LightAuto
Greyhounds
The Story of the Light Sports Coupe
Introduction
The lightweight sports coupe, as a class of
car has been relatively expensive compared to other classes of car of similar
engine capacity. To achieve success required refined quality engineering
design and manufacturing, therefore a relatively high cost. In the nineteen
sixties this was offset by taxation laws and the limited purchasing power
of the buying public, as taxation laws eased and more wealth came to the
purchasers of sports coupes, engine capacity weight and cost increased
moving most sports coupes out of the ranks of the lightweight.Another factor
has been the rise of the “hot hatch” as the quality of general car design
has advanced, with improvements in engines, road holding, brakes and aerodynamics
reaching high levels, all packaged in the latest steel monocoque chassis/body
units.
The “hot hatch and the medium to heavy sports
coupe may appeal to a lot of people, but to me they lack that special sparkle
of a good light weight coupe, with nimbleness, beauty of form and charm.
Fortunately in Britain many kit car manufacturers
identified a nitch in the market that needed filling. Almost from the beginning
of the industry, lightweight sports coupes have been available, although
in many forms from many different makers. These cars are part of the story
and will take their place alongside cars from more prestigious manufacturers.
Most of these kit car makers have long disappeared, but some have gone
on to be prestigious car makers them selves.
GTM
Libra
As far as I can determine, the first true
lightweight sports coupes were conceived and constructed in the nineteen
thirties, they were the result of various threads of advances in technology.
With the advances of automobile and aeronautical design and construction,
the technology of lightweight construction, high output small capacity
engines, advances in suspension and streamlining, reached a point were,
with the construction of the autobahn and AutoRoute's, a breakthrough in
design was possible and desirable. This led to the design and construction
of various sports coupes, mainly intended for long distance sports car
racing by German and Italian manufacturers,in the years before the second
world war.
Only one model went into limited production
and it was not until the late nineteen forties that development continued,
again in Italy and Germany and true production cars became available.
The nineteen fifties saw growth in the class,
with cars in production in Germany, Italy , France and great Britain. Some
makers falling by the wayside and others starting long histories. They
ranged from Italian exotica to British kit based cars, many variations
in between.
Greyhounds
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