Middlebridge Engineering

This was the first company in the group and was created in June 1987 with the specific purpose of employing and using true British craftsmen to restore high class classic cars for Japanese owners, The company was based in Milton Keynes and was run by Managing Director Mick Adams who lead a team of highly skilled craftsmen, Mick joined the company in 1987 from Aston Martin Lagonda and had 20 years experience behind him, the company went from strength to strength and had an enviable reputation for the quality of their work, this was demonstrated when two of their cars were entered into the 1987/1988 Mille Miglia commemorative 1,000 mile run for classic cars, their two Japanese owners both completed the course without any problems, 80% of the customer base are from Japan and the company has surpassed all expectations and is growing fast to keep up with demand.

Mr Kohji Nakauchi

Mr Nakauchi is a Japanese Millionaire and Anglophile with a love of true British craftsmanship and British Classic Cars, from an early age he loved Aston Martins after seeing them in James Bond on TV, he now has 40 classic cars in his personal collection including quite a few rare Astons!! He made his fortune as the publisher of Japans leading Horse Racing newspaper and owns 29 thoroughbred race horses; he is also a director of a large new town development just outside Tokyo and has many other varied business interests. One of Mr Nakauchi's ambitions was to be involved in the British Classic car scene which he fulfilled with Middlebridge Engineering and achieved great success in exporting high class classic cars to Japan, it was at this time he met Dennis Nursey and they became good friends and worked together, They both shared a common dream of building a sports car aimed at wealthy customers in the Far East, this idea remained with the two men and I guess had the Middlebridge Scimitar venture succeeded.

An awful lot of Middlebridge's money, possibly too much, was diverted and used in the attempt to be successful on the race track in an effort to realise one of Mr Nakauchi's dreams, this one only met with partial success.

Dennis Nursey

Dennis was working for Aston Martin as a mechanic when he was given the opportunity to train Aston Martin Service Engineers in Japan, while there Dennis was asked to repair one of Mr Nakauchi's old Aston's, they immediately hit it off and became friends, they had an awful lot in common, the friendship developed and Dennis worked on Mr Nakauchi's private collection of cars, Dennis returned to the UK to take up the post of Aston Martin's Parts Manager and was soon after put in charge of building Aston's Far East Potential where his friendship with Mr Nakauchi grew and they discussed in detail their joint ideas of a two seater aluminium bodied sports car Hand crafted in Britain but with reliable Japanese running gear, this project was started and at the design stage but then the two men met with John McCauley and Peter Boam and discussed the Scimitar project and its resurrection...

John McCauley

John McCauley, co-founder of Middlebridge Scimitar, John's first job was with ICI, he married Brenda McCourt and they moved to Canada where John worked for Shell Oil. They returned to live in England and John joined an organisation called the FBI, based in Nottingham. Not "that" FBI, though. This was the Federation of British Industry, later renamed the Confederation of British Industry, the CBI, to avoid confusion with the actual FBI. His role was to promote, to represent and to support British companies in the East Midlands.

John became the export manager of an automotive manufacturer in Nottingham called Crosland Filters where he travelled the world in his role, including to places like Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Finland, Denmark, Norway and the United States of America. He was also a director of the Dutch subsidiary of Crosland Filters. Later, John worked in economic development for Leicester City Council, which built on his experience at the CBI, and his knowledge of business.

1987, John was the co-founder and Joint Managing Director of Middlebridge Scimitar. He started the company with his good friend, engineer Peter Boam, in 1987, they acquired manufacturing rights from Reliant after the Scimitar GTE and GTC models were discontinued. They went on to develop a much improved and updated car, the 'Middlebridge Scimitar GTE'. John successfully raised the money to open a factory in Nottingham where the new cars were hand built to order and specification. A total of 79 cars were hand-built making these very rare cars indeed, John was also involved with the revised front grille badge but this only got to the design drawing stage as production ceased.

Personally, I'm delighted to say that after many hours working with John we finally brought the unique Middlebridge front Grille badge to fruition, both John and myself were delighted and extremely proud when I managed to create the first electronically produced badge, it brought back so many memories for John and also few others that were suddenly reminded of the initial design many years earlier. The new badge adorns nearly every car now and proudly says Middlebridge at the top to identify the rare Nottingham built cars.

John was justifiably proud of the Middlebridge Scimitar. He loved to attend the Middlebridge Enthusiasts Scimitar Set (MESS) events, notably the 25th Anniversary celebrations at Gatcombe Park in September, 2014, where he was delighted to once again meet Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, Princess Anne who had already purchased her Middlebridge Scimitar and opened the Nottingham factory, such was her enthusiasm for the marque. The MESS were always delighted and honoured to see John, Brenda and the family at events especially around Nottingham and at the NEC Classic Car Shows as well.

Peter Boam

No details are available at present. (Refer to John McCauley)

Paul Kalwa (Group Marketing Director)

No details are available at present.

Phil Wormald

Phil joined Middlebridge from Rolls Royce where he was a draughtsman, he initially set up a fully functioning drawing office which developed into a drawing /design Studio where they produced the Illistrated Parts Manual, Build Line Manuals, General Drawings and dealt with the parts type approval issues, The office rapidly expanded to four people which included another RR Guy that Phil brought in, Phil changed position within the company and became Head of Customer Relations and finally head of Dealer support.

Phil was one of many that spent their last lunchtime having a laugh together at the BeeKeeper Pub around the corner where on their return they were asked to gather on the shop floor to be told they were all redundant and had a very short time to vacate the site.

Phil has been very helpful to many people over the years and is a mine of knowledge Middlebridge wise (Thanks Phil) he is also well known in SS1 circles where he has completed a full restoration and produced a CD for others, take a peek at the links area and his SS1 site is there.

Phil Watchorn (Production Manager: Middlebridge Scimitar Ltd)

Phil looked after the Middlebridge production line and the staff that hand built the cars. He was also called out to assist with any car issues post sale. One of his highlights was going to Gatcombe to repair HRH The Princess Royal's Middlebridge No 5. Apparently somebody heard a noise coming from the car after HRH had returned from a trip out. Thinking something was seriously amiss the bonnet was opened and much fiddling took place to stop the noise. After re-wiring the effected area Phil discovered that the noise was the electric engine cooling fan and it was actually working correctly. O Dear!

So highly was Phil thought of he was offered a position at the Middlebridge 'Milton Keynes' when the Lilacs Grove plant closed down.