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The Shamrock was a car produced in Ireland for a brief period during the late 1950s.

The business was established by American businessmen James F. Conway and William K Curtis in Castleblaney, Co. Monaghan. The aim was to produce a large luxury car model for export to the US market. Alvin 'Spike' Rhino, a Canadian ex 500-cc Formula 3 racer, designed the Shamrock.[1]

Shortly after production began, however, design flaws became apparent. Although the car was big and heavy, it used a relatively small Austin A55 1.5 litre engine, which limited performance. The A55 also provided the transmission and suspension. Another problem was that the rear wheels were shrouded by body panels and a rear wheel could not be removed (for puncture repair for example) without dropping its axle. The car used fibreglass body panels and was styled as a four seat, two door coupé with removable hardtop. The wheelbase was 98 inches (2487 mm). All cars were painted white, although one in the USA has been repainted candy green.

Production of up to 10,000 cars a year was talked about but as few as ten complete cars were produced during the six months before production ceased. After the factory closed, the unused parts were dumped into the local lake, Lough Muckno^{[citation needed]}.

The car is now very rare, and only eight are believed to be still in existence: five in Ireland — one each in Killarney, Castleblayney, and Wexford and two in Drogheda — and three in the USA, one in Seattle and two in California.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shamrock (Ireland) vehicles.

• "Shamrock Car Returns Home For Festival". castleblayney.ie. 7 July 2006. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
• Jonathan A. Stein (21 March 2005). "1960 Shamrock: The Luck of the Irish". AutoWeek. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
• "Shamrock Car on Irish Classic car forum Boards.ie thread".

External links

• Irish Wheels of Misfortune Provide a Lift for Restorer Los Angeles Times June 2002
• The Shamrock: The flash and sleek Irish car that never got out of first gear Irish Independent September 2014

На других языках

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[de] Shamrock Motors

Die Shamrock Motors Limited war ein irischer Automobilhersteller, der von 1959 bis 1960 zunächst in Tralee im County Kerry und anschließend in Castleblayney im County Monaghan ansässig war.

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- [en] Shamrock (car)

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[it] Shamrock (automobile)

La Shamrock è una vettura prodotta in Irlanda per un breve periodo tra il 1959 e il 1960.

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