"Putting style on the road"
The story of Haldane Developments and what happened...

The Pilgrim era
Pilgrim bought the assets of Haldane Developments along with five nearly finished HD-300 cars. It is not very clear whether or not Pilgrim did produce any complete cars other then the five part-built cars. According to Pilgrim they did produce the odd body every once in a while..

From Pilgrim website: "In 1985 Den Tanner started Pilgrim Cars in partnership with Bill Harling. The company rapidly grew, introducing at least one new model each year until around 1991. At that time Bill moved on, whilst Den carried on the Pilgrim Cars business and also took on the publication of a magazine called Kitcars International. A few years later, in 1995, he also took on the publication of Kit Car magazine. Come 1998 an argument between Den and a rival publisher (Peter Filby) resulted in Den and Pilgrim being attacked on a monthly basis. Den suffered a mental breakdown as a result and sold Pilgrim to Tony Holmes."

Pilgrim was best known for its "Sumo" which was a replica of the AC Cobra, a very popular car for kitcar manufacturers and the Pilgrim Bulldog.


Left: Pilgrim Sumo and Pilgrim Bulldog (right).

In 1998 or 1999 Pilgrim was bought by Tony Holmes. In the following period Pilgrim also took on the "Minotaur" project.


The Minotaur.

After Tony Holmes sold Pilgrim he went on to further developed this car under the company name "Vision Sportscars".

At around 1999 the Haldane HD-300 demonstrator car L557 YDS was advertised for sale at £9.500,- in need of some TLC. At some point in time a left over HD-300 body shell was sold which was used as a "prop" in theatre and was the first electrically propelled Haldane.


Pilgrim (Haldane built) demonstrator car and the bodyshell used as a "prop" for theatre.

However, Tony's company, Pilgrim, went into receivership in 2008.

Statement from Tony Holmes: "Over the last twelve months the orders slowed down and the company experienced a cash flow problem. The final six weeks were like a tap being turned off, the orders dried up, the overheads could not be met and my personal money that had helped to prop up the company for the past two years was drained."

The full statement from Tony Holmes can be found on the internet.

From Pilgrim website: "Den decided, for better or worse, to buy back what he saw as "his baby". At the beginning of 2009 he set about rebuilding the brand. However, times were different then and they remain different today. The fact is that there simply are not the numbers of customers about as there used to be. So Pilgrim is being re-constructed on a smaller scale, with more realistic goals suited for present conditions."

At Pilgrim all efforts were made to restart production of the "Sumo". There were also some "other products" developed.


Summer 2012: Pilgrim workshop and office.

As of April 2013 the moulds for the Pilgrim Haldane HD-300 were offered for sale, including the chassis jigs. They were initially for sale on the Pilgrim website and later they were advertised for sale on e-bay. Asking price was £10k.


Moulds for sale on Ebay: "A chassis jig will accompany the sale of this mould, but we offer no instruction, far less a guarantee, on the jig. It has been stored outside and has all signs of wheather deterioration but is still strong (no pictures will be supplied, and it holds zero value). There is no instruction manual, build manual or paperwork, and so a degree of common sense, and an amount of knowledge is required in order to produce the end product. Lessons will not be given."

Maybe someone will pick them up and recreate these cars. Time will tell.

Back to index     Next chapter->