Wilbur Curtis, a Californian restaurant equipment manufacturer of Irish descent, came up with the idea for the Shamrock while visiting his Galway-born wife’s family in 1958. Moved by the poverty he witnessed, as Ireland in the 1950’s was still a largely agricultural economy with little industry and high unemployment he sought to help the Irish people and economy by building a luxury car in Ireland for export to America.
Since he had invented the plastic handled glass coffee pot back in 1940, his coffee equipment business had become a success, allowing him to finance this new business with his own resources.
Wilbur Curtis collaborated with James F. Conway, an American entrepreneur, to manufacture a spacious and luxurious car in Ireland, named the Shamrock, for exporting to the American market. The intention was to highlight its Irish heritage, making it attractive to Americans looking for a secondary car.
In early 1959 the Shamrock Motor Company made the unlikely appointment of Canadian named Alvin ‘Spike’ Rhiando to design the Irish-built Shamrock car.
Rhiando, a flamboyant enigma, was likely born in Saskatchewan, Canada and moved to England in 1933 to introduce American-style Midget racing on existing motorcycle tracks. During WWII, he worked for the British arm of Caterpillar before making his first fortune with earth-moving on the East African groundnut scheme. In 1948, Spike won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone but then shifted focus to glass fibre work. He had previously designed a sleek fibreglass scooter with Cooper mechanic Don Palmer and then an invalid carriage for AC Cars.
The design brief given to Rhiando was that the Shamrock be “light, low and streamlined”, with an emphasis on economy and to use Austin A55 Cambridge running gear throughout to keep purchase, running, and maintenance costs low.
To compensate for the power deficit of just 54 hp from the 1489 cc engine, Rhiando utilized a glass-fibre body shell to reduce the weight of the vehicle. If the Shamrock had been constructed of steel, it would have weighed approximately 1350 kg. However, with its plastic panelling, were rust was not a concern, it weighed only around 850 kg.
While Alvin Rhiando took clear inspiration from the massive cars being produced by American manufacturers in the 1950s, his lack of expertise in car design was clearly evident in the final product.
The one-piece molded fiberglass body, which had no side windows in the doors, whether fixed or movable, featured a Vauxhall windscreen from the F-Series Vauxhall Victor. The car’s lack of chrome-plated trim, featured on all cars at the time, was regarded as a significant flaw. It was mounted on a ladder frame, and its extensive overhangs and fin-tail style, coupled with oval tail lights from the Vauxhall Cresta PA, gave it a wide and cumbersome appearance reminiscent of a St. Patrick’s Day parade float rather than a car. Additionally, the front track measured 51 inches, the rear track measured 49 inches and overwhelmed the mere 98-inch wheelbase making it seem even more unbalanced – it resembled a caricature of American cars.
Furthermore, the rear wheels were shrouded, making it difficult to remove a wheel for puncture repair without dropping out the axle. To address this issue, some cars had enlarged rear wheel arches installed, as seen in the Shamrock side-profile advertisement. This alteration appears to have been done at the factory rather than as a later modification.
All original cars were painted white, and featured green interiors and green convertible tops although one in the USA has been repainted candy green.
Equipped with an A55/ BMC 1489cc B-Series engine and a single SU carburettor, the Shamrock used Austin Cambridge running gear. While the engine’s single carburettor configuration produced slightly over 53 bhp, the car’s top speed reached only 145 km/h (90 mph), and its acceleration from 0 to 60 mph was a far cry from impressive, clocking in at 19.7 seconds. The vehicle featured coil spring independent front suspension and a live rear axle with a Panhard rod.
On May 13, 1959, a prototype of the Shamrock, constructed in Guildford, UK was introduced to the press and was well received. The prototype was then shipped to the US to be displayed at various motor shows and reviewed by the US auto press. Meanwhile, Wilbur Curtis was working to initiate production of the Shamrock in Ireland.
Curtis and Conway had originally chosen the ancient town of Tralee in south-west Kerry as the site of new 40,000 sq.ft. car factory set to employ 2,400 workers. The deep water harbour at Fenit, built in the 1800s was located just 12.5 kms west of Tralee and connected by a rail link to the town and was deemed as a perfect embarkation point for the direct export of finished cars to the USA.
However for reasons unknown plans for a factory at Tralee factory fell through, as did Curtis’ plan quoted by Motor Trend magazine, to ramp up annual production in Co Kerry to 10,000 cars per year by 1963.
It is unknown as to why the Shamrock Motor Company then switched their focus to the town of Castleblayney, County Monaghan in the north-east of Ireland, located close to the border with County Armagh in Northern Ireland. County Monaghan is land locked, has no canal and its railway was in a state of decline in the late 50s, closing to passengers in 1957 and to freight on 1st January 1960
Low-volume production of the Shamrock proceeded at the Castleblayney facility and in 1959, in an interview with Motor Trend magazine, Wilbur Curtis claimed that 3,000 Shamrock cars would be produced a year in Castleblayney, to retail at $2,495 each primarily in the US with only a small number designated for domestic sales.
“The Irish T-Bird at half the price”, as reported by Motor Trend in September 1959. The car was marketed as a more affordable option compared to the Ford Thunderbird, which carried a price tag of over $1,000 higher and was equipped with a 352 cu.in (5.8-liter) V8 engine.
However, despite efforts from Curtis and Conway, no US importer was willing to distribute the Shamrock. Even the large Irish diaspora’s attachment for their homeland was not enough to overcome the Shamrock’s numerous design drawbacks, such as its underpowered engine and unpredictable handling. There was no market in the rest of Europe either for a bulky American-style car that was impractical and too large for most roads.
Financial issues led to the production of only nine completed vehicles, and production ceased after just six months, leading Curtis and Conway to give up on the venture.
Despite the demise of the Shamrock project in early 1961, Wilbur Curtis attempted to revive it by promoting his car throughout the US that year. He announced that he had secured an order for 600 cars by the end of 1961. However, the order did not materialise and the Castleblayney factory remained closed.
Exact production figures for the Shamrock are unknown. Popular belief is that nine complete cars left the factory and just two were exported to America.
Popular belief also has it that unused Shamrock car parts and tooling were dumped into nearby Lough Muckno located to the east of Castleblayney and we have been reliably informed that for a time, twelve surplus body shells were stacked in scrap dealer Gerald Hamill & Sons, Portadown, County Armagh what happened to them thereafter is unknown.
The Shamrock is now an extremely rare car, there is one running in Ireland and at least one more in a shed in Kilkenny and there could well be more cars secreted in barns scattered around Ireland. We have heard that in early 2022 a seller in Missouri, USA had a Shamrock for sale with just 10,000 miles on the clock for $74,900.
Despite being a well-intentioned effort to assist the Irish people, the Shamrock car was poorly designed and destined for failure and is now rarer than a snake in Ireland.
Sources of information:
Alden Jewell
Belowtheradar.com – Richard Dredge
driventowrite.com
Guy Griffiths
HYMON
John Reid
Hifive
journal.classiccars.com – Larry Edsall
Latimes.com
MagicCarPics.co.uk
RBM
The 500 Owners Association Ltd
TheJournal.ie
