John Cowperthwaite
Encyclopedia
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, England who designed many kit car
Kit car
A kit car, also known as a "component car", is an automobile that is available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then either assembles into a car themselves, or retains a third party to do part or all of the work on their behalf...
s. They were often not finished kits but "plan and pattern" cars where the builders were expected to manufacture many of the parts themselves. Among his creations are the JC Midge
JC Midge
JC Midge is a kit car designed by John Cowperthwaite. Like the Locust the body is made of aluminum skinned plywood or MDF and using a grille from a Wolseley 1500 . The design is clearly inspired of British 1930s cars like the MG J2 Midget and similar to the Burlington in both design and construction...
, Locust
Locust (car)
Locust is a kit car inspired by the Lotus 7.The Locust Seven differs from most other Lotus / kit cars in that it does not use a space frame chassis, but a ladder frame and a body constructed from three 8ft by 4ft sheets of 3/4" thick exterior grade or marine plywood alternatively MDF sheets...
, the Husky
Husky
Husky is a general name for a type of dog originally used to pull sleds in northern regions, differentiated from other sled dog types by their fast hard pulling style...
and the Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
.
He started out by making fibreglass bodies under the name "Moss". The first was a two seater. It was followed by a 2+2 called Moss Malvern of 1982 and the two seater was then renamed to Moss Roadster. 1983 also saw the introduction of the Moss Mamba. In 1984 came the Moss Monaco and the Midge. In 1987 the Moss marque went under, but the assets was bought from Hampshire Classics by three members of the Moss car club. Except for the Mamba, production continued by Moss Cars (Bath) until the early 1990s.
Real Life Toys was formed in 1987 and proved to be a lasting success. Sold in the early nineties, bought back at the end of the decade. Launched the first Toylander in April 2000. sold the business again in Dec 2001 to Richard Shepherd.
Today [2008] John treads the boards as a successful country and western singer / songwriter in a duo with his partner Rosie.
His daughter, Deborah Green (née Cowperthwaite) follows an ethical approach in animal welfare and spent 11 years as an Accident Investigator for Loughborough University before managing Mill House - a smallholding
Smallholding
A smallholding is a farm of small size.In third world countries, smallholdings are usually farms supporting a single family with a mixture of cash crops and subsistence farming. As a country becomes more affluent and farming practices become more efficient, smallholdings may persist as a legacy of...
based in Melton Mowbray - raising free-range pigs and producing food free of chemicals. http://www.millhousemelton.co.uk