I got to wondering this St. Patrick’s Day, surely some Irishman sometime got into the car business. A quick Google of “Irish car” turns up nothing but the recipe for an unfortunately named combination of Irish stout, Irish whiskey and Irish cream. Just a little more digging turned up this bit of gold, the 1960 Shamrock. Motor Trend called it an Irish T-Bird at half the price.
An Irish-Californian named William Curtis (only 27) was visiting the old country when he got the urge to go into the car business there, “…to help the country and its people.” He built a ladder frame with 98″ wheelbase, installed an Austin A55 drive train and suspension, and had Alvin “Spike” Rhiando, a Canadian Formula 3 racer, design the fiberglass body. Its 1.5 liter B-series engine was used in many BMC cars, including the original MGA and the Nash Metropolitan, but the Shamrock version only developed 53 hp. Motor Trend predicted performance “should be adequate, but not outstanding.”
Curtis set up a “40,000 sq. ft.” factory in Castleblaney, County Monaghan to produce it. He told Motor Trend he hoped to be employing 2400 workers and shipping 3000 cars to the US in 1960. Shamrock’s price was set at $2495.
Its brochure says “the Shamrock is not just another car off a booming production line.” That’s for sure. In its six months of existence, only about ten Shamrocks were ever built. They dumped the unused parts into the local lake, Lough Muckno. Seven Shamrocks survive today, four in Ireland and three in America. But it was the first original production car made in Ireland. “As one Irishman at Castleblaney puts it: ‘Every Shamrock has the pride of old Ireland behind it.'”
More info, including the whole MT article and lots more photos at Forgotten Fiberglass, also at Autoweek, Wikipedia, and a thread at Boards.ie.
Update from the morning after: Digging deeper into that thread at Boards.ie yields lots more nice photos. There were at least three different grille designs used on Shamrocks, this one’s rather nice.
Wow! What an unexpected St. Paddy’s day treat; better than green beer!
Never heard of it. Nice work; it can be amazing what one finds upon following an impulse.
It’s a bit of a preview of the DeLorean, no less; although that was built in Northern Ireland. Given its styling, the Shamrock was even less likely to succeed. Poor little thing…
Also 2400 workers building 3000 cars a year – surely that must have set alarm bells ringing!
DeLorean did, of course, try to get his car made in the Republic of Ireland but the government funded Irish Development Authority wouldn’t back him.
There was an Irish car built around 1910 called a Silver Stream, and it still exists, but only one was made.
I think Auto Union did a better job of making a psuedo-American car with their SP1000.
Ah – the good ol’ times before safety standards were invented, when almost anyone could start building his very own car and selling it to the public. So many briliant examples of craftsmanship they gave to us… as well as some not so brilliant. This one would actually score rather high on my personal custom-car-o-meter, as it looks almost factory built, inside and out. But it is so appropriate that you didn’t include a large photo of this car’s frontal styling – it would’ve completely ruined the impression. Seeing its face for the first time I thought it was a larger breed of the Amphicar. Rear end treatment if much easier on my eyes, though – while still somewhat Mercury Comet-esque, with this canted taillights.
Yes, the face of a Shamrock is a big disappointment compared with the rest of its styling, one of the nicest designs of its time in my view. Yet the front is strictly “Popular Workbench”. A simple chrome grille and a bit of brightwork would have done wonders.
Update! See above for a much nicer grille.
Love the article and Happy St. Patricks day!
Don Mahaffey Weaver
Nice writeup Mike. I’ve heard of the Shamrock, but I did not know about the BMC mechanicals. It always reminded me of a compact 1958 Continental Mark III.
Yes, from the side it’s like a ’58 Conti that shrunk after the owner ignored the washing instructions and dunked it in boiling hot water.
But, as others have noted, quite attractive from the rear. And scarcer than a five-leaf clover!
Nothing shows off the potential perv appeal like a woman in the trunk!
Its styling is so, un Irish though, its like a little 57 Lincoln.
Only 10 Shamrocks were built in 6 months, theres a drinking joke in there somewhere…..
What a strange little car! The styling is positively cartoonish, with the overlong overhangs and whatnot.
It really does look like an Amphicar in profile, which really isn’t a compliment to either car.
Ye gods what were they thinking building it for local consumption may have worked its looks are an aquired taste to say the least an interesting idea that went nowhere, even the Trekka out sold it
That’s far more obscure than the only Welsh car I can think of! (Gilbern GT/Genie/Invader)
Hmm… American entrepreneur, Irish manufacture, over-promising looks, mundane mechanicals, and a bit of a commercial flop?
Sounds like the Shamrock was about 20 years ahead of its time!
You left out the part about the body being made out of an unusual material… 🙂
It’s a looker but it would have aged badly and I think it should have had at least a 6 cylinder engine.The price would have been un competitive with the new compact cars or a VW by the time it got to America.
Great piece! I dimly recall reading something about this car years ago, but had long forgotten about it. Other than the front end (and excessive front overhang) it was a nice looking car for the time. With only ten cars built, this poor thing never even got out of prototype stage. It is hard to call the car itself a failure when it never even got built in any serious numbers.
Wikipedia says that rear wheels could not be removed without removing the whole rear axle…..
I can’t imagine such ridiculous design error even for a backyard hobby project, not to mention proper production vehicle.
Hmmm… Nice looking, very unusual.
Thank you for showing a tailfinned car i Was not aware of, Cool – but they gotta jaxzz up the front as well!
Love The Comet Gone Mad tailfins/lights
Looks like an Amphicar Competitor somehow… also like a Car Ride/attraction at Disney-esque park…
2495$ Hmmm
I recall having read about these somewhere (Practical Classics?) with the style described as looking “like it was designed by someone who had a T-bird described to them over the phone”.
What a great article and photo(s). Thanks for the post!
Cheers to Ireland! 1/2 of My ancestor’s came from Ireland. The other 1/2 German.
Don Mahaffey AKA Haffey
Wow! Never heard of this. Never thought Ireland had ever had a car-maker (even if it was just for 10 units). I adore obscure cars, this just made my day.
Sláinte!
What an unusual story, I would like to see some pictures of ones that survived currently.