search for 1950's trial car

Dear Sir / Madam

I am trying to locate a car my
grandfather built from scratch in 1947/49, for sporting trials and some circuit
racing in southern england until the mid 1950's . The registration was RPA
539, and was named the M&H special (after Murcutt and Harris),
and was registered we believe the following year with the DVLA,
although they have been unable to find any record of it so far. My grandfathers
name was Charles Henry Harris, although he was known as Harry, or CH to close
friends.

i have discovered from a visit to
beaulieu that mike lawson drove the mark 2-6 lotus in sporting trials very
successfully with stirling moss's father alfred (i believe). i also understand
they had a lotus elan dealership in thornton heath surrey in the years after
that. do you know if mike lawsons family still run that dealership or whether it
has moved and is now called something else?

i have it on good authority from
craig bazley (who runs the website www.sportingcartrials.com) that mike lawson
bought my grandfathers car the M&H special in about 1958 (see photos
attached) in the late 1950's . i hope that you are able to help or put me in
touch with someone who can. my grandfather competed in trials organised by
maidstone & mid kent mc, and was a member of the 750 motor club.
would you have contact details or be
able to put me in touch with mike lawsons family, or let me know how to get in
touch?

my number is 07958635142
further information on the story of my
grandfathers sporting trials car is below, i have advertised in the 750mc
bulletin, various websites, and classic car magazines, and i hope that you will
be able to help in the search for it


The engine was retrieved from a sunken
boat in Chichester harbour, which took 2-3 visits including being hauled up from
the boat below using a winch, and then a full rebuild was done, to obviously
include drying out and removing any rust etc from the engine. The chassis was
from a pre war Austin 7 straight from a scrap yard, and was also modified to
suit the car and style of driving. The car was made for car trials in Kent
Surrey and Sussex, in events that were known as “mud plugging”, which you can
see from a couple of the pictures where the mud must have been close to a metre
deep, unlike some of the trials today. The car was at times known to be
used in local circuit racing aswell.
The M&h special,
with its 1172 cc sidevalve Ford engine on an aquaplane head, twin SU's
were mated to a Wolsey 4 speed gearbox. My grandfather competed
with the likes of Bernard Dees of Croydon, and Percy Barden to name a
couple of people of that time. Percy Barden was a well known Builder who
owned a large estate in Maidstone, which was also used for car trials
before it was developed it into the massive housing estate.
Another name that comes to mind is Rex
Chapple, who was an undertaker, Rex drove with his glamorous wife as
passenger. Rex from Bromley in Kent, was like many others
drivers from that period, from Kent Surrey and Sussex who gave up their Sunday
for pleasure after such a hard War
After the War my grandfather won a
Engineering scholarship to study at Walthamstow College, and then as a young man
later served his apprenticeship at AMC in Plumstead, and like many after
the war started his own car business (in Redhill). He was soon working for Rob
Walker of Pipbrook Garage Dorking repairing the race cars that had been damaged
either the week before or during practice, including Rob Walker's stable of
race cars. In later years he worked with Alf Francis who was head mechanic at
Pipbrrok garage, a tempermental eastern eurpean perfectionist

This brings me onto the M & H
special, which was a very well designed car for all intents and
purposes. All of the chalk technical drawings were on the workshop
doors and looked as if they had come straight out of a Ford factory.
At an airfield sprint event, my grandfather and uncle started talking with a guy
who had a car which looked very similar, he and my grandfather chatted, he
turned out to be Colin Chapman of Lotus.
Charles Henry Harris, or Harry,
was born in 1908, and lived in London until his family was bombed out in 39,
then moving to Redhill in Surrey, and lived to the ripe old age of 86. He was
also and was a member of the 750 motor Club.


It would mean a great deal to me and
my family if we could find this car, or any news about it. anything would
be very gratefully received.


yours faithfully,

Nick de
Meyer.
07958635142