Still more replicars, with some Alfa content

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ron Horowitz mentioned a possibly Boneschi-bodied first version of the 4R
Zagato. It sounds to me out of character for Boneschi and also for the premise
of the project, but odd things happen. There was, however, another 1750 Zagato
replicar called the Leontina, built by Carrozzeria Pettenelli in 1975 and '76;
the body appears to have been an absolutely faithful reproduction on a ladder
frame with solid axles, leaf springs, and period-correct friction dampers. The
wheels and tires give it away - much closer to original proportion than the
4R's, but still not full height skinnies - and fatal incongruity reared its
ugly head in fake brake drums enclosing the disk brakes. Along with a proper
Alfa four it used an Alfetta transaxle, probably aided by a high floor true to
the original's seating. Very few were built - the sources say three to five -
which decreases the odds on it being the car Ron's friend was selling.

The Squire is quite a different story. The car mentioned by Tony and Greg was
an American initiative executed  by Intermeccanica with a fiberglass, but
otherwise faithful, replica of Jaguar SS-100 bodywork and Ford mechanicals,
and has no connection with the Jaguar-based SS-100 replicas built in England.

There was, however, another Squire replica, partially Alfa-based, which was
originally an equally convincing replica of the real Squire.

In the early thirties Adrian Squire, a moderately wealthy twenty-one year old
with a few equally well-off friends, set out to build his conception of the
finest possible sports car. (He had already earned a reputation as a brilliant
and painstaking engineer in two years with MG, after an apprenticeship with
W.O.Bentley). The car had a Rootes-blown four-cylinder twin cam engine of 1496
cc set well back in the chassis, a Wilson pre-selector gearbox, huge manganese
alloy brake drums with shrunk-in nickel-chrome liners and, on the best-known
examples, an incredibly pretty Vanden Plas two-seater body. Just seven cars
were built before the money ran out.

Which leads to Squire #3, the replica with the best claim to matching its
aspirations. In 1984 a British restorer named Phil Kennedy built a duplicate
of the Vanden Plas body, with alloy panels on ash framing, on a scratch-built
steel box section frame, with true-to-original eighteen-inch wheels, ten-inch
headlights, seventeen-inch steering wheel, and on at least some of the early
ones an Alfa engine and front gearbox. I believe the first one I read about
had Alfa drum brakes and rear axle, but I'm not sure. Some of the cars had
Ford Cortina mechanicals, some had Rover V8 engines, some had front-hinged
doors which degraded the original traditional lines, but at least one had as
much Alfa mechanicals as one could fit into a beautiful rendition of an
idealized British sports car. Only about sixteen were built.

The best source for information on the original Squire is a monograph by
Johnathan Wood, #64 in the "Profiles" series; an alternate source is "Classic
Supercharged Sports Cars" by Thomas Perkins of San Francisco. The book is
entirely about cars in the author's collection: one Duesenberg, two Mercedes,
four Bugattis, two Alfas (a Zagato 6C 1750 and a Touring 8C 2900B) and the
Squire, which looks great in that company. The copy might disappoint, but in
my opinion is probably about as nice as a period replicar can get.

John H.
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