Norman Timbs Special - The double phoenix or: You only live three times
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Summary
After working as a designer for Tucker and Davis, Norman Timbs wanted to build his own car at the end of the 1940s, just for himself. Although he had no motorsport in mind, he took a German racing car as his model. Almost 80 years later, his Buick-engined "Special" is still an eye-catcher, even though it has since been scrapped and burned to the ground. This article tells the story of a one-off that just won't die.
This article contains the following chapters
- Timbs and Diedt
- A German role model
- Mid-engine with 200 hp
- Rescued, burned, saved
- Still an original
Estimated reading time: 7min
Preview (beginning of the article)
"Norman Timbs Special", "Norman Timbs Emil Diedt Roadster", "Norman Timbs Streamliner" - there are many names for the car described below. But it is one of a kind. In fact, it is twice as unique, which admittedly sounds paradoxical, but will be explained here. The shape of the car is certainly spectacular, possibly even polarizing. There is no highly complex twelve-cylinder engine under the hood of the elongated two-seater, nor does it come from a famous sports car manufacturer. And yet it has an eventful past. This exciting story deserves to be told. Norman Timbs (1917-1993) was an automotive engineer and had designed successful racing cars for the Indianapolis 500 series, among others. He had also worked for the ultimately unsuccessful Preston Tucker, whose originally planned epoch-making car - for whatever reason - famously flopped. Timbs is also associated with the design of the Davis Divan and with early work on the so-called "ground effect" in aerodynamics. He also worked at wheel manufacturer Halibrand for a long time.
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