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Starter Motor! Pictured here is the Chesil Speedster 'responsible' for starting "Speedsters - the club". This is the car owned by founder members Vernon and Yvonne Mortimer, parked alongside the narrow winding road over the top of the Mendip Hills linking Burrington Combe with Cheddar Gorge - the area of Somerset where it lives. Vernon earns an honest crust in the world of education, has dabbled in motoring journalism for many years and, with Yvonne, operates the 'touring' side of the family's camping site, situated just three miles from the foot of famous Cheddar Gorge. He has had a passion for cars from the first day he was able to clutch a Dinky toy and his Speedster involvement started in November 1990 at the South West Sports and Kit Car Show, held in Bristol's dockside Exhibition Centre. Having not long before sold his Porsche 912 (the 4-cylinder version of the 911 using the 'Super 90' engine from the last-of-the-line 356s) and instantly regretted the move, he had started to look for a classic Porsche replacement. On a very small, triangular stand at the end of one of the exhibition halls, he saw an excellent silver-grey replica of the 356 Speedster. During the winter months, several genuine Porsches were viewed but the memory of that very accurate replica kept returning and so a visit to the National Kit Car Show at Stoneleigh in May 1991 was planned. Three Speedster replicas were on show: the Apal imported from Belgium, the Covin (from the same stable as a 911 replica) and the Chesil - the operation having changed its name from 'Street Beetle' as new owner Peter Bailey developed the car from Chris Boyle's original. The new Chesil show car for the '91 season was finished in a deep burgundy pearl paint which was mirror smooth and still looked wet from every angle! It was breathtaking - and now in joint first place for purchase with a 'real' 1962 356SC coupe in slate grey, recently imported from Texas by a leading West Country 356 restoration specialist. The two cars were only hundreds of pounds apart in price; the SC coupe was immaculate but how soon would it start to succumb to the inevitable early-Porsche tinworm which must already be lurking out of sight, sharpening its teeth? The replica Speedster was, in effect, a brand new car - with a totally unrustable GRP bodyshell. A minor problem, of course, was that Peter Bailey had only just finished building this Speedster in readiness for the 1991 season, as his show car and demonstrator! But it was this car that Vernon decided he wanted and much persuasion was applied to the hapless Mr Bailey. Eventually a deal was struck - Peter would be able to borrow the car for shows and other promotional activities until a new demonstrator could be readied for action. In fact, the burgundy car appeared on the Chesil stand at shows for some time after that - and features in the current Chesil literature, having been borrowed for the brochure's photoshoot to appear alongside a newer silver-grey car to illustrate Chesil's 'house colours'. Over the years this car has appeared on the Chesil or Club stand at most shows in the UK and in a host of newspaper and magazine articles in the general and specialist press. As Chesil have updated their specification to get even closer to the original, so Vernon's Speedster has received the modifications. It is now a unique and very well known example of the marque.   Back to club index ......The club magazine.......Join the club