reviews Phoenix from the flames
Many of us have dreamed of building a Brooklands-style special from the bare bones of a classic car. Few of us make the dream become a reality, but Roger Fountain has made it happen and overcome almost endless obstacles to complete his vision of the ideal 1930s sports car. This includes dealing with a knee replacement, broken back, cancer and a burnt-out wreck as the starting point for the project. No wonder he called the book Phoenix.
The 80-page book is not a detailed how-to guide to building a special or all of the skills and techniques needed to make one. Instead, Phoenix is about the personal way that Roger arrived at the car he used as the base, decided on the style of body he wanted and how he went about designing it. Although not broken down into individual chapters, Phoenix is written in a logical manner that follows the restoration of the Riley’s components and the creation of the body. It also talks about the many different elements that go into restoring a pre-war classic, such as the electrics, wooden body frame and aluminium skin, engine, chassis and instruments. Perhaps just as importantly for many thinking of embarking
on a restoration project or already involved in one, Roger Fountain goes into some detail about the problems he encountered when trying to register his car. Finding the car had been written-off and was no longer registered was a body blow, but Roger tells a heroic tale of determination and patience. Through a 10-month process with the DVLA, he had the car reinstated on their records and even managed to retain the original registration number. This is a lesson for all in the classic car world about not giving up in the face of bureaucracy. Written in the style of an extended magazine article,
Phoenix also comes with lots of colour images that ably illustrate
much of the work on the car. They also have longer than usual captions on many images to further explain in detail the processes being shown. For this alone, Phoenix is worth the asking price as an inspiration for anyone considering a restoration or who needs a mid-project morale boost. A more detailed contacts list would be welcome to help those working on cars similar to Roger’s Riley. Otherwise, Phoenix is a charming story of how one owner and restorer went about building his perfect Brooklands-style special.
Alisdair Suttie
Phoenix by Roger Fountain is available from Roger Fountain Publishing and is priced £15 for the hardback and £10 for paperback. ISBN 978-1-9161600-19
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2020 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN
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