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Revision as of 01:45, 5 August 2009
For other uses, see Microdot (disambiguation). | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Microdot" car – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The Microdot is a concept design by William Towns for a small, economical town car. The car was first shown in 1976 and was an evolution of his 1972 Minissima car. The Microdot was a petrol/electric hybrid vehicle, designed to carry three people side-by-side on short city journeys.
Overview
In 1979 William Towns collaborated with prototype vehicle builders at Mallalieu Engineering, Wootton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, with a view to limited production, where the Microdot prototype, built by William Towns on a cut-down Austin Mini chassis, was given opening doors and a 6-inch (150 mm) longer nose, to accommodate the aluminium Reliant car engine, one of the smallest and lightest UK car engines then available.
Design
Designers from film special-effects studios in London, who had created the original "Star Wars" spaceship interiors, created "alive" interior cockpit designs and motor industry experts from Lucas and Ever Ready advised on batteries, power-trains and instruments. Relying on 8-track stereo tape recordings by celebrities, it was planned that a Microdot would "talk" to its owner.
Aims
The engineers had a target of 100 miles per gallon and a high top speed for motorway cruising. Under the prototype label of "Matrix" a business plan, to sell several hundred "Chelsea" Microdots a year, was put by the company's CEO Noel Hodson to POSSFUND, the venture-capital arm of the Post Office pension fund, then one of the largest funds in the world, managed by Ralph Quartano.
End of the project
Sadly, the 1980 - 1987 recession (under PM Margaret Thatcher) arrived and stopped this visionary hybrid-drive project.
Mallalieu Engineering
Mallalieu Engineering was best known for making Bentley Specials, the Barchetta and Oxford, designed by engineer Derry Mallalieu, based on the Mark 6 Bentley. A complete history of the Mallalieu company, compiled by engineer and academic Philip Hornby, will be published early in 2008.