Raced by Doctor Who? Who remembers the Monarch Speedster?

The Monarch Speedster was designed and built in Nottingham in 1975 for a reproduction vintage car marketing company run by Joan Hird and Richard Farrow of Redhill, Nottingham. Their sales description was that it was based loosely on a c.1910 Mercer Runabout.

The Monarch prototype had a Triumph 1500cc engine and cost £4500, plus £250 for an optional hood. It was on sale, displayed at the Truman-Mitchell Motor Show at Lenton, Nottingham in May 1975. Hird and Farrow hoped to build five to order but planned to follow up with a larger 14ft model with a 2-ltr engine, based on a Thomas Flyer. Unknown if the other four originals or the larger model were built.

Its value and Doctor Who connection come from it having been designed and built by Nottingham’s hot-rod guru Peter Farries. There is quite a bit about him on the web: he constructed a lot of hot-rods, sports cars and specials, including designing and building Jon Pertwee’s Ford-based faux vintage car and his futuristic 1973 Imp-based Whomobile.

Another maker was Rodger Singleton. He made something similar. The front end of the Sherpa chassis was modified to look more ‘period’. Yours seems similar but possibly ‘Big Austin’ based? The wheels look like early Austin or Morris - the Sherpa-based Homark had cast aluminium wheels made for the vehicle range. Hope this helps!

There were a few manufacturers of Leyland Sherpa-based cars. Homark made something similar. Another was Fleur de Lys.

I think more pictures are needed because the one is limited on possibilities. If possible I would say an engine picture and a picture from the front of the car would help more in identifying the type of car and the history and maybe even a picture of the dash.