Reborn coachbuilding company Radford has revealed the first details of its new car – and the British coachbuilder is getting help from Lotus.
Radford will use Lotus technology for the underpinnings, then add its own bespoke body on top.
Radford was founded in 1948 as Harold Radford Coachbuilders Ltd. Projects included the Bentley Countryman and fibreglass bodywork for the prototype Ford GT40.
The company later became famous for custom Bentleys and Minis – Beatles manager Brian Epstein commissioned Radford to create one-off Minis for the Fab Four.
Earlier this year, F1 champion Jenson Button announced he would bring back the name, alongside car builder Ant Anstead, designer Mark Stubbs and business adviser Roger Behle.
Button is taking a hands-on approach to leading the business. In March, he confirmed he would personally sign off each car the firm builds at a racetrack in America.
Few details are known about the new model at this stage, but the company said it would reveal the car in full later in 2021, with order books opening ‘very soon’.
‘It will drive like nothing else’
Jenson Button said: “We’re already hard at work developing this car and the driving experience will be different and very special. It’s going to be truly analogue and thoroughly engaging, but with all the refinements that you would expect from a Radford.
“It will drive like nothing else. There is a purity to driving that is lost in many cars of today. I will ensure we create a driver’s car, a trait that is embedded within the DNA of all Lotus cars.”
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