, who had driven the car in his early teens on his father’s land,” said Collins. “It was raced several times in 1959, including the Autosport three-hour race at Snetterton, when it was driven by Chris Meek and fitted with a supercharger for the event.”
Collins would like to trace the missing parts of the early history, from 1959-’72. E-mail: kartman. nascar24@btinternet.com