About the marque
- Founded
- 1979 – 1985
- Country
- United Kingdom
A. G. Thorpe Developments began at Darley Abbey in 1979 by offering the Custom Spridget, a fiberglass front conversion for Austin-Healey Sprites and MG Midgets; forty were sold through 1985. The firm moved to Burton-upon-Trent in 1983 and introduced the Shelsley Spyder as both a complete vehicle and kit. Its 1930s-style open body could sit on Triumph Herald or Vitesse foundations or Thorpe's own ladder chassis with Ford or Lotus power. Only about five Spyders resulted before closure in 1985. This Shelsley lineage is distinct from Shelsley Motors of 1938–1939 and Peter Needham's unrelated T2 of 2000–2005.
Text adapted from “Shelsley (A. G. Thorpe)” on Wikipedia ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