IT was called the Black Prince - and it was businessman Ernest Naisby's hope that it would transform the fortunes of the North-East town that built it.

The project to build the sports car was launched in 1919 in Barnard Castle, County Durham, a town suffering from a trade slump.

The aim was to make the Black Prince sports car popular across Britain, and to create a lot of badly-needed jobs to end a serious local recession.

It was put on sale at 68 guineas (£71.40 in today's money) and had two models, the Runabout and the Buckboard.

The work was based in Thorngate Mill which, as the Northern Echo reported recently, is being converted from its derelict state into 16 high-class apartments, which have almost been completed.

The car had a 350cc two-stroke engine, air-cooled, with side cranking. The chain-driven engine was at the front, with transmission to the rear nearside wheel by means of a linked-leather belt.

Oil was conveyed to the engine by a drip-feed on the dashboard.

Controls were a footbrake and clutch, with accelerator on the dashboard. It had two forward gears and no reverse.

It had a wooden chassis made of beech, and headlamps lit by acetylene gas.

A 90ft by 40ft ramp was built, so that each one could be rolled down from a workshop onto the road outside.

Residents used to turn out to watch each model being road-tested by being driven as fast as possible along Thorngate, a flat road, and then up the steep slope of The Bank.

Local historian Alan Wilkinson said he was told years ago that only a few cars managed to get halfway up the slope as far as the Railway Hotel (now the Old Well), and those which got all the way to the Market Cross were hailed as a success.

The longest recorded trip was from Barnard Castle to Carlisle, a distance of about 60 miles, on a very wet day.

One resident described it as a glorified motorbike, and another given a ride in it said it was "pretty bumpy" because of the beech chassis.

Undeterred, there were plans for a four-seater version of the vehicle.

But the Black Prince was not a success. The firm ceased trading in 1922 because of financial difficulties.

Mr Wilkinson said: "Unfortunately, it brought no trade revival for Barnard Castle."

Little else is known about Mr Naisby, the man behind the Black Prince venture, apart from the fact that he moved to the town from the Stokesley area, in North Yorkshire.

Mr Wilkinson said: "It is known that he had a partner in the business but I have not discovered his name.

"I have found no record of where Mr Naisby went after the business failed."

One surviving model of the Black Prince sports car, which came up for sale some years ago, was bought by the Bowes Museum after money was raised through a wine and strawberry evening. It is on display at the museum.