History
Thomas was an experienced Brooklands racer, with workshops on site, and conceived the low-slung Thomas Special in order to take part in road racing. He built two examples in 1926, with a 1,494cc 8-cylinder inline engine of his own design. The gearbox configuration was unusual - as second and third gears were the most common to be used, the shift from first to second was backwards and right, and from second to third was forward.
The aim was to have them ready for the 1926 British Grand Prix, and Thomas sold the second example to Scrap Thistlethwayte, confusingly painting "Thomas Special 1" on its side to flatter its new owner that he had the original. Thomas had also prepared a supercharger, but, unable to manufacture two, fitted it to the car he sold to Thistlethwayte. Thomas retained the first model, with "Thomas Special 2" painted thereon, and both entered the Grand Prix, Thistlethwayte nominated Clive Gallop as driver. Neither was ready for the race due to gearbox machining errors, and they appeared for the first time at the 1926 Brooklands 200 Miles race, Thistlethwayte breaking his gearbox in practice and non-starting, but Thomas finished 8th; the low design - aided by the transmission running to the side of the driver, rather than underneath - led to the cars being nicknamed Flatirons.
Thistlethwayte soon returned No. 1 to Thomas, who had plans to adopt it for record breaking, but he killed in an attempt on the Land Speed Record in March 1927. No. 1 was sold to Harold Purdy and No. 2 to W. B. Scott, and both raced their examples at the British Grand Prix that October, but both retired; the husky Scott soon sold No. 2, finding it difficult to fit in.