Talk:Argyll (car)

Argyll Turbo G.T. Car Corrections.

The following text was posted in the articlebut was reverted by Cluebot. I have no idea if it is accurate, genuine or even relevant but have copied it here as a record. To date this is the only post by Bobargyll. He also seems to query some points that don't seem to actually appear in the article.

It is not my usual habit to waste time arguing with ignorance and being rather dinosauric and a rare user of the internet, which when I have then discovered it to be rife with errors. Some of these blatant errors have been recently brought to my attention. As they concern historic facts not just opinions relating to Scotland's Motoring History I feel compelled to make these corrections , which include various unauthorised pontifications about the Argyll Turbo G.T. Car. As the designer of the car I should at least know what I am taking about!

First the Ken McEwen claim to have some part of naming the car is a delusion or a total fictional fabrication. The name ARGYLL had already been picked several years before I had even met Andrew Smith and well before that Turbo G.T. model car was even designed! The name actually dated back to a suggestion made to me at a local Lochgilphead Rotary Club lunch by Kenny McKinnon the Argyll Chief Constable at the time, On the strength of that and out of courtesy I approached Ian Campbell the then current (12th) Duke of Argyll who immediately endorsed the suggestion enthusiastically and was even good enough to carry out the “official” launch of the car later at his Inveraray Castle in October 1983. This being just prior to its appearance at the last Scottish Motor Show to be held at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow.

And further, does Ken realise that there is no such place as his quoted Argyllshire? Does he not understand the difference between a Shire and a County?

And again Andrew Smith's short term use of a Davrian car had nothing what so ever to do with the project and everything involved was entirely unrelated. The only possible exception was that Andrew had transferred a Davrian number plates FAU 872 to the V8 prototype Argyll for quick convenience reasons at the time. The number having been derived originally from a pre-war Austin by Adrian Evans himself the original co-designer of the Dav(rian) car concept.

I am all for constructive criticism but silly snide remarks about us using Morris Marina door handles is a bit petty. Up market Range Rovers continued to use them for years! Has Ken ever made such snide comments about Ferrari having used Fiat door handles? Why did he not also make comment about us “borrowing” the Z.F. trans-axle that we shared at the time with the Maserati Bora, the B.M.W. M 1., the De Tomaso Pantera and of course Eric Broadley's Lola /(Ford G.T.40) Le Mans winning cars.? Maybe Ken is just one of those sideline carpers that never thinks to use their own enterprising Scottish blood? Sad. The car was never either designed or intended to pander to his sort of whims or opinions ignorant or otherwise. But why were his discerning abilities unable to spot several quite obvious, exceptional, enterprising and even pioneering design aspects that were incorporated into the car? Perhaps I might list them in due course if only to further set the record straight..Some of these innovations led the highly venerated weekly “Motor” magazine to report in their discerning and very thorough road test of the Argyll Turbo G.T., that;

“ The car has no real vices”. ,”copes happily with everything from high speed ridges to town pot holes”, The handling was something of a revelation”. ”The road holding was so good it could be thrown about like a well set up rally car”, “As if to prove the impossible it even assaulted a forest track at semi competition speeds without being thrown off line” ”Visibility is excellent for a mid engined car”, ”...instant power on hand throughout the rev range” “One corner had a breathtaking drop to its right, cliff-face to its left and a surface of fist sized rocks, which the car consumed at almost 100MPH with the driver's hands steady on the wheel and steering being done by throttle alone” “The Argyll it seems, is not lacking in poise and controllability” Remarkably all this from a prototype car that had required no post production development work at all! Right first time!

So in conclusion I have to ask Ken, who presumably considers himself as a patriotic Scot, just what the .... have door handles and tail lights got to do in relation to that sort of result?

Bob Henderson. September 2018