History?

[PeteC]

Can anybody (Rob!!) tell me the history of the stylus with respect to who's who?
I've read a couple of names associated with it but only met Pete and Tim, so who is Neville and "that Yorkshire bodger" and is there anybody else worthy of a mention?
Pete C..

[stylussprinter]

History is --- designed and developed , raced by Jeremy Phillips/SYLVA AUTOKITS . Eventually the building/design rights sold on to P.Powell in 1996 at which point , Neville Powell built the chassis for Pete P. as he was just half an hour away. Neville also had an influence on improvements . Top rockers were the same as Fury's , top hats , metal sleeves with a long bolt to pivot on . He designed the early pressed steel rockers using needle roller bearings . Pete had trouble getting the original SPAX shocks supplied when he wanted them so changed to AVO's . They made the car somewhat higher than Jeremy's original , causing problems when people like me tried lowering the car to match Pete's demo car chassis height ----- bending rockers and rear lower links due to lowering beyond the pistons ability to travel I didn't look till it was too late , hence years of lowering , changing springs shocks etc .
I believe Neville P. made chassis up to number 14 (Andy Bailey's), possibly more . After that the guy up north made them . Don't recall his name but he made chassis for several kit manufacturers including Ginnetta .
During this time Pete P. had premises first in Guildford then Woking . Can't remember what year he moved to Wales (for cost reasons) but about 2001 . Tim then worked for Pete untill taking on SSC himself around 2003/4
During that time Tim and Chris Hill redesigned the body to become the RT along with most other improvements . Tim was going to race the RT with the Toyota 4age engine for SSC but the engine failed twice during practice/qualifying so funds never recouped to press on with that project. Hence finally fitting the Duratec to the demo RT .
Once Tim was the owner changes in various items came in to play that affected handling and general finish. The last big thing to change was bringing chassis construction in house .

That's about the extent of my knowledge

[BAILSWGT214]

Nev made up to chassis numder 24 , as we talking about this last nite down the pub meet (the Links in Liphook ) he was saying how labour intensive it was , he was being paided per chassis by Pete P , when it was all worked out with the hours he was getting £2 per hour ??? , the guy up north cut the chassis jig in half to speed up production , this was not done properly this resulted in the wheel base being difference from one side to the other , the front suspension towers are out of alignment



cheers Andy

[MattD]

As well as the front end needle bearing mods, Neville was responsible for the deisgn of the de-dion rear axle, original being the live axle Jeremy Philips design.
The first few Sylva Stylus cars were Stylus bodies on Fury chassis, so they are somewhat different underneath.
Rob was being kind earlier, so I'll say what he didn't !. (edit... Beat me to it Andy )
The reason Neville Powell chassis are "better" is that Nev made the original SSC Stylus chassis jig & the early chassis, which are fully welded.
When the guy up north took it on, the jig was cut in half to transport, with pins fitted for alignment.
The jig was not properly reconstructed & the chassis made there are stitch welded & allegedly not always "true".
This is mainly in differences between wheelbase on each side of the car, & includes Rob & my chassis.

Original bodies were made by Sylva in clear gel, SSC (P.Powell) had them made by Southern compoites at Lasham in white gel(a aero glider manufacturer/assembler). I collected my body from there circa 2000.
When Peter moved to Wales he shifted GRP production to somewhere in S.Wales I think (or was that just the hardtop concept Rob ??), then later moved again to its current manufacture at Darrian.

When Tim took on SSC he took chassis production in-house on a new jig & revised the chassis again to incorporate all the mods that builders had been nagging P.Powell for such as adjustable front suspension mountings, radiator mountings, steering rack mount, floor mounted pedals, one piece doors, decent door hinges, etc.
Later Tim & Chris (now at Aston Martin) created the current fully independant rear end, through 3d modelling & analysis.
A Jaguar chassis designer checked the design & gave it the thumbs up, I seem to remember he bought a chassis too.

Before losing his way, Tim was making a concerted effort to simplify assembly & up the build quality by standardising on 4-cylinder engines (usually Ford) & offering good value assembly packs.
But personal circumstances & the kit market died under him......
Development wise a new chassis & body (if you can get one) is far superior than the earlier ones.
Unfortunately time has passed & the SSC brand has been damaged rather than enhanced, but it may be back one day.