CHESIL Motors is back on the road with original owner Peter Bailey behind the wheel again after a four-year break.

To announce its comeback the replica kit car company exhibited at the NEC Classic Car Show in Birmingham last weekend and at the Great Western Kit and Car Builder Show in Exeter this weekend.

Peter Bailey founded the Chesil Motor Company, near Bridport, in the 1990s and enjoyed 15 years making a name for himself with the replica Porsche 356 Speedster – celebrated in celluloid in the film Wimbledon with Paul Bethany and Kirsten Dunst.

Mr Bailey sold the business as a going concern and in 2007 it morphed into the Tygan motor company and moved to Beaminster.

The new concern ran into trouble and administrators were called in at the beginning of the year. Mr Bailey said the thought of letting his dream die was too dreadful and he took it on again.

He said: “I bought the business back again because it seemed such a shame that the owners didn’t seem to understand the product or the people who owned the cars.

“After spending 15 years building the company back in the 1990s to see it just disappear was dreadful and I just had to do something about it.”

Even though the country is in the grip of a recession, Mr Bailey believes he can succeed again.

He said: “I know we are in a recession and this is not the first thing on people’s agenda but an awful lot of people have been starved of information and parts and we have been tickling along and gradually growing as more people realise we are back in business.

“I did it years ago and didn’t see any reason why I should not do it again. The marque has a lot of respect for its quality and has a good reputation.

“Last time I started it was in the late 1980s that, too, was a recession and I was starting off very much greener than I am now.

“We are going to these shows to show people we are back in business and that we are there to supply and support existing customers and anyone wanting to buy one.”

He will also be launching a new model with a 2.2-litre injection air-cooled engine.

Mr Bailey is also working on another new project – a special replica of a Porsche 550 with an aluminium body– known as the James Dean car.