Vintage Thing No.22 - Siva Llama

Unlike previous Vintage Things, I've actually got one of these. I've had my Siva Llama for a few years now and it's currently awaiting removal of the body to allow the chassis to be shot blasted. It's a van variant - would you believe - and I've got all the hardtops and doors. It's just that it wasn't very well put together when it was built and somebody cut windows into the van sides. This wouldn't have been a problem if they'd got the measurements right. On one side they cut the hole too big and riveted in a strip to fill a gap of about 2 cm. They must have got this strip out of the bit they'd just removed. I bet the language was choice. I'm not sure how I'll deal with this when respray time beckons.

Anyway, I never bothered with the doors or hardtops. It was always sunny wherever I went and the people always smiled and waved so I never felt the need. Don't judge this claim by the accompanying photos. Some of them might look overcast but they're just under exposed. If I look wet it's because I'm simply sweating a lot in my waterproofs....

The Siva Llama was designed by Neville Trickett and uses the running gear of a Hillman Imp. It has a separate steel chassis and the body panels continued the Siva in house utiliy style established with the Mini based Siva Mule. These are even rarer at 12 produced against the 50 or so Llamas they made.

Llamas were made from 1973 to 1976. There were great plans for them. Many light field cars came out at about this time expanding on the concept established by the Mini Moke, which could be made cheaply abroad but also attract the trendy Bohemian set in Knightsbridge.

In my guise as a throwback Bohemian living in Cornwall, I established contact with Neville Trickett about a year ago and he told me what killed the Llama was Chrysler's decision to end production of the Imp in 1976. They announced this in 1974 just as the car was launched, despite previous re-assurances over the Imp's future. Investors immediately withdrew their backing and Siva went out of business after producing a wide range of kit cars that epitomise what Peter Filby - doyen of alternative motoring - called The Fun Car Explosion.

Besides my own car, there are three known survivors. The first one I ever saw was in a scrapyard at Carharrack in Cornwall but it was binned before I knew what it was and could mount a rescue attempt. When another came up for sale, I leapt at the chance.

I subsequently kitted it out with a 998cc engine and entered it in the 1999 Land's End Trial. We got a Finisher's Certificate so it has a competition history but it wasn't really competitive. To make it more suitable for trialling would entail drastic alterations and because it's so rare, I don't want to do that. And that 998cc engine never breathed properly as it only had a 1 & a 1/4 inch SU carb. Apparently this is a demon tweak for trialling but it limits top speed to about 65mph, as I found out.

I also did the Testing Trial in Somerset in 1999. My bouncer let me down so I turned up with a question mark over my entry but fortunately Bee Hayes volunteered. She needed a certain amount of persuading. Her husband is a demon trails sidecarist and she had sworn never to ride with him on a trail. One look at me and my Llama and that vow went out the window. I later discovered she had once been a backing singer for Arthur Brown, as in "I am the God of Hellfire and I bring you.. Fire!" and the Crazy World thereof.

So the plan is now to take the body off and shotblast the chassis and rebuild it as something with more power. My example had not been built very carefully and I feel that it deserves some time and effort to turn it into a sow's ear.

Not too much, mind. I wouldn't swap its cheap and cheerful demeanour for something dear and dreary.

I'm not under any illusions about my Siva Llama. It'll never be a thing of beauty but it's definitely a fun car. It suits summer life in Cornwall and as I write this I realise how much I miss not being able to drive it. I'm glad it got built and mean to have more fun with it dreckly.

Neville Trickett is still designing and building interesting automobiles. An even earlier creation of his was the Minisprint and he is producing these again nowadays from his base in France.