{"id":26656,"date":"2023-03-09T18:49:37","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T18:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.totalkitcar.com\/?p=26656"},"modified":"2023-03-09T18:49:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T18:49:37","slug":"a-tribute-to-john-parradine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tkc.grainwork.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/03\/09\/a-tribute-to-john-parradine\/","title":{"rendered":"A TRIBUTE TO JOHN PARRADINE – DELTAYN PROTEUS, PARRADINE PEGASUS & JJR 525S"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was very saddened to hear of the death this week of John Parradine, aged 72.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The late John Parradine 1950-2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To regular readers and kitcar enthusiasts, John will need no introduction as he first appeared on the kitcar radar in 1985 with his Jaguar-based roadster the Deltayn Proteus.<\/p>\n

John was always very kind to me and my first contact with him was when I worked for Kit Cars & Specials <\/em>magazine in the eighties. We sponsored the Stoneleigh show back then and I was tasked with the job of arranging\u00a0\u2018interesting\u2019\u00a0cars to appear on our showcase stand in the then new cowshed foyer area.<\/p>\n

We invited John and he was delighted to put the Proteus on our stand for the weekend. That was the year (1987) when we also had John Raffo\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and\u00a0his Raffo Tipo 12\u00a0\u2013\u00a0on\u00a0the stand.\u00a0He\u00a0brought\u00a0along\u00a0a mobile\u00a0kitchen in the shape of a Commer van and proceeded to keep us in magnificent pasta all weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Proteus was John’s first car<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John was born in Essex and his main day job was importing huge\u00a0industrial\u00a0dumper trucks\u00a0\u2013\u00a0those\u00a0massive ones you see being used for road building\u00a0\u2013\u00a0among\u00a0other similar equipment.\u00a0It was certainly more than a bit of plant hire!\u00a0John\u00a0was very successful at it.<\/p>\n

The Proteus came about because he fancied building a car and couldn\u2019t really find exactly what he was looking for. The car was available in kit form and was based around Jaguar XJ mechanicals. It was pretty distinctive with its bank of three headlights on each side. The\u00a0windscreen\u00a0was a Citro\u00ebn CX item. I wonder if back in\u00a01985 John\u00a0realised how significant France would play in his future career.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rare green Proteus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Deltayn Cars probably sold a handful of Proteus\u2019\u00a0before John reverted\u00a0back to 100 per cent concentration on his\u00a0earthmoving equipment business.\u00a0For a while\u00a0\u2026<\/p>\n

Incidentally,\u00a0I guess engineering was in John\u2019s blood as in\u00a01949 his father produced a full-scale robot elephant that was\u00a0powered by a Ford four-cylinder engine!\u00a0In case you ever wondered why John used an elephant outline on his badge this is the reason.<\/p>\n

Not finished with car building. Far from it, John commissioned Richard Oakes to design a new car for him. This time he meant\u00a0real\u00a0business\u00a0although he retained his beloved Jaguar donor components.<\/p>\n

Trading under a new company name of Parradine Motor Company\u00a0located in Appleby, near Scunthorpe the Pegasus, as the new car was named, was different gravy. A superb thing.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0was a sophisticated design and was claimed to be the world\u2019s first production car to feature a full Kevlar\/carbon-fibre\u00a0bodyshell. From the outset, it\u00a0caused\u00a0a\u00a0stir. Parradine\u2019s intention\u00a0was\u00a0to\u00a0sell it in fully built guise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Richard Oakes styling exercise and scale model of the Pegasus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u00a0remember\u00a0a few clever clogs who may have scoffed at the six-headlight arrangement of the Proteus having to eat humble pie when they first saw the Pegasus. Showing his serious intent John booked a stand at the Geneva\u00a0Motor Show of 1990, where it was officially launched.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Geneva Salon launch of the brilliant Pegasus in 1990<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A\u00a0beefy spaceframe chassis underpinned proceedings\u00a0with power coming from a tuned version of Jaguar\u2019s XJ12 engine said to be good for around 350bhp. The luxurious interior looked very\u00a0ergonomic\u00a0and definitely up to the required standard.\u00a0Trimmers,\u00a0Callow & Maddox, more used to putting the interiors into Bentleys and\u00a0Rolls-Royces,\u00a0were given the job of creating a\u00a0sumptuous\u00a0interior environment befitting of a\u00a0\u2018from\u2019\u00a0\u00a392,000 car (approximately \u00a3142,201\u00a0today, allowing for inflation) and they sure came up trumps with\u00a0swathes of Italian saddle leather and\u00a0buckskin employed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ace trimmers Callow & Maddox was responsible for the luxurious trim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m not sure what the Parradines were expecting at\u00a0the Geneva launch\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a\u00a0big step for a small company\u00a0\u2013\u00a0but\u00a0they surely couldn\u2019t have\u00a0been\u00a0ready for the near 400 orders they received at the\u00a0high-profile\u00a0Swiss show, all of them backed up with a \u00a35000 deposit. I remember John telling me that he was overwhelmed by public and trade responses.<\/p>\n

