Andy Saunders, Automotive Alchemist

Review by Pete Vack

Thanks to the kind services of Dalton Watson, we have been introduced to one of the more fascinating characters we have ever encountered.

Andy Saunders is a British artist, creator, historian, showman; a coachbuilder in the tradition of the great American customizers. And, like the great George Barris, he is unrestrained, outrageous, impractical, ingenious, he deconstructs and destroys and then creates with no mercy. Nor is he bound by a ’32 Ford body or chassis; his subjects run from a futuristic safety car prototype of the fifties to Citroën 2CVs to Panhards to Zagatos. Aside from mechanical constraints of using existing chassis, unlike other coachbuilders, Saunders has no limits to what he can create. He can and does build whatever comes into his head. I come, I see, I create.

Andy’s freedom is often overwhelming. He can build a speedboat that only runs on the street, restore to perfection a 1936 Cord 810 Sportsman, or a Fiat Jolly, make the world’s lowest car out of a Mini Cooper, or recreate one of the wildest American showcars from the fifties. He does not have to worry about emissions or safety laws, or even proportion…what his creations lack in proportion are offset by outrageousness; his work reflects and often outdraws the best of the Barris brothers.

Still, even Andy is occasionally bested by European designs. He once found a Lancia Flavia Zagato and repainted it to suit. The Zagato was so wild looking that he couldn’t bear to try to improve it by customizing it. His vision of a 2CV was deliberately hackneyed, with startling results. He loved the lines of the Dyna Panhard and wrapped the body around the chassis of a modern Citroën.

He says little about the complications of the drivetrain and suspension. He admits to not caring about the mechanicals, just the coachwork. But most of his cars run and are driven on a regular basis. As often as possible, the drivetrain is used with few modifications aside from his penchant to copy the Lowrider concept from America and employ hydraulic suspension.

At one point, Saunders bought the Lancia Stratos Zero fiberglass look-alike that was used as a prop for Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker film. Apparently Jackson paid to have molds lifted from the original car. What Saunders did next is worthy of a quote here:

“I carried out some investigation work on wheelbases and found the Fiat X/19 shared the Zero’s dimensions perfectly. Finding a rust-free example, I used the entire floor pan, engine, gearbox and suspension from the little X/19, I removed the rest of the body, strengthening the floor and mounted the Zero bodyshell, adjusting it and tweaking it until it sat at exactly the same height as the real car.”

The Saunders’ Zero premiered at the same event where Luigi Colani was the guest of honor. Colani was even farther out than Saunders, “Now I have seen a lot of his stuff and he is really far out, sometimes in a good way and sometimes not so good,” recalled Saunders. The pot calling the kettle black, one might assume.

In fact, his reference point is American styling from the aforementioned Cord to the most lavish GM showcars of the 1940s and 50s, and the many American artists who created the customs, hot rods, show cars and movie cars. In the late 1960s, the custom car movement took hold in the UK, spurred perhaps by very creative advertising vehicles that also had an influence on Saunders. While working at his father’s garage, Andy was ‘bombarded’ by cars. His father noted his talents early on and provided Andy with the time and tools by which he could create his crazy customs. By the age of 20, Andy’s custom cars were already a favorite on the growing show circuit. He was in seventh heaven.

Andy’s love of American show cars caused him to buy, the remains of the famous (or infamous) Aurora safety car, found via a notice in a Classic Cars “Discovered” column in 1991. The Aurora was designed as a safety car at a time when no one wanted anything to do with safety features. Restoration ensued as Andy felt he had found the automotive equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Help was obtained from VeloceToday reader and fiberglass car expert Geoffrey Hacker, who supplied rare Patent Office drawings of the car.

His autobiography is as unusual as his art. Born in Bournemouth in 1963, he begins with a short bio, then speeds off to describe the 52 odd cars he has either customized or restored. In between he gets off on American designers, Punk and Gothic Rock, and American designers. The layout, by Jodi Ellis, is loaded with illustrations. She manages to keep this rambling rogue all together, from a dancing Audi to a Plymouth Caravan, English style.

The photos drew us deeper into the 464-page text. We wanted to know how and why he constructed his bodies, and what eventually happened to them. He doesn’t disappoint, describing driving a Reliant-powered speedboat to an event or driving an outer space vehicle from Bourne to Paris. As unlikely as it seems, until the 1990s, when he built his own transporter from a Citroën CZ, he drove his customs to events from Finland to Germany.

Did we enjoy the book? Absolutely, but I, like Karl Ludvigsen who wrote the Foreword, enjoyed and appreciated the custom cars and hot rods while growing up. Saunders’ work is a continuation of the art form, and art it is, no matter how outrageous the outcome. The additional emphasis on British and European cars makes it even more likeable.

Page Size 290mm x 219mm
464 pages
1,055 images
Hard cover with dust jacket
Our Price: $115.00
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