A Mythical Beast

Posted by John Mellberg August 30, 2021

A Mythical Beast

The Minotaur was initially conceived in 1993 by John Forakis, in the UK, as a racecar inspired mid-engine sportscar with muscular bodywork and a low, wide stance on the road. It was intended for sale as a turn-key or partially assembled component car for road and possible track use. In the course of development, two versions were engineered, a Targa version with a removable roof and a hard-top coupe. An open top Spyder was also built later, for a German customer.

The Minotaur had a custom chassis (rumored to be based on the Ultima's tubular unit) that could accommodate a variety of powerplants. The prototype was powered by a Rover V8 but later cars were designed around a 5.7 liter Chevrolet V8 that was good for more than 350bhp. That was more than sufficient to move its 2500lbs with authority off the line. The car had twin, side-mounted radiators as well as dual fuel tanks. The engine was mounted mid-rear in the tubular steel frame. Power was delivered via a Renault R21 turbo transaxle.

Among the car's creature comforts were an adjustable, electrically operated pedal box, which moved the pedals fore and aft in relation to the driver. It also had a telescoping steering column with a wide range of adjustments. Together these attributes were intended to make the car accessible to people with a variety of statures.

To produce the car, Forakis would found Minotaur Cars Ltd, a small operation in Chatham Dockyards, Kent, UK. in the early 1990's. However, he had been involved in car design and manufacture since 1975. Minotaur Cars introduced the Minotaur in 1993 at the National Kit Car Show. The car made a big splash in specialty car magazines as well as the mainstream motoring press. Its adventurous styling attracted a good deal of attention, but that didn't translate to sales in the slow economy of the period. As such, they produced a few kits and turn-key examples before closing its doors in 2007, due to slow sales.

Simbol Design's prototype C8 roadster

Italian firm Simbol Design (formerly Automobili Lavazza) was founded in 1975 by Enrico Lavazza. For more than 30 years he has produced racing prototypes, kit cars and replicas. Some notable cars made by Lavazza include the K1 Attack, Covini C6W, as well as the C8 which was based on the Minotaur. With the assistance of Forakis, Simbol Design would produce a handful of examples of the C8, between 1998 and the early 2000's, before moving on to other projects such as the Lavazza GTX.

Pilgrim Minotaur

With the end of Minotaur Cars, the rights and tooling were then taken over by Pilgrim Cars, an established maker of kit cars like the Sumo, a small dune buggy inspired car. They were looking to add some excitement to their product portfolio. Unfortunately, the kit's complexity and cost were still prohibitive and the market was becoming increasingly dominated by high end replicas of cars like the Shelby Cobra, GT40, and Lotus Seven at its price-point.

Pilgrim would throw in the towel in 2009 and sell the project off to another taker, Vision Sportscars. Vision, in turn would encounter financial difficulties and ended up folding in 2012.

Vision Sportscars Minotaur MK3

All said, around a dozen examples of the Minotaur, including the prototypes produced by Simbol. Though it was quite a compelling design when first envisioned, it hadn't aged well in the new millennium and one suspects its turn-key price of £65,000 plus VAT didn't help.

John Forakis sadly passed away in 2020, due to cancer. However, the story of the Minotaur may not be over as yet. His family retains the original jigs and molds for the Minotaur and his son George is planning to build one last car, in honor of his father. Watch for news about that, here on RCC, in the future.

Special thanks to George Forakis, for contributing further information about the Minotaur. This article has been updated for accuracy.

Sources:
Wired Magazine
Pistonheads