Burlington

Burlington was a small British manufacturer of kit cars that operated under several names between 1981 and 1992, initially as Burlington Motor Spares in Southam, Warwickshire, before relocating to Northampton and later trading as the Burlington Motor Company and then the Burlington Design Group.

The company's founder, Haydn Davis, first produced the Burlington SS, a vehicle styled in a traditional manner around the wings and nose cone of a Morgan. It used a Triumph Herald or Vitesse chassis, modified with a rearward-mounted engine and altered suspension. The doorless body combined metal and glassfibre joints with a plywood main structure clad in aluminium. From 1982, a purpose-built chassis was offered to accommodate drivetrains from the Morris Marina, MGB, or Ford Escort. In 1986, this early project was sold to a company called Dorian.

Following this, Burlington introduced the Arrow, another Herald-based design, which brought the concept of the "plans-built" car to Britain: customers were supplied with plans and constructed the aluminium-skinned plywood body tub themselves. The Arrow featured simple cycle wings, while a later variant, the Berretta, adopted flowing glassfibre wings for a more refined appearance.

The company also produced the Chieftain, a replica of the Willys Jeep built using the same aluminium-and-plywood plans-built method on a Triumph Herald or Spitfire chassis. Another model, the Centurion, was based on a design originating from the American company Quincy-Lynn.

Through these various models and corporate incarnations, Burlington contributed to the British kit car scene of the 1980s, particularly through its promotion of the plans-built construction approach, which allowed enthusiasts to build their own vehicles from basic materials and chassis donor cars.