A rare, but unmistakable, car is back on the road with a new windscreen.
But this windscreen is not rare, it’s obsolete! The glass and the tooling which helps shape it, were both fabricated from scratch to complete this restoration project and finally get the car back on the road.
- Durango 95
Only three Adams Probe 16s were ever made; two are in Canada awaiting restoration and the third – the one used in cult movie Clockwork Orange – was bought by Bedfordshire-based car enthusiast and former organiser of the Marcos Owners club Colin Feyeraband.
- Marcos Car Designers
“In its day, it was more expensive than an E-type” he said. “Even when I bought it as a restoration project in the late 80s it cost around £10,000!”
The first restorer returned the Probe to Colin as a body shell along with 12 boxes full of bits. In 2004 the car was also featured as a Top Gear ‘restoration rip-off’. Colin finally took it to another restorer who then completed the job however, the windscreen was damaged during the process.
- Probe 16
The super-fast stolen sports car in which ‘Alex’ (Malcolm McDowell) and his gang of Droogs roared around the countryside, terrorising locals was quietly trailered into Pilkington AGR’s specialist factory which has been making classic windscreens for the aftermarket since the late 1950s, and still retains the vast majority of the tooling produced ’’in-house’’.
“It’s an extraordinary car,” said General Manager Peter Swann, “and the spooky thing is that the original windscreen was made at this site!”.
“We can’t find the old tooling so we’ve had top start from scratch and that’s been quite a challenge. the screen that was in didn’t fit properly so we’ve had to make adjustments and the shape as a whole is unusual – almost as it’s upside down”.
Probe Interior
Goodwood Festival of Speed (30th June – 3rd July 2011) will be where the car makes its first public appearance. “After that it would be nice to take it other motoring festivals and special events,” said proud owner Colin.