As a fourth-generation Texan I guess I can say this: I don't know why, but a lot of Lone Star state natives just don't seem to know their limitations. They go ahead and do things without even thinking whether they might be getting too big for their britches. Neal Bailey is a case in point. Here's a 35-year old Dallas-Fort Worth area family man who has a pretty long daily commute to work, so about a year or so ago, he's looking around at some of the traffic he's stuck in and starts to scribble notes and drawings of the cars he likes best. Fast forward to this summer, 2008 - he's working out final stages of a prototype of his own sleek, full performance supercar, the Bailey Blade, which he plans to introduce to the kit car world with five completed turnkey builds in early 2009.
To be fair, Neal Bailey was not a complete neophyte to the world of autos. Since the age of sixteen, he had tinkered with his share of hot rods, including restoring a couple of old Mustangs and a Jag. Before inventing the Bailey Blade, he had built a high-end kit car replica of a 66 Shelby Cobra 427, his favorite of all sports cars and the prime influence for the Blade.
New-School Cobra Look
Neal's vision for his Blade was to capture some of the old-school Cobra look and feel with high-tech, modern performance-enhancing advancements. A big V8 fuel injected engine rides on a tubular, boxed steel and aluminum chassis with full independent suspension. Down force is kept strong with the addition of belly pans, front splitters and rear diffusers, so that a giant rear spoiler becomes unecessary. A beefier cab was a must for Bailey's design; he's a tall guy (6'4"), and like many big men, always found the look of a big man in a small sports car kind of silly, not to mention the cramped feel of the usual sports cab being highly inconvenient. With his supercar's deeper interior space, tall men will not only look great in the Bailey Blade, but the driver's head won't press up against the retractable roof.
Standardized components will meet both US and European regulations, and Bailey has already found interest in his car by way of Western and Eastern European car magazine writeups. The kit car specifications will allow for both left and right-hand drive options, and two of his five prototype builds will be RHD to accommodate that market.
Although the initial Blade prototypes will have a Roush 400IR stroked small block Ford engine with fuel injection producing 500HP, the Blade is designed to accept a variety of engine types, including everything from a Ford Big Block or Modular to a smaller lighter BMW Engine. The engine compartment is sized to accept almost any front mount engine type. Suspension-wise, the Blade will be standard equipped with a fully adjustable independent rear suspension with adjustable shocks. The suspension utilizes adjustable upper and lower control arms and with adjustable performance shocks mounted to a cantilever system for easy adjustability of ride height and suspension geometry. The current prototype plan calls for a full vinyl ester hand-laid fiberglass lightweight body with clam shell style hood that flips forward to allow for easy access to the engine suspension components. Bailey is also looking at offering a full Carbon Fiber body option as well.
Stay tuned to the www.baileyspeed.com web site, where breaking news on the Bailey Blade's introduction will be forthcoming.
