“You know, this car is becoming a curse to us.”

May 20, 2024 12:26 PM

The story of the 1967 Ferguson Super Sport, the product of a Canadian couple's years of obsessive planning and labour. [Mod Note: if access is denied, try refreshing, opening a second time, or opening in new window]
posted by gamera (24 comments total)

403 Forbidden for me.
posted by chococat at 12:28 PM on May 20 [8 favorites]

Open it in a private window. I wonder if they're doing referrer tracking.
posted by hanov3r at 12:38 PM on May 20 [1 favorite]

Here's a YouTube video from the same site (driving.ca).
posted by pracowity at 12:38 PM on May 20 [1 favorite]

Ah, yeah works on my phone.
posted by chococat at 12:38 PM on May 20

403 for me as well.
posted by NoMich at 12:43 PM on May 20

I'm not sure if this is the same article but it's from the same site.
posted by sardonyx at 12:47 PM on May 20

The first time I followed the link I got a 403, but when I tried again 15sec later it worked fine. Something wonky in their server? Anyway give it another click?
posted by aramaic at 1:02 PM on May 20

Did we just Slashdot a website? I'm going to put on my 2005 clothes!
posted by srboisvert at 1:03 PM on May 20 [3 favorites]

I've heard of this car, it's well worth the read.
pistonheads has post, I recognize the architecture for the first picture, it could be either Ford but I'm thinking a GM building or garage circa 1930s.

It reminds me of a prototype Corvette in 54'. this is my favorite prototype
posted by clavdivs at 1:05 PM on May 20

Pretty car! Nice lines. I can’t imagine trying to keep it up to snuff, though. Old fiberglass can be a real pain to repair.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:47 PM on May 20

You have to be an engineer to read the story and even then it needs work. About a pretty car you and yours would have to be some kind of crazy to build.
posted by y2karl at 1:54 PM on May 20

Shit, sorry about the 403 error. Looks like it needs to be opened in a new window.
posted by gamera at 2:15 PM on May 20

That's a very pretty car. And there's something quite Avro about, hey, I'll design and cast my own wheels ...
posted by scruss at 2:20 PM on May 20

Got past the error, and hot damn this is awesome! I had hopes that with the dawn of electric cars we'd see a new era of this kind of home building, although I suspect that modern crash worthiness and just economies of scale make people doing this pretty scarce, but it's a beautiful car, and who with a workshop hasn't fantasized about...
posted by straw at 2:22 PM on May 20

When I was a kid, I had a paperback copy of a book called _The Black Tiger_ about a Le Mans driver and his car. The Super Sport definitely brings to mind that cover.
posted by hanov3r at 2:48 PM on May 20

That car is absolutely stunning. I've always wanted to have the ability to build something like that, but I can barely cut a 2x4 in half without ending up with a black eye, so.
posted by Ickster at 6:58 PM on May 20 [1 favorite]

Yeah, that is a sweet looking set of wheels...

And I am not a "car guy". My FIL grew up in SoCal in the 50s. and he is totally a hot rod guy. Amazingly cool looking car. Can't imagine building it.
posted by Windopaene at 7:36 PM on May 20

Mod note: Having once received the error page, I can no longer duplicate the result, since it now loads (even on a different browser), so, yeah, it seems pretty easy to get past. I've added a note!
posted by taz (staff) at 11:19 PM on May 20

I still get nothing but the error page. Oh well.
posted by NoMich at 5:11 AM on May 21

Went to the site with a firefox private browser window and it loaded, read the article, cool car.

15 minutes later was wondering why my laptop fan is going, firefox task manager indicates the site is using 7G of memory and 100% cpu. Is it running a bitcoin miner or what?
posted by Ansible at 6:39 AM on May 21

It's simply stunning from the side. The almost invisible door seams and the absence of door handles give it a very unique look. He could have made serious money from this car but instead wanted to design and build his own plane. Some minds are forever voyaging.
posted by tommasz at 7:24 AM on May 21

The article failed to answer the one overwhelming question I had, which is how is something like that registered and insured?
posted by jacquilynne at 10:40 AM on May 21

At the time, it would have likely been easier, with registration rules being a bit looser, but there have typically been ways of registering kit cars or home-builts. The Ferguson would be a homebuilt. Unfortunately, I'm not current on the current rules, but with regards to this car, I'm guessing it also gets a pass under the historic vehicle registration rules. (Link to a PDF download.)

Similarly, insurance was likely easier to obtain then, but even now it is possible to insure a classic or antique either under a parade and exhibition type of coverage or insure it so it can be driven like any other vehicle, which is the type of coverage I used to have on my classic roadster--and yes, even though mine was much more common that the Ferguson, I could count on people waving, shouting, pulling up along side to get a look and wanting to talk to me about it. You have to resign yourself to those kinds of encounters if you want to drive something that is a little bit out of the ordinary, especially if it's flashy in any kind of way
posted by sardonyx at 12:06 PM on May 21

What a beautiful car! Generally, home-built cars look OK at first glance, but they always seem a little bit 'off' in some way, but this thing has every line and proportion perfect. I especially like the way the bodywork curves up to and around the base of the windscreen. The only thing I don't like is the wheels - hand-built magnesium wheels are ultra-cool, but they just look too chunky for such a finely detailed car. It cries out for a set of traditional wire wheels to complete the look.
posted by dg at 5:15 PM on May 21