1969 Brennan-Mays Enigma review from Australia and New Zealand

The chain drive broke.

Reverse gear was inoperable.

The electrics were terminally unreliable.

The vehicle would stop for no apparent reason, refuse to proceed for up to 3hrs, and then start again without reason.

The doors would lock by themselves (electric), I found this out the first time with the keys still inside.

The windscreen leaked.

The body was very prone to corrosion.

Servicing or working on the vehicle was a nightmare.

The vehicle caught fire (this was the end of this particular car!).

I bought the Brennan-Mays, as it was an unusual, early example of electric powered motoring. The "Enigma" was the "flagship" of the range, with the base model known as the "Motion". My friends laughed at the name of the vehicle initially, and I later discovered what was so "enigmatic" about the vehicle.

Each individual wheel had its own electric motor, which was regulated by a potentiometer (the equivalent of a petrol throttle). This was a really good setup, until a contactor failed on the near side front wheel whilst cornering, throwing the vehicle into massive oversteer.

I should have learned from that incident and sold the vehicle then.

The chain drive from the off side front motor to the drive sprocket broke on the way from Hornsby to Greenacre, and due to the unusual nature of the chain, the replacement took 3 days to arrive.

The interior of the vehicle was extremely hot, and, surprisingly, there was no fresh air ventilation system apart from the pneumatic! windows. That's right, a small electric motor ran a compressor, located in the boot.

The pneumatic system was prone to leaks and the windows were spring loaded in the "up" position. As you drive along, the air would slowly bleed off out of the window cylinder and push it up!

The batteries were very expensive and heavy. Once again they had to be custom made.

The vehicle was difficult to keep clean, and would accumulate water in parts of the inner panels. The drain holes were small and easily blocked. I didn't find this out until a foul smell of stagnant water in the boot drove me to find pools of water in the rear quarter panels!

There is little or no documentation on the vehicle, and the few schematics that I had, were inaccurate, which made electrical diagnosis difficult.

In all I had a fairly unsatisfactory foray into the "vintage electric" automotive scene. The Americans were way ahead of the Australian built Brennan-Mays in their electric technology.

A serious fire on the Hume Highway destroyed one of the last Enigmas still on the road. I think I will stick to fossil fuels!