2001 Strathcarron SC-5A / Estimate £22,000 - £26,000
Registration No: Y901 RVS
Chassis No: SC5A0006
MOT: March 2027
Self-developed, Triumph-sourced, 1,200cc four-cylinder engine producing 125bhp, with 1,200lb. kerb weight, meaning 227bhp/ton power-to-weight ratio
Six-speed sequential gearbox described in period by Top Gear as the best manual shift since the Ferrari 360 Modena
Developed with extensive input from motorsport heavyweights Reynard Motorsport and Prodrive
One of less than 20 examples manufactured, and understood to be the only taxed and MOTed example
Warranted 5,700 miles from new
During the 1990s, car enthusiasts cultivated an appreciation for ultra-lightweight, fast-revving sports cars, like the Lotus Elise and highly developed Caterhams. This vogue reached its zenith in 2000 with the arrival of the Lotus 340R and Ariel Atom. Ian Macpherson, who became Lord Strathcarron in 2006, might have bought any car he pleased, but he went one better than that and decided to make his own. His father, the late David Macpherson, 2nd
Baron Strathcarron, had been famous for his motor racing exploits, and the younger peer inherited the speed bug, setting up Strathcarron Sports Cars in 1995. Its first product, the SC-5A was conceived to go head-to-head with Lotus’s finest offerings, and was developed by leading specialists in race engineering, including Reynard Motorsport and Prodrive. Reynard had been the world’s largest racing car manufacturer in the 1980s, producing race-winning cars in Formula Ford, Formula Three, Formula 3000, among other series.
The proposed Lotophagus was unveiled in prototype SC-4 guise at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show. Constructed with carbon-Kevlar panels round an aluminium honeycomb tub, the production SC-5A weighed a trifling 1,200lbs., and its mid-mounted, four-cylinder, 1.2-litre, 16-valve Triumph motorcycle engine produced a claimed 125-140bhp at 9,800rpm. With a six-speed sequential gearbox developed in association with Quaife (described by Top Gear as the best manual since the Ferrari 360 Modena), it was said to be good for 125mph and 0-60mph in 5.5secs. The Prodrive-developed suspension incorporated Bilstein springs and shock absorbers, and other features included AP Racing brakes, OZ Gran Turismo wheels, and specially-developed Yokohama tyres. Sadly, the SC-5A was killed by the Government before it could prove its worth. New Single Vehicle Approval regulations came into effect, closing a loophole which had exempted bike-engined cars from having to meet the same emissions criteria as other cars, and despite an anticipated production run of 50 to 150 units, very few SC-5As were completed between 1999 and 2002—sources variously state between six and seventeen.
Our car, the sixth built by chassis number, was registered new on June 21st, 2001, and in 2005 entered the hands of its third keeper, who would care for it until his death in 2024. Afterwards, it was sold to the current registered keeper in time-warp condition in 2025, having covered only 5,700 miles across its entire life. This is backed up by an extensive MOT record, which reveals the Strathcarron was regularly tested up to 2018, although its annual mileage was minimal. It is now offered for sale having been recently serviced and recommissioned, and shod with four new Goodyear tyres. It is supplied with twelve MOT certificates with not a single advisory, the present being valid until March, 2027, plus an original press release, promotional materials, and period magazine articles. Rarer by far than its Lotus and Ariel rivals, surviving Strathcarrons are very seldom offered on the open market, and we know of only two other British-registered SE-5As, both of which are SORNed. This one is all the more special for the fact it presents in low-mileage, nearly-new condition.
