 |
|
Click for: Ikenga |
| ©dwij 2002 |
|
In
mid-October of 1969 Roger
Nathan, friends, and I put the final touches on the Ikenga MK lll
at Radford's and loaded it on a trailer bound for France, stopping
at B.B.C. T.V. in Shepherd's Bush for a Tomorrow's World
televised feature. The next day, at the port of Dover, I bid farewell
to my assistant John Quinn and boarded the channel ferry, headed
for a first exhibit in Paris and a rare opportunity to drive the
Ikenga MK III in city traffic.
The 1969 Italian Motor Show in Turin, Italy followed Paris. The Ikenga MK lll was one of the highly publicized surprises of the motorshow and the most acclaimed British automobile exhibited. The Ikenga MK III featured an innovative accident warning system as well as ultra-sound proximity sensors for parking. Bill Strutton arrived from London to assist me at the exhibit and many potential business connections were made. At the end of the convention Bill and I drove across the Alps for rest and recoup at La Colombe d'Or in St. Paul de Vance France, where Madame Roux's warm smile and welcome was a blessing after many intense months of change, construction, and completion. Charles Williams would be honored and proud of our success! At the end of March 1970 our 170 mph sculpture on wheels was air shipped to Stockholm from Nice, France as the featured attraction at the Swedish International Motor Show, produced by Pico Troberg. Members of our design team flew in from London for the motor show which was a last memorable gathering of our clan before another chapter in the story of Ikenga began to unfold. |
| Ikenga
MK lll 1969 |
 |
 |
| In
Gratitude To: Mr. Bill Lundt-Smith of Radford's, Ltd. and
*Designers
note: For over ten years, following its return to England from
storage in St. Paul DuVance France, the whereabouts of the Ikenga
MK III was unknown. The vehicle was rediscovered in the 1980's
when featured in British motorcar publications as a highly valued
collectors vehicle. The Ikenga MK III eventually became a feature
of England's Manx Motor Museum and the designer had a first opportunity
to again see his creation in 1998 at Bonhams vintage/clasic car
auction in London. The last record of the Ikenga MK III is its
purchase in 2008 by a London art gallery for an automobile collector
on the Arabian Peninsula.
|