Tornado Cars
Tornado Cars Ltd was founded in 1957 by Bill Woodhouse and Tony Bullen based in Mill End, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England. • Illustration — 1962 Tornado Talisman The first model was the Typhoon Sports, available either as a body for fitting to Ford 8/10 chassis (following a then current market trend for "specials" based on these mechanical components) or with a Tornado designed and manufactured chassis to which a range of engines and transmissions could be fitted. About 400 Typhoons of all variants are believed to have been produced through to 1962. A similarly styled Tempest model featuring a Ford Anglia 105E engine and independent wishbone front suspension and live back axle.
Tornado Cars
Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England · Tornado Talisman 1962 · CC BY 2.0
- Name
- Tornado Typhoon Sports
- Founded
- 1958
- Headquarters
- Rickmansworth
- Activity
- automotive industry
- Dissolved
- 1964
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Tornado Cars Ltd was founded in 1957 by Bill Woodhouse and Tony Bullen based in Mill End, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England. • Illustration — 1962 Tornado Talisman The first model was the Typhoon Sports, available either as a body for fitting to Ford 8/10 chassis (following a then current market trend for "specials" based on these mechanical components) or with a Tornado designed and manufactured chassis to which a range of engines and transmissions could be fitted. About 400 Typhoons of all variants are believed to have been produced through to 1962. A similarly styled Tempest model featuring a Ford Anglia 105E engine and independent wishbone front suspension and live back axle.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Tornado Cars. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q2444211 · wikipedia · Tornado Cars
In this article
Overview
Overview
This was introduced around 1960–61, but only around 15 were produced. A Competition Tempest was also produced using the same front suspension, but with a highly tuned formula junior engine with twin 38 DCOEs. Fitted with a close-ratio gearbox and having an independent rear axle. Also from a Formula Junior with in board alfin drums. A Tornado Thunderbolt was also produced using a Triumph TR3 engine and a stronger chassis and suspension. Only one was built. This car survives today alongside the Competition Tempest, with the original constructor. In 1962, the company introduced the Talisman 2+2 coupe carrying an attractively styled fibreglass body on a more sophisticated tubular steel chassis with Ford 1,340 cc or 1,500 cc engines in various states of tune. This model was available either in component form or factory finished and was praised for having lively performance combined with good ride and handling characteristics, and a high standard of finish. Cash-flow problems forced the company into liquidation in 1964 after just approx. 186 Talismans had been made. The company was bought in 1963 by John Rex Glyn Bekaert, Jaguar racing driver and friend of Lofty England (Jaguar). The company was renamed Tornado Cars (1963) Ltd. And the first project was the build of the Talisman V8. This car was based on the shortened and strengthened chassis of a Daimler SP250. Engine, gearbox and even suspension were reused from the Daimler and the Talisman body put on top. The car was presented to Jaguar Ltd. When finished and even taken into consideration by them, codenamed "Jaguar Intercity Car". Handling and performance were found to be brilliant and just two weeks after completion the car had won the Rallye de la Route in France when Pat Moss only made it to 6th place.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Tornado Typhoon Sports • Manufacturer — Tornado Cars Ltd • Production — 1957–62 • Layout — Front engine with rear-wheel drive • Body Style — 2-door convertible • Engine — * 933 cc sidevalve I4 • 1172 cc sidevalve • Transmission — 3-speed manual • Wheelbase — 87 in or 97 in
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United Kingdom
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Collectables
20,755 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- ToricoWork
- Torin's PassageWork
- Torino 2006Work
- TornadoWork
- Tornado Low LevelWork
- Tornado OutbreakWork
- TornaxOrganisation
- TorpadoOrganisation
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Tornado Cars?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.