June 16th, 2009 by admin
Car : Invicta 4500 S
Year : 1931
Engine : 6 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke : 88.5×120.6 mm
Cylinder capacity : 4448 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 110
Maximum speed : 90 mph
Wheelbase : 9 ft 10 ins (2.29 m) or 10 ft 6 ins (3.20 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi-elliptic leaf- springs integrated with hydraulic shock-
absorbers
This in one of Invicta’s best-known models. The company had many endurance records to its credit with the intrepid Miss Violet Cordery driving a 3-litre. These records were intended to show the toughness and reliability of the firm’s cars, rather than their speed, which in fact in the early models was rather limited (little over 60 mph) given their cylinder capacity. The 4½-litre S derived from the 4½-litre Standard, but had a much lower chassis. Its Meadows engine had a compression ratio of 1:6.8 of 1:7.1. The car’s success was compromised by an accident in 1931, at Brooklands, in which the driver ‘Sammy’ Davis was hurt. It was attributed to the car’s bad road-holding ability, due to an incorrect weight-distribution, or too low centre of gravity. Davis, a journalist, denied that the motor car had any faults, and blamed the accident entirely on himself. The S won a brilliant victory at the Monte Carlo Rally that same year, with Donald Healey driving. Founded by Noel Macklin in 1924, Invicta closed down in 1950. Apart from the misfortunes of the Model S, this company’s cars were considered some of the most sophisticated of the time.
June 16th, 2009 by admin
Car : Humber 8 HP
Year : 1909
Engine : twin-cylinder, vertical
Bore and stroke : 90×120 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1525 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 8
Maximum speed : 40 mph
Wheelbase : 7 ft 6 ins (2.28 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi-elliptic leaf- springs
Humber is another English car company, and one of the most famous, whose origins went back to the mid-nineteenth century (1868) when they produced bicycles. Based in Beeston, in Nottinghamshire, the firm later transferred its cheap car section to Coventry (continuing to manufacture de luxe cars at Beeston), from where the first cars came out in 1901. a similar experiment had already been tried between 1896 and 1900, but without any concrete outcome. The company’s subsequent success (in 1964 it was absorbed into Chrysler UK) was largely due to its designer, Louis Coatalen, one of the most inventive men of his time, who then went on to build up a reputation at Sunbeam. The first ‘creation’ of Coatalen’s to catch the attention of both engineers and public was the Humberette, with a single-cylinder 613 cc engine with shaft-transmission. After the Humberette, Coatalen turned to 4-cylinder engines, but in 1908 the company began to take a fresh interest in medium-to-small capacity engines, coming up with the 8 HP, which was manufactured from 1909 on. Its light-weight 1,500 pounds (700 kg) makes the declared maximum speed of around 40 mph seem quite believable. Other features were dual ignition and removable wheels.
June 16th, 2009 by admin
Guy
Car : Guy
Year : 1919
Engine : 8 cylinders V
Bore and stroke : 72×125 mm
Cylinder capacity : 4072 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 53
Maximum speed : 70 mph
Wheelbase : 10 ft 10 ins (3.30m)
Suspension : front and back: semi-elliptic leaf- springs
This firm, which still produces trucks as part of British Leyland, built no more than 150 cars between 1919 and 1925. And yet it has left an indelible impression, especially with its 1919 model, the first standard-produced 8-cylinder V engine car to be made in England. The 1919 Guy engine had inclined side-valves and removable head.
Another interesting feature of this car was the way in which the chassis was lubricated with the excess engine oil. Such details made the 8-cylinder Guy seem one of the most advanced and intelligently designed cars of its time. The following year the company also produced a 4-cylinder 1700 cc car with splash lubrication, but this was not particularly successful. In view of the difficulties that faced many English car manufacturers during the 1920s, Guy was fortunate that it was able to turn to the heavy goods sector of the market.
June 16th, 2009 by admin
G.N.
Car : G.N.
