Felcom Special: Portugal’s motorsport pioneer

By all accounts, this car was a US-specification with a 3.3-litre ‘four’, producing 40hp (British and European markets tended to favour Ford’s more taxation-friendly 2-litre units), good enough for a respectable 65mph, depending on which of the myriad bodies available the car wore.

Menéres, though, had stripped away the factory phaeton coachwork, replacing it with a crude, lightweight, open two-seater body of his own creation; mounted high up on the Model A’s chassis, it was far from an aesthetic masterpiece, but as a local challenger to the Bugattis and Alfa Romeos that were starting to pack Portuguese grids, it had no equals.

Neither did it have a surfeit of power. The Model A’s cooking ‘four’ was stifled by its restrictive L-head.

Born of a Ford Model A and a Turcat-Méry, the Felcom was a Portuguese racing pioneer

Menéres had previously experimented with modifying cylinder heads on Model Ts, but without any great success.

His solution this time was to trial the vaunted Miller head from America, which had been lauded as transformative to the Model A motor’s output.

Harry Miller’s racing cars had dominated US motorsport during the 1920s and, while he had initially been resistant to the idea of selling tuning bits – “I’m not going to make any more of those heads for the Ford,” Miller complained, “those Ford guys don’t have any money anyway!” – he swallowed his pride in the wake of the 1929 Wall Street Crash and began marketing an overhead-valve – or ‘valve-in-head’ – conversion for the Model A.

The Felcom Special’s Automóvel Club de Portugal badge

Designed by his long-time collaborator Leo Goossen soon after the Model A’s 1928 launch, Miller’s new part moved the intake and exhaust valves from block to head, and therefore closer to the point of combustion, while improving airflow.

Minimising the need for additional componentry, the original port arrangement remained, allowing the standard inlet and exhaust manifolds to be retained; even the location for the distributor was unchanged.

While there’s no record of how much extra power Menéres gained for his Model A Special’s big-banger ‘four’, when combined with its new, sylphlike body, it was a contender from the word go.

The Ford Model A wearing its original body, with Eduardo Ferreirinha in c1929/’30 © Pedro Filipe

With his friend Eduardo Ferreirinha, Menéres entered the inaugural Rampa da Penha hillclimb in 1930.

The two drivers took their still-unnamed machine to a first in class on the 4.8km track in the Penha mountains of Guimarães, in the Braga district of northern Portugal, at an average speed of 53.38kph.

It was a notable success for the pair, all the more so because it was in a fundamentally Portuguese-conceived car, when almost all of its competition came from foreign marques.

Ferreirinha in the 1931 Boavista Grand Prix, where the car retired with engine problems © Pedro Filipe

In November the same year, Ferreirinha drove Menéres’ Special again at Porto’s Lançado do Mindelo event.

Effectively a speed trial, known as the ‘Mindelo Flying Kilometre’, it was staged on the 2km stretch of road that today connects Vila do Conde and Porto, Portugal’s second city.

While the Special’s result at the Penha hillclimb had raised eyebrows, achieving an impressive third place at an average of 128.27kph at Mindelo – behind the Henrique Lehrfeld’s omnipotent Bugatti Type 35 and Vasco Sameiro’s supercharged Alfa Romeo 6C-1750 – boosted its reputation still further.

The Felcom Special became a local star on Portuguese grids

Despite the plaudits, Menéres wasn’t completely satisfied with the car.

Its engine’s potential had been realised, and running with such a lightweight body had made it a challenger in the straight-line speed events that were then becoming popular around the country.

But when it came to wheel-to-wheel competition on the street circuits that were beginning to emerge in Portuguese cities, the Model A’s rudimentary chassis was never going to cut it.

A decision was made to scrap the Ford frame and replace it with one from a Turcat-Méry.

The recommissioned Felcom Special’s rudimentary steering gear needs some fine-tuning

The French marque had enjoyed much success in motorsport prior to the Great War with its star driver, Henri Rougier, entering 45hp models in the 1903 Paris-Madrid, the 1904 Gordon Bennett Cup – where he finished third – and the inaugural 1911 Rallye Monte-Carlo, in which he took the outright victory.

