Invicta S1

About this model

The Invicta name, despite being heralded by the history books, had lay dormant for over half a century.

However, approaching the turn of the millennium, a revival was appearing on the horizon, manifesting as one man - Michael Bristow. Although self-described as ‘a practical, entrepreneurial engineer... not a petrolhead’, Bristow was seeking the ultimate pre-war British car to purchase. After considering the common choices like Bentley and Lagonda, he was introduced to the Invicta S-type, one of 77 produced between 1930 and 1935. He was smitten and purchased an example of his own; however, this was not any ordinary S-type. This was the exact car that had won the 1931 Monte-Carlo Rally at the hands of none other than Donald Healey, and, not long after, Bristow was able to acquire the rights to the Invicta name.

In 2000, he received a call from Chris Marsh, son of Marcos founder Jem. Marsh wondered if Bristow would license the Invicta name for a new limousine project, but he refused. He did, however, convince Marsh to come on board with him in reviving the Invicta marque with a unique grand-touring car; one with the potential of succeeding in competition like Invictas of old.

This development stayed secret until the 2002 British Motor Show, where Invicta debuted the new car - the ‘S1’. It used a steel-tube space-frame chassis and conventional control-arm suspension, but that’s where the familiarities ended. The body, penned by Leigh Adams of Automotive Design & Prototyping Ltd, was manufactured as a single piece of carbon fibre using a process called Zpreg, and, weighing just 20 kg (ca. 44 Ib), was grafted to the chassis and an integral roll cage, creating an incredibly rigid structure.

Under the bonnet was the 4.6-litre DOHC V8 from Ford’s Mustang Mach 1. Developing 320 horses of reliable power, it was mated to a BorgWarner T-45 five-speed manual gearbox, BTR Hydratak limited-slip differential and four-wheel AP Racing disc brakes. On each corner was a 19-inch, bespoke, Italian-made alloy wheel fitted with a low-profile Continental tyre - 255 front, 275 rear. Inside the cabin was a luxuriously appointed interior, adopting brushed aluminium, leather and extensive sound-deadening to provide the ultimate grand-touring experience. Electric windows, satellite navigation, climate control and a VDO stereo system were all standard equipment.

The ingredients seemed to be there: a rigid chassis, claimed by consultants Status as the strongest they’d ever tested; a lightweight body, both striking in looks and dimensions; and a reliable powerplant, with enough ‘oomph’ to take the 1.4-tonne machine to 62 mph in a claimed five seconds flat. However, contemporary media noted some flaws. Autocar, despite praising the chassis, stated that it was ‘nothing like as fast as the claims suggest’ and The Telegraph picked apart its rather crude raids of the Ford parts bin. Still, Bristow pressed on and S1 production began, priced at £106,000.

Bristow stated that ‘the S1 was designed to accept much more power than the current 320 bhp’, so Invicta launched the supercharged S1-420 and S1-600 variants later, both with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, and an automatic available on the 420 at no extra cost. A 2+2 version of the 600 was shown at the 2008 British Motor Show, but few people were taken by the £150,000 price tag.

Despite doing all they could to develop and produce a quality performance car, as with so many low-volume manufacturers, the money wasn’t enough to keep going - certainly not helped by the single prototype being written off while a safety car at Silverstone -, and, following a quick name change to the Westpoint Car Company (as to not further taint the Invicta name), the company was dissolved. Only a believed seven S1-320s were ever produced.