Originally Posted by
Oldfart
Well, there was a suggestion of a Buckler thread, so here goes.
It is necessary that readers remember that while I owned one “in the day” I did not actively compete, and all of what I submit is second hand.
I am very much indebted to Kelvin Brown and Bruce Sutcliffe who have been instrumental in perpetuating the appeal of the marque. Without their efforts Bucklers would have faded into oblivion in New Zealand as just “funny old cars which the old guys played with”. In the UK there is an equally prolific researcher Brian Malin and I will be pinching plenty of his stuff (with approval)
Buckler is actually very specific. It has nothing whatever to do with body styles, although the archetypal NZ Buckler 90 is clad most times with a de Joux fibreglass body. These bodies also appear on a number of other cars which are not Bucklers. In the day it was very desirable to call your Ford 10 special a Buckler, possibly like calling your Falcon GT an HO.
Buckler was a chassis and front suspension system. It’s pretty much as simple as that. They were one of the first, if not the first, manufacturers of production multi-tube frames for the masses. They were a sort of kit car manufacturer in the 50s, although of course their first chassis were produced in reasonable numbers prior to 1950.
The name comes from Derek Buckler. His base was in the area around Reading in the UK, indeed many publications refer to "Bucklers of Reading". His vision of producing a sports car began in 1945. He had well established criteria that never changed. It must be universal (be able to be used in all events from mud plug trials through to circuit racing”) cheap, reliable, have excellent road holding, good acceleration and be fuel efficient. Later on he realised as did almost everyone else, that designs needed to be more specialised.
He was not happy with conventional, for the time, ladder chassis. His background in the aircraft industry led him to what he called “Multi tube frames”. Whilst not a true space frame, they are close. The English produced frames were manufactured from Chrome Moly tube of 1” and 1 5/8”tube, these sizes stayed from the first until the last cars! The use of this tube has contributed to the high survival rate, and professional restorers almost inevitably comment on the high quality of construction
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