Topic: Puzzle #744 - Solved! Leston Special

[Otto Puzzell]

Know what it is?

Please, respond below and let us know the make and model designation of the car posted here.

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[Allan L]

Looks as if it should be a Porsche prototype, but it's RHD and I have no recollection of seeing its photo before.
Looks like an Austrian registration plate

[Otto Puzzell]

No Porsche connection of which I'm aware.

[Paul Jaray]

Hi, that is the Leston Special.
The Special is built on the chassis of a pre-war 20-hp Jaguar roadster and stands only three feet three inches high. Further aircraft influence can be found in the body frame built from light steel members of channel and T-section and then covered with aluminum. Not removable roof panel, left, and plastic windows, right. L. Leston is a London dealer in aircraft spare parts. What started him designing this model was an extra set of curved plastic panels from the cockpit of an old reconnaissance machine.

[barrett]

A better view of this unusual car:

[Otto Puzzell]

period info

[Carnut]

Apparently this car was built for Les Leston by Vanocar of Paddington, London.
He might well have been a dealer in aircraft parts, but he was also an amateur racer.  He was, however, much better known as a marketer of Go Faster car parts in the 1960s and 70s.  You could get Les Leston steering wheels for your Mini and all sorts of other bits to make your Mini etc look like it could go much faster than other people's!

[Carnut]

Les Leston's obituary was in the Daily Telegraph today; he died on 13th May this year.
His was actually born Alfred Lazarus Fingleton on 16th December 1920, the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe, their name becoming Anglicised in 1927.
He was also a talented jazz musician, but his showbiz career was cut short by WW2, during which time he served in the RAF as a mid-turret gunner on a Lancaster bomber.  He took part in the "thousand bomber raids" over Germany in 1942 but missed just one mission due to illness - the one where his bomber was lost with its entire crew.
He raced both in Formula One and at Le Mans, but was best known for his exploits with his red Lotus Elite 'DAD 10".
One of his most notable achievements was the development and introduction of the Nomex fire-proof racing suit, which he was spurred on to develop when one of  his friends was badly burnt in a racing crash.
Later in life he commentated on Grand Prix for the BBC.

[barrett]

Another view, with Mr. Fingleton himself looking very dapper indeed

[grobmotorix]

Some more information about this car: