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

Koji 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.

Addendum Koji Nakauchi, the Japanese businessman and automotive enthusiast whose Middlebridge Group made a memorable mark on British motor racing and who revived the Scimitar GTE after Reliant ceased production. Koji Nakauchi was a Japanese businessman and principal shareholder of the Middlebridge Group. He owned a printing company in Japan and had racehorse interests in Japan and the UK. His printing company produced the Japanese equivalent of the UK's "Sporting Life" paper. The Middlebridge Group emerged in Britain in the second half of the 1980s, initially with ambitions in Classic Car restorations and eventually motor racing, which was achieved.

When asked about the origins of the name he usually quipped that his own name translated into English as "Middle House" and his friend and business partner's name Ohashi translated as Bridge but could also mean Chopsticks; "I chose 'bridge' as Middlechopsticks didn't sound quite right!" Koji Nakauchi was a true Anglophile and loved this country, nevertheless he remained staunchly Japanese. He was a collector and enthusiast with a particular appreciation for important British marques and he amassed his own extensive collection of British cars, including Ginettas, Astons, Austin 7's and Triumphs, etc. He was an active and influential member of the Sports Car Club of Japan and organised races in Japan. His passion for collecting went beyond that and he was also the President of the Cigarette Lighter Club GB and had a large collection of petrol lighters.

For Koji Nakauchi, however, motor racing offered an opportunity to pursue his passion on a much larger stage. Middlebridge established itself in junior single-seater racing, including Formula Ford 2000 where the team were highly successful. They then progressed to Formula 3000 where Damon Hill was the driver The organisation's progress eventually brought it into contact with one of the great names of Formula One - Brabham. Under Middlebridge's ownership, Brabham competed in Formula One during the final years of the famous team's existence. Drivers associated with the team included David Brabham, Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell, while the Middlebridge operation also competed in Formula 3000.

Koji Nakauchi's role was not merely that of an anonymous investor. Former Brabham driver Mark Blundell later recalled meeting him in Japan. Blundell had expected to be collected at the airport by 'staff' and taken to meet the team owner. Instead, Koji himself was waiting for both drivers! His chosen transport was a Rover SD1 - an anecdote that captured something of the eccentric, personal character of the Middlebridge enterprise. By 1992 the once-famous team was struggling simply to make it to the races. Its final Formula One season was one of survival rather than competition. At the Hungarian Grand Prix that year, Damon Hill brought a Brabham home in 11th place. It proved to be the final classified finish for the historic team. Brabham subsequently ran out of money and withdrew from Formula One.

The collapse was a painful end to Koji Nakauchi's Formula One ambitions, but it also marked the conclusion of one of the sport's most unusual owner stories: a Japanese industrialist had taken control of an iconic British team and attempted, however briefly, to restore it to prominence. To remember Koji Nakauchi solely as the man associated with the troubled final years of Brabham would be to overlook the wider story. His interests reflected a genuine fascination with British engineering and automobile culture. Middlebridge's work with classic Aston Martins and its subsequent involvement with the Scimitar demonstrated that the group's ambitions and influence extended beyond the Formula One paddock.

The Scimitar project was particularly significant. Peter Boam and John McCauley met with Koji Nakauchi and they bought the GTE / GTC manufacturing and tooling rights from Reliant for £400,000 and in late June 1987 Middlebridge Scimitar was formed. A further £2 Million was also invested into the project and the initial purchase from Reliant was completed in 24 hours. Koji Nakauchi and Dennis Nursey had already made plans to build an aluminium-bodied two-seater combining British craftsmanship (which was in high demand in Japan), with Japanese mechanicals and reliability. They were aiming to create an instant classic look and the car was described as an affordable Ferrari 250 GTO. The Scimitar deal was seen as a quick way into car production "a step on the ladder" and the £400,000 was small price to pay compared to designing and building a car from scratch. Middlebridge were fully aware of some of the shortcomings of the new car ie: huge turning circle, front suspension, seat runner positions to name a few. They also knew how to rectify the problems but expensive impact testing and Type-Approval costs were the limiting factors.

They were well on the way to developing the Scimitar but with production and sales only averaging 1 to 2 cars a week Dennis Nursey made the decision to bring in Steve Coughlin (Ex Aston Martin and Tickford Director) to oversee and make improvements to the management and production systems. Despite this and a very reduced workforce, several factors, other than the slow production and sales were to eventually culminate in the downfall of Middlebridge Scimitar including the purchase of Brabham and other racing interests and finally the ill-fated purchase of the £10 million historic Le Mans "Bentley Old Number One". Middlebridge started to purchase this famous car and part way through the deal wanted to withdraw from it on the grounds that it was not the authentic specimen it was purported to be. Ed Hubbard, the then owner was the wrong man to take on as he quickly enlisted the help of the well-known Wally Hassan and others to argue his corner in a very publicised court case which was lost by Middlebridge, The Judge ordered them to proceed with the purchase, and with no way of avoiding the bill the parent company pulled the plug on the Scimitar division that was purchasing the Bentley and the Middlebridge Scimitar operation went into receivership.

It is ironic that one of the last Middlebridge Scimitars, chassis number 77, which had been built as his own car is also the age at which he died. Koji moved from Japan in 2002 to fulfil an ambition to live in England and engage in his various passions which included having a stall at the 'Beaulieu Autojumble' and attending VSCC (Vintage Sports Car Club) meetings with friends who visited from Japan.

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.