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Squire 1.5 liter Ranalah Tourer - uncompromising sports car of superlatives

Name: Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer 1936
Brand: Squire

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Created on January 11, 2017

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Bruno von Rotz

John Colley Photography - Courtesy Gooding & Comapny

Courtesy Gooding & Comapny

Tim Scott/Fluid Images - Courtesy Fiskens

Bruno von Rotz

John Colley Photography - Courtesy Gooding & Comapny

Courtesy Gooding & Comapny

Tim Scott/Fluid Images - Courtesy Fiskens

Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer (1936) - completely restored at a cost of 4100 hours

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Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer (1936) - Front view of the fast tourer

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Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer (1936) - long wheelbase model, built as a four-seater

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Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer (1936) - rear view with covered spare wheel

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Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer (1936) - Cockpit lined with carpets

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Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer (1936) - four cylinders, two overhead camshafts, one supercharger

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Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer (1936) - with closed, but not very elegant soft top

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Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer (1936) - proud owner with cigar

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Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer (1936) - at the RAC Rally 1936 (?)

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Squire 1 1/2 Litre Ranalah Tourer (1936) - before restoration in 2011

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Squire 1 1/2 Litre Long Chassis Ranalah (1935) - at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2016 in the "Pre-War Decadence" class

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Squire 1500 SC 'Skimpy' (1935) - participant in the race for the Brookland Trophy at the Goodwood Revival 2012

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Summary

Adrian Squire was certainly an enthusiast and a precocious one at that. At the age of 14, he began working on the design of a sports car that would give the competition from Aston Martin, Bentley and MG a run for their money. By the age of 24, he had reached his goal and built one of the world's best sports cars, capable of competing with Bugatti and the like. However, the high standards were also reflected in the price, so that not even two dozen cars could be sold. This report is about one of the rare pre-war sports cars which, after extensive restoration, is back as it was when its first buyer took delivery of it.

This article contains the following chapters

A born designer
Entrepreneur at the age of 21
Four-cylinder with supercharger
Advanced chassis
Various bodies on two wheelbases
Enthusiasm
Sales problems
Complete restoration

Estimated reading time: 4min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Many of us drew sports or racing cars as boys, but very few of us started designing one of the world's best sports cars at the age of 14 and finally built it at the age of 24 and sold it at Bugatti-level prices. But Adrian Morgan Squire did just that. Adrian Squire was born in 1910. When he went to school, people were looking back on the end of the First World War. There was euphoria and faith in the future in the air and sports car manufacturers in Great Britain were celebrating new successes, whether they were called AC, Aston Martin, Bentley, Frazer Nash, Invicta or Riley. Squire, who grew up in good circumstances, must have been very impressed by the new possibilities of sporting mobility at the time. In any case, he joined Bentley as an apprentice at the age of 18 and eventually moved on to MG. Both companies built good sports cars, but Squire wanted to do better.

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