The Dowsetts Comet – This Is The Only Road-Going Comet In The World

The Dowsetts Comet is a car that many haven’t heard of due to the fact that they’re only produced in very limited numbers in a small factory deep in the English countryside.

Despite their English roots, the cars are powered by fire-breathing American V8s giving them performance as good (or better) than any modern sports car.

The company is headed by Ant Anstead, a renowned engineer and mechanic who became a celebrity in his own right thanks to his extensive on camera presenting work on television programs like For the Love of Cars and Wheeler Dealers.

Fast Facts – The Dowsetts Comet

• The Dowsetts Comet is the work of the Dowsetts Classic Car Company, formerly known as Evanta. They build bespoke sports cars in very limited numbers out of a workshop on Dowsetts Farm.
• In the spirit of 1960s performance cars like the Shelby Cobra and the Jensen Interceptor, the Comet uses a British designed chassis with an American V8, providing excellent handling and ample power.
• The Comet has a steel spaceframe chassis, a front-mid-mounted GM LS3 V8, a Tremec 5-speed gearbox, and a limited-slip differential.
• Very few examples of the Comet have been made, in fact at the time of writing it’s believed to be just two, and the car you see here is the only one on the road as the other example is being converted to electric drive by Anstead.

The Dowsetts Comet – A Modern Classic Car

Many people in the automotive world, myself included, believe that automobile design may have peaked in the 1960s. It was a decade that gave us the Ferrari 250 GTO, the Jaguar E-Type, the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, the BMW 2002, the Lamborghini Miura, the Ferrari 250 GT SWB, and an impossibly long list of other timeless classics.

What Ant Anstead and the team at the Dowsetts Classic Car Company (now known as Faeger) set out to do was to capture the design aesthetic of this era, including its beautiful design language and its analogue driving experience, and incorporate it all into a brand new car.

Each Comet starts out as a steel spaceframe chassis, independent suspension is fitted to each corner along with disc brakes and finally a set of Dowsetts bespoke wheels. The body is ultra lightweight thanks to the use of a Kevlar-reinforced composite material for all external panels.

Inside you’ll find opulent red quilted leather, a Moto-Lita wood-rimmed steering wheel, and unexpected modern conveniences like air-conditioning, a reversing camera, and satellite navigation.

The Dowsetts Comet – Performance Figures

Anstead reportedly invested a lot of time in the handling and performance of the Comet, as a result the cars have been lauded by reviewers. The performance figures certainly back this up, with a 0 – 60 mph time of just 3.9 seconds thanks to power output of 430 hp by that LS3 V8.

The owner of this car, chassis #002, ordered it after seeing chassis #001 under construction. He specified that it be set up for grand touring duties which is why the interior is so well appointed, but after covering just 2,500 miles he suffered a back injury which makes it all but impossible for him to drive the car.

“I got involved with Ant Anstead over four years ago and on visiting his workshop spotted the Barchetta (open top early version of the Comet) and fell in love with it. Ant had by then started work on the Comet and I agreed to buy number two – the first having already been purchased off plan by another client and is now in America with Ant who is trying to fit an electric motor in it so mine is still the only road going Comet in the world!” – the current owner of the Dowsetts Comet

The Comet is now for sale through Silverstone Auctions and it’s due to roll across the auction block on the 13th of November. At the time of writing there’s no price guide listed, if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Above Video: See and hear the Comet in action in this short film from Dowsetts Classic Cars.

Images courtesy of Silverstone Auctions