After the war, Turcat-Méry began producing a 15/25hp model with a 3-litre, four-cylinder engine, and while there is no record of which chassis was fitted to the Felcom, it’s likely it was this one that Menéres chose to replace the Ford original.

To lower the car, the frame was turned upside down and employed an underslung rear axle, then the Model A’s steering column, four-wheel brakes and three-speed gearbox were carried over.

At the same time, the car’s rather Heath Robinson-style body was replaced with a more elegant, fintailed effort.

The Felcom Special wearing its question mark, being driven by Ferreirinha at Vila Real, 1931 © Pedro Filipe

With the Model A by then a genuine hybrid, Menéres felt that it deserved to be known as something other than a Special, so he added 
mystique to his future race entries by painting punctuation on the side, leading to the car acquiring the temporary ‘Ponto de Interrogação’ (‘Question Mark’) moniker.

More pressing was the racer’s upcoming attendance at Portugal’s first event of the 1931 season: the inaugural race at the Circuito de Vila Real, 20 laps of the 7.15km track in northern Portugal between the Alvão and Marão mountains.

The circuit, like many others of the period, was poorly surfaced, with a layer of dust and stones promising restricted vision for entrants.

The Felcom Special started life as a Ford Model A phaeton

A Brooklands-style start had Ferreirinha running across the track and vaulting into the cockpit for a swift getaway, and he finished the 143km race second in class.

It was also a good day for his friend, Gaspar Sameiro (of whom more later), who won the Touring class in a Model A convertible, saying to motorsport magazine O volante: “I closed the windows… pressed the accelerator… and arrived first. That was all I wanted, above all… not to get too dusty.”

By now, expectations were growing for Menéres’ homebuilt ‘bitsa’, which was truly punching above its weight and no doubt eliciting a deal of pride among Portuguese spectators.

Which made the DNS at its next event in Lisbon, due to mechanical problems, a disappointment for Menéres and Ferreirinha.

The Felcom Special’s name was derived from the phoenix

But soon afterwards a second overall at the Penha hillclimb, behind Vasco Sameiro’s supercharged Alfa Romeo 6C, restored the pair’s faith in the car.

Alas, their hopes were to be dashed once more at what promised to be a far more high-profile race.

The Circuito da Boavista was Portugal’s answer to Monaco’s street track, starting at Porto’s harbourfront, travelling along the Avenida da Boavista (from where it took its name) and twisting its way through small neighbourhoods before returning to the start.

Repeated failures led to a return to the standard Ford Model A ‘L-head’ set-up

Ferreirinha took a commanding lead from the off, setting a new lap record at an average of 115.31kph.

However, after 13 tours, a broken intake valve forced retirement.

For ’32, Menéres’ car was finally christened. ‘Felcom’ – which the car’s current keeper, Pedro Filipe, explains has the same meaning as 
fênix (phoenix) in Portuguese – was thought appropriate, since its Turcat-Méry chassis had risen from the ashes; as, to some extent, had 
its Model A componentry.

The Felcom Special racer’s low-slung look comes courtesy of an inverted Turcat-Méry chassis

The season-opener for the car was Automóvel Club de Portugal’s speed trial at the Alameda Ocidental do Campo Grande in Lisbon, a tree-lined thoroughfare in the capital along which competitors were timed over a flying kilometre.

This time, the newly named car was back on form, with Ferreirinha winning outright and setting the highest average speed of 100kph – 5kph faster than second-place driver Lehrfeld’s Bugatti Type 35B. 

A week later, the Felcom was in Lisbon again on 28 June for the Circuito do Campo Grande, a one-hour race around a temporary street circuit, its short straights compromising the drivers’ overtaking opportunities.

The Felcom Special (middle) shows off its trophies after winning at Campo Grande in 1932, before going on display in the Palácio Ford showroom in Lisbon © Pedro Filipe

Nonetheless, with Gaspar Sameiro replacing Ferreirinha at the wheel, the Felcom led from start to finish at a 100.2kph average, with Sameiro’s brother, Vasco, challenging throughout in his Delage.

Accruing these two victories within the space of just a week had further raised the Felcom’s profile.