Year : 1921
Engine : V-twin
Bore and stroke :84×98 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1087 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 17
Maximum speed : 48 mph
Wheelbase : 8 ft 6 ins (2.59 m)
Suspension : front and back: ¼elliptic leaf- springs
The 1921 G.N. was considered one of the most interesting and popular cyclecars among the many built in England. In an attempt to keep the price low the cars were made as light and simple as possible. The air-cooled engine was mounted at the front; the chassis was made of wood.
There were three available versions of this vehicle: the standard, the 3-seater (the third fitted into the distinctive ‘tail’) , and the Vitesse, a sports version of the 2-seater, with overhead camshafts and metal alloy pistons.
The G.N. racing model was for many years the heroine of the celebrated hill climb at Shelsey Walsh. It was also widely used on the race track, reaching extremely high averages (over 66 mph in a race at Boulogne in 1921).
The founders of G.N. were H.R. Godfrey and Archie Frazer-Nash (the G stood for Godfrey, and the N for Nash). Later Godfrey started HRG, and Frazer-Nash another firm under his own name.
The partnership between Godfrey and Frazer-Nash , without which British motor sports would never have seen cars of the highest quality, was destroyed by an incredible flooding of the cyclecar market, even by established firms such as Rover. The two partners broke up in 1922.
June 16th, 2009 by admin
Car : Ford Ten
Year : 1936
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :63.5×92.5 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1172 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 34
Maximum speed : 65 mph
Wheelbase : 7 ft 6 ins (2.28 m)
Suspension : front and back: transverse leaf- springs
Ford crossed the Atlantic for the first time in 1911, with the creation of a base at Old Trafford Park (Manchester). It had actually begun exporting cars to Britain in 1903, with the Model A. The steady success of these vehicles persuaded Ford to start up a small factory, which for some years produced the same models as those being made in America. In 1931 the factory moved to Dagenham and began producing its own models.
1935 saw the sedan Ten, with a 34 bhp engine. The battery was situated under the hood, rather than under the front seat. The extremely low price (£145) for the 4-door sedan version was less than that being asked for Fords in America. The Ten was quite fast (70 mph), was economical on fuel (about 35 miles to the gallon), and had good acceleration: 18.2 seconds to reach 50 mph from standstill. 97,000 were produced in the first year. An equivalent to the Ten was produced also in Germany and called the Eifel. In 1937 the Ten was lengthened slightly , to allow access to the trunk from the outside. The modification was accompanied by small aesthetic changes, but the car’s greater height and weight, and the fact of its being narrower had an adverse effect on its road-holding ability and on its maximum speed, which was reduced to around 60 mph.
June 16th, 2009 by admin
Deasy 12 HP
Car : Deasy 12 HP
Year : 1910
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :75×110 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1944 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 12
Maximum speed : 35 mph
Wheelbase : 6 ft 3 ins (2.81 m)
Suspension : front: semi- elliptic leaf- springs; back: ¾elliptic leaf- springs
This company was named after its founder, H. H. Deasy (1906), until 1912, when it became Siddeley- Deasy Motor after the arrival of John Davenport Siddeley, one of the most outstanding personalities in the English car world. Siddeley began his career as a manufacturer of cars in 1903 with a model inspired by the Peugeot, which he imported into England. His agreement with the French company stipulated that their imported cars should sell under the importer’s name.
One distinctive feature of the 12 HP was the radiator mounted behind the engine, a fashion of the day. A 4-speed transmission rather than 3- could be incorporated if desired. The name Deasy disappeared completely in 1919 when Siddeley joined up with Armstrong-Whit-worth, thus creating Armstrong-Siddeley, which closed down in 1960.
John Davenport Siddeley also had other concerns: he was director-general of Wolseley (replacing Herbert Austin) who had been building his cars for him. He influenced Wolseley to adopt the vertically (rather than horizontally) mounted 2-, 4-, and 6-cylinder engines. This was a complete novelty for Wolseley.
