Ecurie Cod Fillet was created in 1955 by Roy Fidler and John Hopwood. They were stalwarts of the Stockport Motor Club and had both gained a reputation for winning rallies. By trade, Roy was a fish merchant and that quickly led to his earning the nickname "King Cod‟. He and John even won a Stockport daylight rally driving the company fish van, a VW Transporter, when his Triumph Herald rally car was not fit for use.
In a dig at all the Squadras and Ecuries of the day, the pair began to enter and compete under the title Ecurie Cod Fillet. The ECF badge depicting a filleted cod emanates from this period and was soon to be seen on the cars of many other top competitors. Typically John would be seen at the start of the events rushing around fellow competitors collecting team entry fees so that he could enter as many permutations as possible to ensure ECF would win the Team Prize. ECF was beginning to take the form of a club, but not one to which you could pay a subscription and join.
ECF was, and still is, an invitation-only club and it became quite an honour to be asked to become a member. Eligibility in those early days was attained by winning a Motoring News rally, a feat that was no easier then than it was to become in the late sixties and early seventies.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks