Henry Meadows (Vehicles) Ltd
The Meadows company was a well-established supplier of automotive, marine and industrial engines and was a part of the Associated British Engineering Company.
Gordon Bedson, formerly a design engineer for Kieft Cars and the Vickers aircraft company, had joined Meadows as Export Sales Manager in 1954.
Bedson, whose work at Kieft had included the design of their first sports car, and who had also designed a saloon car prototype for the Phoenix project, was called upon to bring his design experience to the Meadows car alongside Keith Peckmore, a project engineer who had also joined Meadows from Kieft.
Commencing around July 1956, in a back room at the Meadows factory, a prototype vehicle nicknamed The Bug was constructed and developed. This small, four-wheeled, two-seater had a moulded fibreglass shell with gull-wing doors and a Villiers air-cooled 250 cc (15 cu in) two-cylinder engine fitted to a brazed ladder-type chassis. To make a differential unnecessary, the car had a narrow rear track, with drive to the solid rear axle by roller chain. The car was fitted with a four-speed motorcycle manual gearbox, with reverse obtained by running the engine backwards through the Dynastart unit.
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Whilst The Bug was under development, the Italian coachbuilding company Vignale of Turin was commissioned by Flower to design the bodywork for the production version, a task they allocated to Giovanni Michelotti. On 5 December 1956, The Bug which had been taken to Oulton Park motor racing circuit commenced a seven-day 24-hours a day test run, completing 4,000 miles (6,400 km) with a fastest lap of 54.91 miles per hour (88 km/h). Although The Bug had nothing to do with the Egyptian Phoenix project, because of the attendance of Raymond Flower at the circuit with his Phoenix SR150 sports racer and an embargo on the use of the Meadows name in connection with The Bug, Press reports of the test run erroneously referred to the Meadows project as the Phoenix minicar or Phoenix Frisky.
The disclosure of the Meadows company involvement and the correct nomenclature – Meadows Frisky – was announced by the press on 11 March 1957 just prior to the Geneva Motor Show. The press release included information about the Oulton Park test run and information about the involvement of Raymond Flower in the project and Michelotti in the design. The release also stated that the Frisky would be priced at "under £400".
Vignale delivered the body of the new car directly to the Geneva show. As this left no time to install the engine, it was displayed separately in front of the car. The design retained the gull-wing door concept from The Bug and the car attracted widespread interest and acclaim.
Two of these bodies were produced by Vignale, but it quickly became clear that the design would be too expensive for mass production and so work began on completely redesigning the car in time for the Earls Court Motor Show in October.
In June 1957, a new subsidiary of the Meadows company – Henry Meadows (Vehicles) Ltd – was registered in anticipation of production of the car.
Amongst the design changes that took place before October were the replacement of the gull-wing doors with a more conventional suicide door type and the fitting of a larger Villiers engine of 324 cc (19.8 cu in). Immediately before the show it was reported that the prototype had now covered over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) and pre-show publicity stated that there would be two cars on show, the Frisky Saloon and the Friskysport, a convertible version. Brochures displaying artist's impressions of both vehicles were printed. However, at the show, only the convertible Meadows Friskysport appeared. Once again this new design met with an enthusiastic reception from the press.
Reports from the show stated that the car was "not yet in full production". Production of the car did not commence until five months later in March 1958.
In February 1958 a controlling interest in Henry Meadows (Vehicles) Ltd. was acquired by the Flower Group of companies. Raymond Flower was appointed chairman and managing director.
Frisky Spares and Service Ltd, Queenborough, Kent
In 1962, a group of Petbow employees set up Frisky Spares and Service Ltd in Queenborough, Kent and all remaining stocks of Frisky parts were moved there from Petbow's works. This company mainly supplied spares for existing car owners. No real production took place, although they would assemble a car for a customer if required, but preferred to provide a kit, so that customers could construct their own. They ceased trading around 1966.
