Orders were now coming from Ford Dealers across the country and while not being given company approval this conversion did have their ‘tacit’ approval. Suspension modifications including stiffened front roll bar and anti-tramp bars for the rear were designed and produced in kit form. Fords produced the Classic, which had an enlarged 1340cc engine and it was not long before the 105E Anglia was being fitted with this larger engine. The increased engine power was now beginning to turn the relatively ‘tame’ Anglia into a competitive club rally car. Sydney was now using one for club rallies, and once again entered in the Monte Carlo Rally.
Tuning standard saloons was becoming more and more popular and to add an extra arm to the relentless quest for more power we evaluated a Shorrock supercharger. These were starting to be produced in kit form by Shorrock Superchargers of Wendesbury and it was from this initial installation that we attended one of the first Racing Car Shows at Olympia. The major advantage of the supercharger was that it gave a significant power increase at lower revs and did not incur the relatively narrow power bands associated with the modified cam profile and multi carburettor conversions.
There is no doubt in my mind, that for normal road use the supercharger had many advantages over the normally aspirated conversions. However it’s power did drop off at higher revs, plus for competition use it did have the penalty of having to compete in the next higher class.
With more and more involvement in the tuning market, it was not long before we took up the agency for the Shorrock Supercharger, which involved us in producing manifolds and ‘V’ belt pulleys for a full range of the current UK manufactured saloons. With our involvement the numbers of superchargers required exceeded Shorrocks own manufacturing capability and a link was made with Rubery Owen who took over the production. There were two sizes of the eccentric type supercharger with the smaller being the most popular. Upper Richmond Road was turned over to fitting the installations, plus doing some of the machining. Fitting agents around the country were also appointed, so that there was now a substantial workload for the company. With representatives operating through-out the country it was also possible to sell a developing range of tuning aids, plus the Webasto soft-top roof. At the Clapham Southside workshop at one time as many as 15 roof conversions were completed in a week.