Cumberford Martinique

So another “modern” take on the 30’s style sports car, these are usually base on something else )like a beetle) and are just a crude body sat on awkward running gear to only give kind of look. This though is different, very different.


Using all the modern materials available in 1982, and granted it did borrow some components such as the hydropneumatic suspension form the Citroen CX, the engine a drive train came out of the BMW 7 Series and the front bumper of the 6 Series. But by all accounts it was fantastically finished and great to drive.

Oh you might have noticed the wooden wings, well there’s more to these, underneath the African mahogany veneer is Kevlar and carbon fibre with the rest of the body being sculpted aluminum keeping it all light weight. It even got wind tunnel tested at Renault!!!!! So why didn’t it go in to production, it was planned for a run of 350, well at the equivalent cost of £275,000ish in today’s money it would have put the cost of Ferrari or Lamborghini to shame.

For more information-

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/07/magazine-memories-the-big-buff-book-cover-up-part-2/