Founder of the Nota car marque and life member of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, Guy Buckingham, has died. He was 94.
Though best known for his colossal contribution to the development of Australian motorsport and founding of Nota, Guy Buckingham's career began in Great Britain as a contemporary of Colin Chapman and Len Terry.
As Midlands Secretary of the 750 Motor Club during the 1950s, Buckingham's passion for motorsport was well known in Britain. However, after tiring with the family jewellery business he emigrated with his young family for a new life in Australia.
With help from a wealthy relative, Buckingham opened a service station where, despite the locals' love of Holden powerplants, he produced copies of his Arnold-Buckingham Special. He made ends meet by building a series of one-off specials with fellow ex-pat Jack Wiffen, including a converted twin-cam Consul-engined Formula Libre car and a 500cc AJS bike-engined Formula 3 racer.
Credit: Brian Caldersmith
A Streamliner followed, and claimed the 1960 Australian Sports Car Championship with Guy at the wheel. Each of these cars bore the name 'Nota', so named for Guy's infant son Chris, who struggled to say 'motorcar'.
