The Luck of the Irish.(Escape Roads)(Shamrock)

Byline: JONATHAN A. STEIN

Seattle car collector Dan Holms could have the Ferraris and Duesenbergs that captivate his computer baron neighbors, but he likes things a little different. In mid-2004 Holms saw a photo of the short-lived Shamrock car and decided he would go looking for one of his own. He found a pair in California, but the owner wanted incredibly silly money for the small-change Shamrocks.

Being the patient type, Holms placed an advertisement in Hemmings, then sat back and waited. Before long he received a call telling him a different Shamrock was soon to be sold at the Bonhams & Butterfields Wiglesworth sale near Kansas City in September. Holms made travel arrangements then headed east to make his play for the Shamrock.

The car he was after represents one of the more obscure auto ventures of the mid-20th century. In fact, its greatest distinction may be its very obscurity. Planned to be built in Ireland in the early 1960s, long before John Z. DeLorean brought his ill-fated, stainless-steel sports car to the island, the fiberglass Shamrock enjoyed a very short life. With business offices in England, Shamrock Motors Ltd. was to manufacture cars in Tralee, Kerry, though ultimately production commenced in Castleblaney, County Monaghan. To further muddy matters, the man behind the operation was American William K. Curtis, though the one-piece molded fiberglass body was designed by Canadian Alvin "Spike'' Rhiando, a former 500-cc Formula 3 racer.

The car Curtis brought forth was a four-seat fiberglass vehicle of sporting pretensions. Looking like a cross between a 1957 Thunderbird and a Studebaker Hawk from the rear, the narrow Shamrock was built on a ladder frame with a 98-inch wheelbase. It has such long overhangs that it has been described as looking more "like a parade float than a car,'' especially considering its 51-inch front and ...