Book Review
By Peter McFadyen.
BUCKLER – SPORTS CARS SPECIALS AND KARTS Author: Brian Malin; Forewords by Simon Taylor and Alan Staniforth Publisher: Greyhound Self Publishing. Available from Aspect Design Ltd, administrator@aspect-design.net Price: £40.00 plus p&p. Hardback (11½ by 8¼ in), 310 pages, copiously illustrated in colour and b&w ISBN: 978-1-909219-86-1
Although they were born 18 years apart, Derek Buckler and Colin Chapman were contemporaries when it came to designing and building ground-breaking sports cars in the late 1940s and early ’50s. They had much in common. Both were innovators, especially in areas of chassis design and improving the handling characteristics of their cars. Both founded successful companies and both died relatively young, Chapman in December, 1982, at the age of 54, and Buckler in 1964 at just 53 years of age. Yet, while Chapman’s Lotus went on to achieve worldwide fame, the name Buckler remains comparatively little known. Special building was popular in the 1950s, mostly using ‘donor’ chassis from Austin 7 or Ford or simple ‘ladder’ frames but Buckler offered a multi-tubular space frame which was both stronger and lighter and, moreover, available in different models to suit different applications.
Classic and Competition Car
December 2021
32
