All you need to know about Peerless
Born: 1957 Nationality: British
Though not related in any way to the original company, the Peerless sports car manufacturer took its name from a first World War American truck maker, the Cleveland-based Peerless Lorry Company.
A company was set up in Slough, England, after the war to recondition ex-army Peerlesses and when a Warwick hotelier, Jimmy Byrnes, wanted a custom-built sports car in 1956, the name was still in the locality in the guise of a recently-defunct Jaguar dealership, Peerless Motors, Bath Road, Slough. Jimmy Byrnes asked racing engine tuner Bernie Rodgers to build his car, and they soon decided there was money to be made by going into low-volume production.
The first chassis built in 1957 had Triumph TR components and an aluminium body. It performed so well that a local used Rolls Royce dealer, John Gordon, teamed up with Byrnes and Rodgers to build a 2+2 prototype that was exhibited at the Paris Motor Show in 1957. Following an evaluation, Standard Triumph agreed to provide the components for full production.
Though the first cars were called Warwicks, the Peerless name was then adopted because of its recognition in the US, which would be a key market. For cost reasons, fibreglass bodies were used for the production cars, the first three of which were rolled out in May 1958. To gain a quick publicity boost, the Peerless was entered for the Le Mans 24 hours and finished a very respectable 16th and winner of its class.
By the end of the year there was a five-week waiting list as the factory could only to produce five cars a week. Building extra moulds allowed a doubling of production and by July of 1959 some 250 of the "Phase 1" Peerless GTs had been sold. A Phase 2 model was then introduced, this time with a single-mould body instead of the 57 separate mouldings which had made up the body of the Phase 1s. The result was a lighter and stronger car with improved performance.
After a promotional trip to the US with a pair of LHD Phase 2 cars, the future looked good for the company, and there was also talk of installing a Chevrolet Corvette engine for a more powerful car. But there was a major disagreement at board level over the appointment of a new director. John Gordon and another key director, Sam Rostron, resigned, and the company went into receivership after building only about 50 Phase 2 cars.
John Gordon teamed up with designer Jim Keeble to build a new GT using a Corvette engine, but though a prototype was built, the Gordon GT, no backing could be got for the project.
Meanwhile, the remaining directors of Peerless Cars Ltd - including Bernie Rodgers - decided to form a new company and build a new business using the spares and components from the defunct original company. They revived the original Warwick name, and built a new car using modified versions of the Phase 2 moulds. They continued to use Triumph running gear, including the 2-litre engine, and the first cars were produced in 1961.
An American student at Cambridge bought a Warwick and had a small Buick V8 installed (the same engine that was later to power Rovers and many other cars right up to this year) and when he returned to the US he arranged to have a shipment of the engines sent back to the Warwick factory. With 50 per cent more power than the Triumph-engined version, the V8 version became the Warwick 350GT in 1962.
However, Bernie Rodgers had resigned in 1961, and the company was in such financial difficulties that it went into receivership in early 1962, with probably only one 350 GT built.
Another former director, Andy Clyde, thought the Peerless project could still be viable and with the help of Motor Distributors in Dublin he set up the Peerless Dublin Ltd company. A demonstrator car was built and brought to General Motors in Detroit for evaluation, but didn't come up to expectation.
Until the mid-'60s it was still possible to buy Peerless components and build Phase 2s, and a number of private tuners did so, including Lawrencetune of Acton.
In all, about 350 Peerless and Warwick cars were built, of which around 70 were exported to the US.
Best Car: The Peerless GT Phase 1, because it represents the most successful period of the short-lived company.
Worst Car: The Phase 2, only because it reflects the demise of Peerless.
Weirdest Car: None were made.