Camber GT

George Holmes was running an agricultural engineering business in Camber Sands, Surrey, where he sold and serviced lawnmowers for golf course groundskeepers. But in 1966, his path shifted dramatically when he unexpectedly became a car manufacturer.

The catalyst was his friend Derek Bishop, a car enthusiast from southeast London who had previously built the Heron Europa sports car. Seeking a new venture, Bishop convinced Holmes to collaborate on a new project.

Together, they designed a Mini-based GT with a front-mounted engine and began crafting a prototype body in Greenwich. Once the body was complete, it was moved to Holmes’ workshop in Camber Sands for mechanical integration—hence the car’s name: the Camber GT.

The construction was robust: a tubular steel frame paired with Mini subframes front and rear, topped with a three-layer fibreglass body reinforced by steel in the roof. Customers could order the body shell in white, pale blue, red, or Fiesta Yellow, with custom colors available for an extra charge.

The starting price for a shell was £260. The styling was minimalist yet elegant, with a notably low bonnet achieved by relocating the Mini’s side-mounted radiator to the front.

Holmes and Bishop unveiled the Camber GT at the 1967 Racing Car Show in London. Not long after, they struck a deal with Checkpoint Limited, an automotive accessories company, to handle distribution and marketing.

However, a regulatory oversight soon came to light: the headlights were mounted too low, forcing a redesign of the car’s front end (which would evolve into the Maya GT). Bishop, dissatisfied with Checkpoint’s handling of the project, eventually walked away from the venture.

Only six Camber GTs were ever built. Of those, just one featured a lightweight body shell made of two laminated fibreglass layers.

That car was sold to photographer John D. Green, who actively raced it for a year and a half before selling it in 1968 to fund his next racing effort.