D & A Shells Mercury GT

[Kevin Whittle]

In the mid 1960's London company D & A Shells offered a re body kit for the then outdated Lotus 23. Turning it into a closed GT car.

I know one has survived, but how many were built and how many exist today ??
Kevin Whittle

[Kale]

There are a picture from Alan Fowlers Mercury GT in another Thread.
Any Pics from other Mercury GT´s in Spyder or Coupe trim ?
How much are build and who are the cars today ?
Any Mercury who race in historic motorsport ?

[Alan Brown]

Alan Fowler and his son were sprinting their open version in 2007 (quite often at Lydden and I gather at Cadwell).

[Steve Wilkinson]

Above: Martin Cowell at a Longton & DMC sprint Oulton Park in 1987 in his Mecrury.



Above: Alan Fowler (Mercury) at the Cadwell Park British Sprint Championship meeting in 2006.

[Kale]

Great pics - Thanks !
Any pics from closed Mercurys ?
How much frames are build from D & A Shells ?

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Kale

Any pics from closed Mercurys ?

Kale, this is Barry White in what the programme described as a "Lotus 23 GT"; the event is a GT race at Oulton Park, Easter 1970.


I think this is one of the closed Mercury kits that has been fitted to a 23.

[Dan Rear]

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson

Kale, this is Barry White in what the programme described as a "Lotus 23 GT"; the event is a GT race at Oulton Park, Easter 1970.


I think this is one of the closed Mercury kits that has been fitted to a 23.

Surprised big Barry can fit in that Mercury, Steve...

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Dan Rear

Surprised big Barry can fit in that Mercury, Steve...

It's not THAT Barry White as you can tell - if it were he would be a trifle pale!

[Kale]

Question about the VBody Design from the Mercury´s
Build D & A Shells one version from the Coupe and the spider or different
Design´s ?
How much frames are build ?

[Kale]

Any results from a Mercury GT with a BMW M10 Engine ?

[rbm]

Dennis Pollard and Alan Fowler, D&A Shells Ltd. who produced the Mercury GT offered it as a body to convert open cars but also supplied their own chassis (claimed to be from chevron) to build a complete car from. The earliest complete cars are from 1963 and are Lotus 23 semi-clones but with a shorter wheelbase.
It seem the closed car was available by 1966 (possibly earlier).

Does anyone have contact details for Alan Fowler?

[David58]

I used to help out as school kid in the 70s at D&A shells
Alan raced the mercury with a 1600 ford engine

[Terry Nightingale]

I remember Dennis at D&A Shells I used to buy loads of bits from him when I was building my 1650 anglebox for road use back in the early 70,s
he was a real character and there was nothing he could not get if he did not have it in the piles of bits he had out the back of his shop in Stratford high street. A real aladdins cave, a bit like Norman Abbot Racing which was just round the corner as well if my memory serves me correct. Unfortunately these characters are long gone they probably knocked his old shop down to make way for the Olympic Park!

[David58]

The parts bin was unreal I remember they had a Mclaren F1 car in the showroom
The cars that passed through there was incredable

[David58]

Alan's father owned the builders merchant two doors away.When I was there the car was in metallic green.Upstairs they had an older body that was longer but the cars were open.They had square tube chassis and alloy body.

[John Atkins]

I too remember Dennis as a true character. I used to call into the shop with my 'driver' when I was a sidecar passenger trying to source bits for our BSA powered outfit. On one occasion he tried to sell me a Formula Junior single seater on the basis that I only had to cut it in half lengthwise and widen it to make a road car. I remember him most though for a lesson in business he taught me. I was 19 and dearly wanted to make my Ariel KH twin road bike look like a Manx Norton. Dennis sold me a replica tank on the basis that if it did not fit he would buy it back. As the two frames were chalk and cheese it was impossible to fit and so I made a return journey to the shop with the tank by train and bus from Romford. I had paid £15 for the tank and when I arrived Dennis at first suggested all I had to do was cut and shut the frame, then when he admitted this wasn't very practical he offered me £7.10s (pre decimal money). When I pointed out that I had paid him twice that the day before he said there was a difference between buying and selling and that all he had said when he sold it to me was that if it didn't fit he would 'buy' it back. What with the fares both ways and the loss of what amounted to almost a week's wages for me at that time it was a lesson I've never forgotten, "read the small print".