This is the Bramble Flint.
It is a small, rear wheel drive, fibreglass sports car designed for narrow country roads, or mountain passes. It is certainly not fast, using a small four-cylinder engine to power it. With such a car, Bramble could happily take the fight to the racetrack, and rely on agility of the flint to do the talking for them.
But there were rumours that, with the fuel crisis Britain experienced in the mid ‘50s, Bramble had created a monster in the name of downsizing.
Instead of a ‘large’ inline four, some people spoke of some flints having been tested with an incredibly small V12, codenamed Watchmaker due to the intricacies of the parts involved. This engine powered the front wheels, and by all accounts, apparently made the flint rather nice to drive. The legend of these Flint Watchmakers persisted for a while, until early this year, when William Moore, the Son of Co-Founder Samuel, found the legend in an abandoned warehouse off on the edges of the Bramble factory complex.
Now, William wanted to give this unusual car an even more unusual sending off, so decided to enter the Great Archanian Trek. This astonishing plan was sent all the way to the top and, while Samuel refused to allow it, the other founder, Robert Chamberlain, allowed it to go underway as a factory venture under one condition – he could co-drive it.
The resulting car is now rear wheel drive, and almost double the power of the original design – the small 1.2 litre V12 producing 93hp, with a redline at 9100rpm – despite being tuned for a lower quality of fuel than the ‘standard’ version. Externally, The Flint has nearly quadruple the ride height, and tires big enough to remove any obstacle in it’s path. Extra vents have been cut, more robust mirrors and a radio have been added, and Canvas bags (storing everything from fuel to the tent the two will sleep in) have been installed. Two pigeonholes in the rear of the Flint, a tow bar, spotlights, mudguards, running boards, and a snorkel, complete the conversion to an off-road monster.
The Flint Chert is ready to carry the flag for Bramble, although William and Robert just want to send the car off with a bang. Although they’d prefer if it didn’t actually go bang – Those canvas fuel bags aren’t exactly sturdy……
