Special Austin Mercury (S.A.M.) built by Joe Quinn , 1952 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Mercury Flathead V8 Powered.
I believe the Austin parts are from an 1950's A40 Sommerset ( the wheels at least)
Saddened to read he was killed whilst driving his creation in a race, the car sounds like it is quite the beast!
Well done. You move ever closer to the twilight world of the Pros. You have said it all, really - the car was very competitive in racing all over Ireland, but sadly it was involved in a serious crash which resulted in the deaths of two bystanders, as well as the driver himself. It has recently been rebuilt and takes part in historic race meetings.
(There is a good racing history of the car on the web, but the new owner hoped it would be eligible for international meetings because he thought it had raced in the 1953 Tourist Trophy - alas, it was the '53 Ulster Trophy which it had taken part in, which I think was just a national status event.)
(PS - regarding the reference to strokes. The city of Londonderry was renamed Derry by its appointed leaders, but locals who considered themselves British rather than Irish insisted on still calling it by its old name. In order that no-one was insulted the media began to call the place Derry-stroke-Londonderry, shortened to Derry/Londonderry. The local well-known radio broadcaster Gerry Anderson hit on the ingenious idea of calling the place Stroke City, which caught the imagination of both Republicans and Loyalists alike. It is regularly referred to by that title by all manner of people living in the Province.)