It was now considered to be Portugal’s most accomplished racer, and had begun to attract commercial sponsorship, with Vacum Oil (now Mobil) even featuring it in its advertising.

Palácio Ford, Lisbon’s largest dealership, displayed the car between events, its many trophies proudly balanced along the length of its bonnet.

The Felcom Special’s pedal arrangement is familiar to modern drivers

But the Felcom was far from resting on its laurels.

A second attempt at the Circuito de Vila Real featured Sameiro driving again, this time clinching second behind brother Vasco’s Invicta.

Third place at Penha hillclimb came a week later, followed by another visit to Boavista with Ferreirinha at the wheel.

Here, the Felcom initially led a field of Invictas and Bugattis, but mechanical failure again forced retirement on lap 15.

Frustrated by its inconsistent performance, Ferreirinha stripped the engine, only to discover that the Miller cylinder head had raised the engine’s compression ratio to an unsustainable level, perhaps explaining the repeated issues.

The Felcom Special soon after the addition of its third and final body, with Eduardo Carvalho at Boavista, 1933 © Pedro Filipe

What rectification took place thereafter is not recorded, but at the end of the 1932 season Menéres sold the Felcom to Eduardo Carvalho.

Its new keeper redesigned the body into the third incarnation it still wears today, and prepared it for the following season.

However, after entering 1933’s Campo Grande – where engine problems yet again resulted in a DNF – and that year’s Boavista Grand Prix, along with a few other events up until 1935, Carvalho and the Felcom never quite managed to replicate the success enjoyed by Menéres, Ferreirinha and Sameiro earlier in the decade.

The Felcom Special prepares for its final race, with Henrique dos Santos at Circuito da Boavista, 1935 © Pedro Filipe

Unfortunately, the car’s history is patchy from the mid-’30s until the 1960s, when it was acquired for a collection and restored, though it remained largely unused until 2019, when it came into the hands of arch-enthusiast Pedro Filipe.

With its engine by then displacing 3.6 litres, up from the original 3.3, Pedro recommissioned the car and in 2022 entered the Vintage Revival Montlhéry in France, taking the Felcom out of Portugal for the first time in its 94-year history.

Poignantly, in 2024 he raced the car once more at Vila Real circuit, as well as returning to Montlhéry for a second time.

The Felcom Special’s cockpit contains the bare minimum of dials and switchgear

Carvalho’s post-1932 bodywork lends the Felcom an aesthetic gravitas it lacked during its time with Menéres and Ferreirinha.

Derivative it may be, with hints of ERA, Bugatti and Delage in its design, but with its exposed wheels, crisply pointed rump and low-slung stance, the Felcom is a perfect flag-bearer for early Portuguese motorsport.

You sit low in the left-hand-drive cockpit behind a huge, sprung four-spoke wheel, legs outstretched before you to control the conventionally arranged pedals – the accelerator little more than a button.

Four small dials for charge, oil, water temperature and speed (on a rotating barrel up to 140kph) are spread across the turned-aluminium dash, with only a few unlabelled switches for auxiliaries.

The Ford Model A’s four-wheel brakes were carried over to the Felcom Special

The lever for the three-speed ’box is at least 2ft long and sprouts near-horizontally from the lower bulkhead.

Fire up, and all eyes in the paddock turn towards the Felcom as its four-banger’s unsilenced, staccato baritone rents the air.

There’s no ’screen, but as I pull out on to the cobbled Caramulo streets, I can only just see over the metal wind-deflector.

Pedro admits the brakes still need fettling, so we’re being circumspect; the steering is also running a little too much caster, so its responses are sharp to say the least.

The Felcom Special is not short on agility, aided by its low centre of gravity

But the torque is immense, more than enough to spin the rears in the tall second and third gears with little provocation, and fling you up this mountainside town’s hilly roads in the same way it would have around Boavista circuit nearly a century ago.

Pedro’s enthusiasm for the car is palpable, and he vows to get me back into it for the 2026 hillclimb.

As we watch visitors admiring the racer in the paddock, it’s strange to think that this popular festival in some small way owes its success to the Felcom, which helped to ignite Portugal’s love for motorsport

Images: Manuel Portugal

Thanks to: Pedro Filipe; Caramulo Motorfestival

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