Dowsetts Comet

As part of the NEC Classic Motor Show in Birmingham, Silverstone Auctions will be auctioning off various automobiles on November 13 and 14. One of them will be a creation of British TV presenter and car designer Anthony “Ant” Richard Anstead. Besides his shows like “For the Love of Cars” or “Wheeler Dealers”, he found time to participate in Dowsetts Classic Car Company. This small car brand was known as Evanta Motor Company between 2008 and 2017. In 2009, Ant Anstead joined there as a partner and eventually became the head of the company. The first car to emerge was the R1, which looked a lot like the Aston Martin DBR1. Since 2012, the GT has been available in the style of the DB4 GT Zagato. A year later, it was joined by an open-top version called the Roadster. Officially, Evanta limited the number of units to 49. Whether these were achieved, however, may be doubted.

Powerful V8 engine

In 2017, the brand name changed to Dowsetts Classic Car Company. The GT became the Comet. At the same time, the team around Ant Anstead changed the body shape away from a hatchback and towards a light notchback with minimally hinted tail fins. Despite this, the appearance is still reminiscent of classic sports cars of the 1950s and ’60s. As before, a stainless steel spaceframe serves as the basis for the body panels. These are made of glassfiber-reinforced plastic with integrated Kevlar fibers. Under the forward-opening hood is a 6.2-liter LS3 V8 engine from General Motors. Dowsetts promises 430 hp and a maximum torque of 575 Nm. The engine power is transmitted to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transmission and a limited-slip differential. For the sprint to 60 mph the car takes four seconds. Its topspeed is over 150 mph.

Comet at Silverstone Auctions

The second Comet ever built received a paint job in the Porsche color “Crayon Grey” as well as red leather interior and was used for various advertising shoots. It then went to its first customer, who put about 2,500 miles on it. Its optional equipment included air conditioning, a radio with navigation system, and a rearview camera. Because the first owner suffered a back injury shortly after taking delivery of the car, making it nearly impossible for him to drive this sports car, Comet #02 is now going under the hammer. Silverstone Auctions will be looking for a new owner on November 13. The auction house didn’t yet provide any information on the expected price. In the meantime the car company has been renamed to Faeger.

Images: Silverstone Auctions