FIFTY YEARS OF THE CLAN CRUSADER
By Andrew Roberts |
8th March, 2021
Fifty years ago, a factory in County Durham produced the first examples of a quite remarkable new coupe. The Clan Crusader’s production run may have lasted for little more than two years, but it made a more significant impact than other cars might achieve in ten.
The Crusader’s origins date from the late 1960s when the ex-Lotus employees’ Paul Haussauer and Brian Luff decided to create their own sports car. The Clan Crusader would employ the engine, transmission and suspension of the Sunbeam Imp Sport/Stiletto and GRP monocoque bodywork.
The launch took place at the Grosvenor House Hotel on 22nd September 1971. In that same month, Autocar thought, ‘Altogether, the Crusader’s handling approaches the standard set by the Lotus Elan’ and ‘the Crusader feels almost in the go-kart class on first acquaintance’.
In January 1973, Motor Sport echoed such praise. Andrew Marriott found the Clan ‘a motor car of enormous appeal and one which we thoroughly enjoyed testing after a rather long wait to get our hands on it’. Furthermore, ‘It looks as if the Clan could be Britain’s answer to the Alpine-Renaults’.
Meanwhile, Clan’s management hoped the Crusader would appeal as a “second car” in addition to transport for a club racer. The brochure promised ‘ample space for hard luggage behind the main seats which could alternatively be used to carry two small children’. In reality, these “back seat” occupants would have to be a) very small and b) extremely tolerant.
However, the Clan represented a very attractive proposition to the motorist seeking an alternative to a small MG or Triumph. Its top speed was nearly 100 mph, with 0 – 60 in 12.5 seconds. The price of a new Crusader was £1,409.87, and the list of extras included a radio, a sunroof, halogen headlamps and aluminium wheels.
The Clan was not cheap - it was around 40% more expensive than a Midget - but ordering it as a kit meant saving £281. The chaps of Motor tried their hands at home-building a Crusader in 1972, and they reflected:
We got tremendous satisfaction from our day’s work, especially driving away in it at the end. We now appreciate that there is more enjoyment to be gained from owning a kit car than just the saving on purchase tax (although that’s a fair incentive on its own).
Alas, the production ended in November 1973 after just 315 units. The reasons were various – the imposition of VAT on kit cars, the high price, component supply problems due to strikes at Chrysler UK and the additional challenge of the fuel crisis. Gerry Marshall, a Clan distributor off track, even devised the publicity stunt of driving a Crusader from Glasgow to Marble Arch on one tank of petrol, but it was to no avail.
There was a postscript in 1982 when manufacture re-commenced in Northern Ireland. The County Down-built versions – aka the “Irish Clan” - were made until 1987, including a handful of the mid-engine “Clan Clover” with Alfa Romeo running gear. As for the Crusader’s enduring appeal, the early publicity claimed it was ‘A car that will put the pleasure back into motoring for you’ – and this was no mere hyperbole.
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