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Written by Ollie Kew
Remember the David Brown Speedback GT? Course you do. Engine and chassis by Jaguar XKR, styling by 1960s inspiration, price from a telephone directory. It"s a year since TG.com drove the first prototype and decided it"s "a hugely charismatic car, backed by an equally charismatic individual of the sort we could do with more of in the car world." So, we thought we"d catch up with said charismatic individual, and find out how David Brown and his brainchild are getting on.The first question, of course: how"s business? David won"t let on how many cars he"s shifted. We change tack. Is he satisfied with business? Surprised, even?"We"re satisfied. The amount we"ve created in the relatively short amount of time we"ve had the company is fantastic. The lead times on most sports cars are 5-7 years." But of course, they"re not usually borrowing the rolling chassis from someone else"We"ve had problems with some suppliers that have cost us time, but we"ve worked with all of our suppliers, and we"ve helped each other raise our quality." Brown gives us an analogy to illustrate: "I"ve got a brewery and when we sell a bottle of beer, we sell a bottle, a lid, some beer and a label. There"s a lot of chemistry to get it right, but there are only four components. Compare that to a car, when you"ve got thousands of components that all have to work together. It"s a massively complex thing. So to get to where we"ve got to in three years is fantastic."He once again tells the story of a Ferrari Daytona breaking down on an Italian classic car rally, and his relief upon swapping into a Peugeot 106 with working air-con and power steering. So, without that Eureka moment, would David Brown Automotive have happened?"God knows. I"ve always been in manufacturing, but I never ever thought I"d build a car. Ten years ago, a five axis-milling machine didn"t exist. Now, you can make beautiful parts relatively economically. When we designed the car, we made a full size clay model, and once we were happy with one side, digitally scanned that half, then that digital file was milled automatically.""In the old days, you"d have to measure that, and use a wooden former, and beat the metal, and each car ended up being different on both sides. An English wheel is black magic for forming metal, but blend it marry it with the milled pieces from the machine. So twenty years ago, we wouldn"t have done this, because the technology just wasn"t in reach."
Date written: 11 Oct 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 5389
Remember the David Brown Speedback GT? Course you do. Engine and chassis by Jaguar XKR, styling by 1960s inspiration, price from a telephone directory. It"s a year since TG.com drove the first prototype and decided it"s "a hugely charismatic car, backed by an equally charismatic individual of the sort we could do with more of in the car world." So, we thought we"d catch up with said charismatic individual, and find out how David Brown and his brainchild are getting on.The first question, of course: how"s business? David won"t let on how many cars he"s shifted. We change tack. Is he satisfied with business? Surprised, even?"We"re satisfied. The amount we"ve created in the relatively short amount of time we"ve had the company is fantastic. The lead times on most sports cars are 5-7 years." But of course, they"re not usually borrowing the rolling chassis from someone else"We"ve had problems with some suppliers that have cost us time, but we"ve worked with all of our suppliers, and we"ve helped each other raise our quality." Brown gives us an analogy to illustrate: "I"ve got a brewery and when we sell a bottle of beer, we sell a bottle, a lid, some beer and a label. There"s a lot of chemistry to get it right, but there are only four components. Compare that to a car, when you"ve got thousands of components that all have to work together. It"s a massively complex thing. So to get to where we"ve got to in three years is fantastic."He once again tells the story of a Ferrari Daytona breaking down on an Italian classic car rally, and his relief upon swapping into a Peugeot 106 with working air-con and power steering. So, without that Eureka moment, would David Brown Automotive have happened?"God knows. I"ve always been in manufacturing, but I never ever thought I"d build a car. Ten years ago, a five axis-milling machine didn"t exist. Now, you can make beautiful parts relatively economically. When we designed the car, we made a full size clay model, and once we were happy with one side, digitally scanned that half, then that digital file was milled automatically.""In the old days, you"d have to measure that, and use a wooden former, and beat the metal, and each car ended up being different on both sides. An English wheel is black magic for forming metal, but blend it marry it with the milled pieces from the machine. So twenty years ago, we wouldn"t have done this, because the technology just wasn"t in reach."
Date written: 11 Oct 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 5389