June 16th, 2009 by admin
Car : Clyde 12/14 HP
Year : 1906
Engine : White and Poppe , 3 vertical cylinders
Bore and stroke :80×90 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1416 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : -
Maximum speed : -
Wheelbase : 6 ft 10 ins (2.08 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi- elliptic leaf- springs
This firm was founded by G.H. Wait in 1901. In 1932, after producing some 260 vehicles, it shut down. During that time, however, it also made a certain number of motorcycles and bicycles. After first using Simms and Aster engines, Clyde in 1905 turned to White and Poppes, though only in the higher cylinder capacity models. The Clyde 12/14 HP had a White and Poppe water-cooled engine, with dual ignition, cone clutch, rear gearbox, acetylene lights, and chain transmission. The price, £250 in 1906, was far from expensive, and included windshield and hood in the Tourer version.
The First World War produced a long hiatus in the car business. Clyde made a comeback around 1920, and again sold its cars remarkably cheaply. Leaving aside the rear gearbox, one change was in the engine: though still brought in from elsewhere, ready-made, they were now 1000 cc, vertical twin-cylinder White Coventry-Simplex engines and 1500 cc, 4-cylinder Dormans–both water-cooled. It is worth noting that the 3-cylinder model illustrated here has run in several modern vintage-car rallies with the founder of the firm at the wheel.
June 16th, 2009 by admin
Car : Calthorpe Minor
Year : 1914
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :62×90 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1087 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 25
Maximum speed : 50 mph
Wheelbase : 7 ft 3 ins (2.20 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi- elliptic leaf- springs
The Morris Minor, a triumph of the rising star Alec Issigonis ( the first English car of which over a million were made), had an illustrious predecessor in the Calthorpe , which shared the same name. Introduced in 1913, the Minor was very well received: the (for the times) very modest cylinder capacity was backed up by easy handling and a respectable maximum speed of around 50 mph.
At the same time it was in line with the general policy of the newly-founded firm (Birmingham, 1904), which considered racing in the ‘voiturette’ or , as these vehicles were known in England, ‘cyclecar’ category an excellent form of publicity. A special version of this same model averaged 68 mph in the 1914 Cyclecar Grand Prix. Calthorpes also ran successfully in many tough rallies in the 1920s. After the war the Minor was called the Sporting Four, and its cylinder capacity increased to 1261 cc.
In 1921 the founder of Calthorpe G.W. Hands, left the company to found another under his own name, but in 1924 he returned with some of his new models, which he inserted into the old firm’s line, causing a certain degree of confusion. The name Calthorpe remained alive until 1932, though very few were made in the company’s last years.
June 16th, 2009 by admin
Car : Calcott 10.5 HP
Year : 1913
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :65×110 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1460 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 16
Maximum speed : 45 mph
Wheelbase : 7 ft 9 ins (2.36 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi- elliptic leaf- springs
Calcott was another small English car firm of humble origins (it first made bicycles, then motorcycles). It went over to 4-wheelers in 1913, but production was hampered by over-elaborate manufacturing processes. In fact, having neither foundry nor bodywork department, Calcott was engaged only in assembling engines. The chassis came from Coventry. Despite this the 10.5 HP was a highly technical car: it weighed some 1,300 pounds (600 kg), had a maximum speed of 45 mph, and was guaranteed to do around 40 miles to the gallon. In 1915 it acquired an electrical system; was modified in 1919, and in 1925 was given brakes on all four wheels–a novelty of which many people were still distrustful. A. Alderson, the original designer, was replaced by L. Shorter, from Humber. Shorter helped modernize the line, designing a larger car (1954 cc) with removable head. The transmission acquired four speeds. Then a 6-cylinder model went into production, but by now the fierce competition among the larger companies, who could afford to wage bitter price wars, forced Calcott into liquidation. Its reputation still lived on, however, The 1920s saw the end of many small firms, unable to make a living from their small clientele.