Before entering the automotive world, Melling was involved in the fashion industry during the early 1980s, owning a London company that designed ladies' garments throughout the decade. His work as a business owner led him to master the full production lifecycle of his products. This same hands-on philosophy would later define his approach to engineering, where he preferred to develop designs in-house rather than outsourcing critical work.
Melling became involved in Formula One in 1989, going on to serve as a consultant to companies including Lamborghini, Chevrolet, Leyton House Formula One, and Benetton. Through his company Melling Consultancy Design (MCD), he pursued multiple F1 engine programmes, none of which reached the race grid.
The most prominent was a V10 engine developed for the MasterCard Lola team ahead of the 1997 Formula One season. The engine fell behind schedule, and the team entered the 1997 Australian Grand Prix with customer Ford EC V8 units instead. The Lola programme collapsed entirely after that single race, the chassis having failed to pre-qualify. MCD also pursued a conventional 90-degree V8 through Scott Russell Engines, which was built and tested but never raced, and a wide-angle 165-degree V12 backed by General Motors that was cancelled when GM withdrew support.
MCD's team contributed work to TWR's V12 engine programme that helped Jaguar win the 24 Hours of Le Mans four consecutive times. The consultancy's scope extended from outboard marine engines and motorcycle powerplants to the stillborn Formula One projects.
Among MCD's more tangible outputs was the design of the AJP8 and AJP6 engines, which TVR developed into the TVR Speed Six — a high-torque, 24-valve straight-six that became a production staple of the British sports car maker. The engines were cheaper to produce than alternatives and more refined for road use. Though TVR carried out extensive additional in-house development, the AJP family demonstrated MCD's capability to deliver a production-ready powerplant.
Melling's most publicised vehicle concept was the Hellcat, a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports car powered by a 6-litre V10 engine claimed to produce 1,175 bhp, with the block and heads machined from solid billet aluminium. The chassis was a box-section steel structure clothed in a fibreglass body, with independent wishbone suspension and a Chevrolet Corvette-sourced six-speed transaxle. Estimated weight was 1,200 kg, with a claimed 0–60 mph time of 2.8 seconds and a top speed in excess of 200 mph.
Melling planned to produce 50 cars per year in Rochdale, sold through a single national dealer. A GT1 competition version was envisaged to challenge at Le Mans. An early proof-of-concept was built on a TVR Cerbera platform powered by the AJP8 and tested in California. The production Hellcat and its bespoke V10 engine did not progress beyond the drawing board.
The Melling Wildcat was a high-performance open roadster whose first prototype was completed in 2008. Powered by either a 4.5-litre AJP8 V8 producing 440 bhp or a tuned 5.7-litre Chevrolet small-block V8 producing over 450 bhp, the Wildcat's styling drew comparisons to the TVR Griffith. Plans called for 150 units per year with production starting in 2009, but the project stalled and only seven cars were ever built.
Melling was approached by John Silseth II, an American investor with ties to Robin Herd of March racing cars, to design a range of world superbike engines under the March name. The rights were subsequently linked to Norton Motorcycles after the Aquilini family of Vancouver — who controlled the Norton brand — joined the arrangement. Norton's centenary fell in 1998, and Melling, acting as Technical Director and a major shareholder having invested £4.5 million, proposed a special V8 motorcycle for the occasion — effectively two 750cc inline-fours joined in a V configuration to create a 1,500cc unit.
He was originally commissioned to design four Norton models: the Manx, the Nirvana, the Buffalo, and the Nemesis. Norton Motors failed before production commenced, and following court proceedings Melling was awarded the rights and tooling for all four designs. The sole prototype Nemesis and a test engine are preserved on permanent display at the National Motorcycle Museum near Birmingham.
In the late 1990s, Melling joined a consortium led by Professor Donald Longmore and John Richards to attempt a buyout of Rolls-Royce from the Vickers Group. The consortium raised £550 million, placed in a Swiss bank, and arranged a meeting with Lazard's and the shareholders. BMW and Volkswagen submitted a competing offer that was accepted before the consortium's meeting could take place. Following the failure of the bid, Melling designed a proposed luxury British grand touring car called the Melling Xavier, securing design partnerships with Cartier, Asprey's, and Alfred Dunhill. The project collapsed without reaching production, leaving Melling with a completed running V12 engine and significant financial losses.
Al Melling represents a particular strand of independent British engineering entrepreneurship — prolific in concept and ambition, with tangible contributions to TVR road cars and Jaguar's Le Mans programme alongside a trail of high-profile projects that never reached production. His engine designs for TVR remain his most durable motorsport legacy.