Birchfield

The Australian Birchfield Motor Company was the final chapter of a specialist-car design created in Britain. Nick Topping conceived the first Birchfield Sports as a one-off in 1982. Clive Smart's CV Shapecraft at Northampton then put the design into low-volume production, using a purpose-built steel-tube chassis, hand-formed aluminum bodywork and Jaguar XJ6 mechanical components beneath styling inspired by the prewar SS Jaguar 100. The British lineage produced 18 cars, with Car Craft Clinic continuing some production under the Birchfield name after Shapecraft. Former Shapecraft employee Nicky Lotay emigrated to Western Australia carrying the drawings and British car number 18 as a pattern. He established Birchfield Motor Company at Rockingham and built cars individually to customer specification. At least two Australian examples had been completed by 2004 and two more were under construction. The Australian manufacturer is generally dated 2003–04; no reliable evidence confirms completion of the two unfinished orders or later series activity, so the catalog does not claim it continued indefinitely. The sole Australian model family is recorded as Birchfield Sports. References to Birchfield SS, SS100 or Jaguar SS100 describe the same recreation rather than separate models or genuine Jaguar production. Likewise, donor registration years and customer choices of transmission or trim do not create additional Birchfield identities. The production total counts only the two Australian cars confirmed complete and excludes the 18 British predecessor vehicles.

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