John Cowperthwaite

John Cowperthwaite was a man from Sheffield, England who designed many kit cars. They were often not finished kits but "plan and pattern" cars where the builders were expected to manufacture many of the parts themselves. Among his creations are the JC Midge, Locust, the Husky and the Mayfair.

He started out by making fibreglass bodies under the name "Moss". The first was a two seater. It was followed by a 2+2 called Moss Malvern of 1982 and the two seater was then renamed to Moss Roadster. 1983 also saw the introduction of the Moss Mamba. In 1984 came the Moss Monaco and the Midge. In 1987 the Moss marque went under, but the assets was bought from Hampshire Classics by three members of the Moss car club. Except for the Mamba, production continued by Moss Cars (Bath) until the early 1990s.

Real Life Toys was formed in 1987 and proved to be a lasting success. Sold in the early nineties, bought back at the end of the decade. Launched the first Toylander in April 2000. sold the business again in Dec 2001 to Richard Shepherd.

Today [2008] John treads the boards as a successful country and western singer / songwriter in a duo with his partner Rosie.

His daughter, Deborah Green (née Cowperthwaite) follows an ethical approach in animal welfare and spent 11 years as an Accident Investigator for Loughborough University before managing Mill House - a smallholding based in Melton Mowbray - raising free-range pigs and producing food free of chemicals.