A trade delegation from the French government was also very impressed and they scrabbled to\u00a0get involved. They liked the idea of a supercar being built on French soil and it\u2019s\u00a0been said that President Mitterand himself was involved in the subsequent deal that saw John relocate his family and company to a\u00a0purpose-built\u00a0factory on the new\u00a0industrial\u00a0estate at Magny Cours race circuit (near Nevers, for geographical reference).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A later picture of the Pegasus post-France<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not only that but then Jaguar boss, Sir\u00a0John Egan liked\u00a0the Pegasus\u00a0so much he agreed to\u00a0supply the major\u00a0Jaguar\u00a0running gear at a discounted rate, while well-known Jaguar engineer\/designer (later of the reborn Lea Francis), Professor Jim Randall\u00a0was also very involved.<\/p>\n

By the time around nineteen\u00a0cars had been built the wheels came off the Pegasus project. A couple of reasons have been given including a theory that domestic French car manufacturers weren\u2019t happy so put continual pressure on the\u00a0authorities. Another is that the first Gulf\u00a0War in 1991 gave the government cold feet, particularly with a looming oil crisis\u00a0on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Rather than hold their nerve they pulled the plug. This left John with his dreams shattered.\u00a0It should have been his ticket to the big time.\u00a0It\u00a0was certainly one of the prettiest and most cohesive specialist cars that I\u00a0have\u00a0ever\u00a0seen.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately,\u00a0John\u00a0had no option but to give the\u00a0rest of the five grand deposits back and move back home to Humberside to lick his wounds.\u00a0Several\u00a0sales figures have been bandied about. The most reliable I\u2019ve seen is that nineteen French-built cars were supplied. Perhaps three or more likely one was supplied later in kit form. Regardless, in an ideal world, John should have sold at least 10,000 Pegasus\u2019.<\/p>\n

Perfectly coining the\u00a0term\u00a0\u2018you\u00a0can\u2019t keep a good man down\u2019 John took a break before planning his next automotive venture. In 1998, now trading under the JJR Automotive banner\u00a0to pave the way for his third attempt at car manufacturing,\u00a0which was the Parradine 525S Roadster.\u00a0At this\u00a0time\u00a0the company relocated to Market Rasen, Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n

A modern interpretation of the Pegasus that again looked stunning. I\u00a0remember\u00a0seeing it at the\u00a0launch\u00a0at the British International Motorshow at the NEC in 2000.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pegasus undergoing transformation into Parradine 525<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
British Motor Show 1999 and the launch of the 525S Roadster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Again,\u00a0another\u00a0automotive\u00a0first for\u00a0John\u00a0Parradine\u00a0\u2013\u00a0this\u00a0time the first\u00a0manufacturer to do\u00a0away with\u00a0external\u00a0door mirrors in lieu of cameras and\u00a0a monitor. Ahead of its time, for sure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
John should have sold thousands of these<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the menu of revisions were the adoption of Quantum H4 doors and the same car\u2019s clever retractable roof system designed by Harvey Wooldridge. The\u00a0Parradine\u00a0was powered by a supercharged 4.6-litre version of the\u00a0modular, quad-cam Ford Mustang V8 engine paired to\u00a0a six-speed gearbox. All up weight was 1350kg.\u00a0Again,\u00a0this Parradine model was not\u00a0available\u00a0in\u00a0kit form. Prices started around \u00a3130,000 (approximately \u00a3160,000, allowing for inflation, today).<\/p>\n

The car was to be available in 430- and 525bhp variants, with two further body styles, the 525SC (Coup\u00e9) and 525SE (Estate) announced in 2001 and 2002 respectively.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
525SE Estate version<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cars were available until around 2006 when the\u00a0company quietly\u00a0closed the shutters for the final time and John Parradine began to take things easier having poured his heart, soul\u00a0and considerable funds into his\u00a0car manufacturing exploits.<\/p>\n

A very nice chap,\u00a0an astute businessman and someone\u00a0who had a real\u00a0go in life. RIP mate, you\u2019ll be missed and thank you for the memories.<\/p>\n

We send our sincere condolences to John\u2019s family and friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was very saddened to hear of the death this week of John Parradine, aged 72. To regular readers and kitcar enthusiasts, John will need […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkc.grainwork.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkc.grainwork.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkc.grainwork.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkc.grainwork.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkc.grainwork.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tkc.grainwork.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkc.grainwork.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkc.grainwork.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkc.grainwork.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}