Bob Montgomery delves into his motoring archives
Back in 1959 an American, Bill Curtis, made elaborate plans to begin production of a car designed for the US market. Initially, a manufacturing facility was to be built in Tralee to produce 3,000 cars in the first year, rising to 10,000 cars over the next two years.
It was even planned, with government support, to improve harbour facilities to allow 10,000-ton vessels to be used for direct shipment of the cars to America. When this support was not forthcoming, the project moved to Castleblayney in Co Monaghan.
Eight cars, to be called the Shamrock, were apparently built - the exact number is uncertain - before the project ground to a stop due to cash-flow problems.
Listed in the sales brochure produced for the American market as "the Irish-built five passenger Sports Convertible", the Shamrock was described by the influential Motor Trend magazine as "The Irish T Bird - at half the price".
In truth, its Achilles' heel was its engine, the Austin A-55 unit of 1.5 litres that had become familiar to the American market in the Austin A-55 which, when design of the Shamrock began, had been a popular second car in the US.
By the time the first Shamrocks were produced, the tide had turned against the A-55 and its engine was seen as crude and underpowered, and certainly not suitable for a convertible with sporty pretensions. Dealers were enthusiastic, at least until they were asked to put up money, which was a pity as the Shamrock contained several features which were noteworthy in a body design which compared well with its rivals on the market.
Its most interesting feature was undoubtedly its bodywork which was a single moulding design in a process called Rhiteglass (presumably after its designer, Spike Rhiando). Several new techniques were used in the production of the body and the end result was quite impressive for the time in terms of torsional stiffness as well as finish.
When the projected US market for the Shamrock failed to materialise, the project was dead-in-the water as its appearance was not to the taste of European buyers while it would have been impractical to sell the car in Ireland because of the tax structure then prevailing.
It seems even the blarney of the American sales brochure which proclaimed "Every Shamrock has the pride of old Ireland behind it" was not enough to save this interesting, but doomed project.
Before Ford established the layout of the modern tractor around 1918, attempts to produce a motorised vehicle to take some of the drudgery out of farm work were many and varied.
The main aim was to make ploughing easier, and many early motor cars were converted by inventors into what they imagined would be a world-beating 'tractor'. One Irish inventor produced a 'Mak-a-Tractor' attachment which could be fitted to Ford cars and was widely demonstrated throughout the country in 1917. Many old cars either ended up converted into commercial delivery vans or into forms of tractor for use in farming, often with very limited success.
A few purpose-built tractors appeared but these, like the Whiting-Bull tractor, were heavy and cumbersome, being liable to bog down easily if the ground was in any way soft. These varied approaches to finding a practical vehicle for farm work were, however, overtaken towards the end of the first World War by Ford's brilliant tractor design.