Wigan Album

Fab photo. So this was technically a kit car?. I heard kit cars were around back then but the majority of them were poorly made compared to today. I bet there was no red tape and stringent SVA tests you had to take to make the car UK road legal like there is now. What model of car was it?.

Al, You say it was a form of kit car except that instead of buying the components from one source as you could back in the late 50's early 60's, my father sourced the chassis from Lancaster. The chassis was a Paramount car built in the 1955/56 era in the Midlands. The company folded in 1958 and sold off the chassis's to enthusiasts. Father bought one, fitted and Wolsey 4/44 engine and gear box from a police car, bought a fibreglass body and cut it into pieces and remoulded it with fibreglass to suit his design.(He was a coach/bus designer having worked at MasseyBros, Northern Counties and Santus Motor Bodies plus Crossley Motors at Stockport)
We started it late '58 and on the road July 1961. The vehicle test examiner had to inspect it plus all documention from day 1 submitted to the government inspectorate before they would issue a licence and number for it. Registered as a Paramount Roadster 1961 model. Father ran it until the early 1970's when it was sold to a young lad from Huyton. (A few years ago at the Cheshire Show,I saw the original 1957 Paramount Car with its owner in the classic car section)

I remember walking past that Smithy on my way home from school, I often stopped to look at the car being built and your Dad would talk to me about it. a nice guy who took time to answer my questions

My great great grandfather George Kershaw was the blacksmith here.
He came to Tyldesley sometime between 1841-1851 and ran a pub with his wife Elizabeth (nee Ranicar) called The White Horse. His father, also George Kershaw had a farm called Pin Fold somewhere nearby but I've not been able to locate it.