Great British Sports Cars had a change of management which resulted in Richard Hall becoming Managing Director along with Keith Bird as fellow Director. Ian Rowley is no longer associated with GBS. This brought an exciting new chapter to the companies long 25 year history. With the continuing development of the Zero kit, the new owners have also launched a new parts and spares range called Kit Spares covering over 2000 sq ft. The new stores department carries stock of over 1000 different parts and accessories which the majority of these parts can be bought online or seen in the shop and Showroom at Great British Sports Cars. With the ongoing success and sales of the Zero, the future looks bright for Great British Sports Cars and all its customers.
The Zero range sold over 300 kits since launched in 2007.
The first new car to roll off the production line for the new company was the Zero Kit designed by the new owner, Richard Hall. The new Zero kit was designed for the open road and the track whic incorporated a number of improvements over the 2b and Lightweight cars. In the first six months of the launch of the Zero it achieved sales of over 50 cars and with a strong order book for 2008. It looked like the Zero was going to exceed the 100 lightweights sold in the first year of production. At the end of 2007 the company then moved from Mansfield Woodhouse to a new and better premises in Ollerton comprising of 3 units, one for office and kit builds, one for production and manufacturing and one for its extensive range of donor parts and spares.
A big change to the company happened on 26th September, Richard Stewart no longer owned Robin Hood Engineering. All of the assets of the company was bought by Ian Rowley and Richard Hall, who had both worked for Richard Stewart before the company was sold. This was the start of the new Great British Sports Cars company which was formed encompassing the Robin Hood business, Lolocost, Robin Hood Engineering, Donor World and Carlooms. The complete back catalogues of Robin Hood cars and parts was purchased enabling the company to still supply replacements parts for every model produced.
With the assistance of a team of expert chassis designers, a revolutionary new chassis was conceived. The new model created by Richard was the Robin Hood 2B a comprehensive kit which only required a Ford Sierra Donor vehicle. The new style chassis became another a very popular kit for Robin Hood. Between the bulk collection dates of 21st August and December 11th, exactly 205 kits were collected. Bulk collections had always been popular at Robin Hood Engineering. The record being one collection day in 1997 totalling to 125 comprehensive kits. At the time the factory covered 30,000 square feet on a one and a half acre site in Mansfield Woodhouse.
Saw the introduction of the Single Vehicle Approval (SVA) test. The public were not so keen to embark on abuild, preferring to wait and see what was going to happen. The whole kit car industry suffered from this with Government putting off implementation dates several times. However this slack period gave Richard Stewart time to carefully look at Robin Hood Engineering options and its future. Then in his fifties, Richard would have ideally liked to have sold the business allowing him to concentrate on his other interests. But with no offers forthcoming, and the license to manufacture Monocoque chassis about to expire and with the recent investment in the new CNC machinery, the only option for Richard was to look to the future and bring out a new model.
During 1996 and 1997 sales at Robin Hood peaked at over 500 kits being ordered per year, which lead to larger premises and new machinery being purchased to maintain production.
Such popularity could only be enhanced by the availability of a Ford donor vehicle, and so it was in early 1991 the Robin Hood margue finally sealed its success with announcement of an additional Cortina Mk.4/5 based version. From that point there was no looking back the S7 soon established a reputation as one of the best known and most popular kit on the market.
Launched early in the 1990, the new S7's revolutionary construction was created with the help of computer technology, which guided the laser cutting of the stainless steel panels before folding and welding them to form an extremely robust assembly which would never be affected by the dreaded rust. Although the donor vehicles and basic designs may have altered over the years, the main policy of value for money kits remained, the Robin Hood policy of "One kit + one donor vehicle = car on the road" was a valuable selling point which Robin Hood became known for.
Saw a complete change for the company and it started to make the S7, a range of Lotus Seven inspired kit cars. At the big Stoneleigh kit car show in spring 1989, was the launch of the Robin Hood S7 that is still known today. Also in 1989, a Triumph TR7 based Robin Hood was introduced with the affordable price tag of £995. Motoring enthusiasts showed their support and several kits were sold. Development of the new product was continual and feedback from customers showed that a range of engine sizes were needed so that more people could afford to run such a vehicle.
It was the sort of budget that raw sports car enthusiasts liked, and were only tempted by. The new model was quickly in demand, successfully launching an exciting new era for Robin Hood Engineering.
Robin Hood Engineering Ltd was founded in 1984 in Sherwood, Nottinghamshire. The first cars they stated producing were Ferrari Daytona replicas based on the Rover SD1.
Mr Richard Stewart formed Robin Hood in 1979.
It was recalled by Richard Stewart, 'We slipped into the Kit Car Businees almost by mistake, I very badly wanted a Ferrari Dayota but hadn't got the £50,000 they cost at the time. So I decided to build my own version using the only method I knew, by cutting a Rover SD1 V8 into bits and welding it back together with new panels to create the Daytona shape'.
