Motoring enthusiasts are to build the first cars in Scotland since production of the Hillman Imp ended in 1981.
The ADO Coupe, a fibreglass sports car tribute to the iconic MG Midget, will be produced to order in Dundee.
The car takes its name from the surname initials of the trio behind it – car enthusiast Douglas Anderson, designer Richard Oakes and engine specialist Clark Dawson.
It will be the first car to be made in Scotland since production ended at Linwood in 1981.
The ADO Coupe has been designed by a trio of motoring enthusiasts and brings back to life a proposed replacement for the MG Midget first put forward in 1964.
An early version of the car was built as a prototype by BMC but never progressed any further.
That design has been remodelled by the Dundee based firm.
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The new car is a fibreglass coupe based on MG running gear.
The project has taken several years to fulfil.
Mr Anderson said: “I wanted to a be a car designer when I was young but there were no opportunities for me at that time.
“I did come up with a few designs which were published a long time ago but this is the first time I’ve created a full-size model… which I think is a work of art and pretty sensational.”
The high-performance, lightweight fibreglass-bodied car is aimed at today’s growing retro market and is aimed at car enthusiasts who want to own a unique vehicle.
It will be available as a road-going version or as a competition shell for the racetrack and can be supplied either as a kit or ready-assembled.
The final sale price has yet to be confirmed but will depend on the choices made by the buyer.
The Hillman Imp car, produced by the Coventry-based Rootes Group, began production in 1963 in Scotland but production ended in 1976 after the company had gone bust and been taken over by Chrysler.
Peugeot-Citroen then purchased the Renfrewshire factory, renaming the car the Chrysler Sunbeam, before closing the factory for good in 1981. Somehalf a million variants of the Imp had been produced.
The closure of the factory devastated Linwood. The Proclaimers lyric “Linwood no more” in Letter from America is a reference to the economic impact shutting the factory had on the town.
The car plant had brought some 6,000 jobs to the area after the decline in the shipbuilding industry on the River Clyde.
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