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The History of Almac
Alex McDonald started Almac Plastics in 1971. But his interest in cars goes back many years to when he was a young man in England and purchased a 90 pound kit car from Jem Marsh before Jem started his company Marcos. This was in the early days of kit cars and the Sirocco reflected that in its poor quality and the fact that it was not complete. To complete it Alex had to learn how to fibreglass.
Alex emmigrated to New Zealand in the late sixties and in 1971 decided to set up a fibreglass factory. The bread and butter for the factory would be commercial fibreglass components but there was also a small demand for body kits for rally cars, he also turned to his earlier passion of building cars. At that time most cars were based on VW Beetles. Alex built a body along the lines of a Lotus Esprit to fit on a VW chassis but after a number of problems and lack of time to develop it, the project was shelved.
He was encouraged to have a go at making a Cobra replica which was a different type of car completely and moved away from the VW based type of kits which were, by the end of the 70’s, in their twilight years. Using a plastic kitset model and turning some photographs into scale drawings work started on an Almac 427SC.
It was while the buck was taking shape that Alex met Grahame Berry of Grahame Berry Race Cars. When Alex mentioned his project to him Grahame said that he would like to get involved so Alex contracted him to make the chassis. Grahame also made parts unique to the Cobras like bumpers and exhaust. A rolling chassis of the 427SC, with the body and steering fitted, was first displayed at the 1984 National Hot Rod show.
The next car was inspired by the MG TC\TD. It was never intended to be a replica so no measurements match the original and the car was designed to fit a Triumph Herald chassis. The Almac TC was released to the public in 1986. It was around about this time that Alex hired more staff to build the kits, such was public demand. The Herald chassis was getting old, most were rusty and there was a limit in the size of engine that you could put into them. Thus it was that late in 1988 the TC ended production and work began on the car that would be called the TG. A major difference between the TC and the TG was that the TG would have an Almac designed chassis and would be based on a modern donor car the Holden Gemini. With this kit Alex addressed all the shortcomings of the TC and the kit could be bought in a box. The car went on sale during 1989 and was visually the same as the TC other than the fact that the fibreglass radiator surround had now been replaced by one made from stainless steel the doors were hinged at the front and the car now had bumpers.
It was time to start another project. By now Alex’s family had grown up and his son Stuart had picked up his fathers fascination for cars. The two of them started work on a car with modern lines and was an original design. It started to take shape in the Almac factory during 1991. Again following on from what Alex had learnt with the TG this would be based on a single donor car. The car he chose this time was the Ford Cortina, which had not changed mechanically from the 1973 until production ended in 1984. As with the TG it would have a chassis solely designed and produced in house.
The Almac Sabre was first featured in the Classic Car magazine in May of 1994 and Alex received a huge number of inquiries about the car. Unfortunately the kit car market had changed. Cheap Japanese imports, could now be purchased and although magazines such as Driver (1995), Which Kit (1996), Classic Car again (2000) gave the car good publicity, sales were poor.
At the start of the new millennium the kit car industry went through a mini revival. So much so that Alex decided to upgrade the Sabre and also produce a new car called the Clubsprint styled along the lines of the classic Lotus 7. The main reason was consumer demand, with the Cobra being the second most produced kit world wide it seemed only natural to go to the most common.
In the factory of Grahame Berry’s Race cars was a completed chassis and jigs for a 7 type car. Grahame had tinkered around with it but had never really got the car ready for production and it had only sold in very small numbers. As Alex already had made most of the moulds for it would be the ideal car to add to his production line.
The jigs were purchased and the car developed to take a single donor. His intention was to make it a cheap kit car and to keep costs down the little 7 was based on the Mark 1 or 2 Ford Escort. The car was introduced to the public as the Almac Clubsprint through Classic Car in 2002. An advantage this car had over others of its kind was the fact that all fibreglass panels can be used for the body work which were gelcoated in a wide range of colours and avoided the expense of painting.
By 2007 Alex was very aware that the Ford Escort was an endangered species also the main disadvantage of the original seven dimensions was that the cockpit was small restricting taller and wider drivers. In 2008 production of the Escort based car was stopped and Alex started work on a wide-bodied Clubsprint now called the Clubsprint XL which would not only use a modern car as its donor it would be 140mm wider and more user friendly. The car chosen was the MX5 with its huge parts base and proven capabilities. Mechanically the XL had all the advantages of the MX5 but with a lower centre of gravity and less weight. The entire rear independent suspension was used as was the wiring loom, instrument gauges, steering, brakes, engine and gearbox. Any MX5 could be used from its first rendition in 1989, up until the release of the 2005 model.
Once again Alex used his fibreglass skills to make several fibreglass mouldings all finished in gelcoat colours. The car was built to accommodate drivers over 1.8 metres in height. Alex used his design skills on the proportions on the body so that the final car did not look any bigger than other sevens unless they were parked side by side. It has a boot for storing some luggage. However this boot also allowed for the stowage of the spare wheel removing the need to bolt the wheel onto the rear of the car. The spare used is the space saver wheel found in the boot of most MX5s and removed the additional expense of the builder having to buy that 5th mag wheel which seldom saw the road anyway.
In 2002 Alex started to upgrade the Almac Sabre into what would be called the Series 2. Like the TC and TG Alex has again looked at all the shortcomings of the original Sabre and improved them. A new and stronger chassis has been designed. All the Cortina bits are gone apart from the windscreen and a Lexus V8 is the preferred motor. The body has received a significant face lift and the car now only resembles its predecessor in profile.
What is next on the horizon? Well after a quarter century of designing and building cars Alex will now be content to just build them and the short-term future looks quite promising. The 427SC now sells itself and well over two hundred and forty have gone through the door. Clubsprint production has also started to increase.
