René Bloemen's Replica
Some years ago MG Mecca bosses Russell Storer and Howard Reader, who were friends of Chris Keeble, very cheekily took a mould off Chris's Sebring Sprite, RTL 304 without his knowledge. They covered the body initially with cling film to protect its paintwork. After building up a replica they passed the new car on to Malcolm Self for his personal use only and on the understanding it was not to be sold on. Malcolm broke his promise by taking a mould off the replica as well as selling the car on to Rene Bloemen in Holland. In order to participate in historic race and rallies the car was then taken to aluminium fabricator, Ton Blankespoor, in whose workshop three aluminium bodies have now been made, by hand, using the fibreglass replica body as a template.
The shape is an almost exact copy of RTL 304 , originally built by Peels for Adrian Andrew, and of the similar car - 91 CGF, both of which had distictive fastback styling and characteristic ventilation 'ears' behind the squared-off door windows. Being near copies of original historic race cars it should be possible to obtain the necessary FIA papers. One car is intended for rallying and the other two will be race cars. I gather it is not intended to build any more, Ton having now moved on to other even more demanding designs. However he is planning to build 3 aluminium W & P shape Sebring bonnets for these cars.
Meanwhile MG Mecca have produced several more RTL replicas in fibreglass one of which competes regularly in UK hill climbs. They have sold 2, have a further 2 bodies in stock plus a fifth in the mould.
Latest photos below (July 2013):
The alloy body is now fitted to the floorpan and other detailed work completed |
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Modified fuel tank is to accommodate twin silencers |
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OCTOBER 2021 UPDATE: |
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Ton Blankespoor's website can be viewed at:
http://tonblankespoor.nl/projecten/huidige-projecten/sebring-sprite-2.html
René is going to let me have more photos as his project progresses.