Rex McCandless

{{Short description|Motorcycle racer from Northern Ireland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Use British English|date=October 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Rex McCandless | image =  | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = 1915 | birth_place = Hillsborough, County Down, Northern Ireland | death_date ={{death year and age|1992|1915}} | death_place = | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = Motorcycle racer | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Rex McCandless''' (1915–1992) was a former motorcycle racer, designer and constructor from Northern Ireland.<ref name="The Manx Norton">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1PoIKeAV9u0C&dq=rex+mccandless&pg=PA37|title=The Manx Norton|author=Walker, Mick|year=2006|isbn=9780954435790|access-date=20 June 2011}}</ref>

Born in Hillsborough, County Down, McCandless had been a successful motorcycle racer prior to the Second World War.<ref name="The Manx Norton"/> During the war, he worked in the aviation industry.<ref name="The Cafe Racer Phenomenom">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBVOriZ3cYQC&dq=rex+mccandless&pg=PA11|title=The Cafe Racer Phenomenom|author=Walker, Alastair|year=2009|isbn=9781845842642|access-date=20 June 2011}}</ref> He had been working as a vehicle mechanic when in 1943, he went into business with his brother Cromie McCandless to repair vehicles for the Ministry of Supply. It was at this time that he built his own motorcycle which became the prototype for the successful featherbed frame adapted by the Norton Motorcycle Company.<ref name="The Manx Norton"/>

In the following years McCandless worked on the frame design, improving it and calling it the 'Kneeler'. This version went on to break many world speed records. In the mid-1950s he moved into four wheels and he designed two aluminum-bodied racing cars for Harry Ferguson. In the 1960s he turned his attention to aviation and built his own autogyro.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcdTAAAAMAAJ&q=rex+mccandless+autogyro|title=Jane's all the world's aircraft|author=Jane, Frederick Thomas|year=1967|access-date=20 June 2011}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080304035735/http://www.500race.org/Marques/McCandless.htm Biography] * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/belfast/A760448_replies.shtml On BBC] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140527213927/http://www.jenningspublishing.co.uk/reviews0713.html Review of 'To Make A Better Mousetrap - a Biography of the Remarkable Rex McCandless' by R.L. (Leslie) Jennings]

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCandless, Rex}} Category:1915 births Category:1992 deaths Category:People from Hillsborough, County Down Category:Motorcycle racers from Northern Ireland Category:British motorcycle designers Category:Motorsport people from County Down