Roy Kemp's Comments

That sounds great!! 

I hate to say this, but I actually have pictures of a Melos being hillclimbed at Wiscombe park and it did OK as well.

Good to see Duttons being used and abused :-)) I hope none of you park up like that !

Nick Carlin's page...Nicks Video

Looks a fair buy  Roy, Nick, down here in God's country, does a fair bit of auto testing in his Dutton's, with a fair degree of success,

Roy has the short hardtop for the S3/4, the other type is a 'shooting brake/estate' which makes it into a hatchback by dispensing with the bootlid and covering the space with a rear lift back.

Hi! Roy nice to see another car up hear, what's the plan?

So this is it guys. Been stood for three years so needs some re-commissioning, not to mention a damned good wash and de-mossing! Already started getting the knackered engine out but the lighting in the workshop is rubbish, so had to call a halt for today. Hopefully more fun this weekend.

Ah well folks, today's the day! Cleared some space in the lockup last night so I'm off to collect the Dutton shortly. And hopefully get stuck straight into the engine swap. Will take lots of photos!

Thanks for the digging Adrian - it's interesting that it's registered as a two litre engine. Apparently the owner previous to the seller used it for drag racing with a Zetec. I guess it's still logged as having that motor. 

Club records indicate it to be a series 3 but i'm guessing you already knew that :)

I called it a database but it's more like just a big gallery at the moment, its growing along with the other records.

DVLA records show the following.

• Vehicle make DUTTON PHAETON
• Date of first registration 12 June 1974
• Cylinder capacity (cc) 1989cc
• CO₂Emissions Not available
• Fuel type PETROL
• Export marker No
• Vehicle status SORN in place
• Vehicle colour BLACK
• Vehicle type approval Not available
• Wheelplan 2 AXLE RIGID BODY
• Revenue weight Not available

This means it can be declared as historic and is now tax exempt. As usual its not listed as MAKE Dutton , MODEL Phaeton, due to DVLA data entry issues when the converted to computerised record.

The reg is XNK 628M. 

Ah right. I know it's a 1985 kit built on a 1974 Escort donor. But if the Phaeton models weren't linked to the year then it could indeed be any of them. There is a very comprehensive history file with the car so the info will be in there somewhere! Is there a register anywhere that I can identify it from the vehicle reg number?