In 1985, a team of designers at a small industrial workshop in Coalville, Leicestershire, were putting the finishing touches on what would have been the most ambitious vehicle series in the line’s history. Then the phone call came: the line was cancelled.
The Unproduced 1985 Series
We sat down with former lead designer Gerald Whitmore to discuss the vehicles that never made it to shelves. From a triple-engine bomber to a modular base station with interchangeable pods, the 1985 series represented a leap in ambition that the market simply wasn’t ready for.
From Resin to Legend
Only a handful of resin prototypes survived the studio clearance. These grey, unpainted castings occasionally surface at specialist auctions and command extraordinary prices. A single first-shot prototype of the cancelled Troop Carrier sold for £18,000 in 2023.
“We knew we were making something special. The engineering was sound. It was the timing that killed us.” — Gerald Whitmore