Shamrock (car)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Shamrock was a car produced in Ireland for a brief period during the 1950's.
The business was established by an American businessman, William K Curtis in Tralee, Co. Kerry, but was moved to Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan, before production began. The aim was to produce a large luxury car model for export to the US market.
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).
Production of up to 10,000 cars a year was talked about but eventually, only ten complete cars were produced during the six months before production ceased. After the factory closed, the unused parts were dumped into the local Lough Muckno.
The car is now very rare, and only three are believed to be still in existence, two in Ireland (Killarney and Drogheda), and one in the USA (Reno, Nevada). The Drogheda car is believed to be the only one still occasionally used on the road.
