Archive for the ‘Old Transportation’ Category
Friday, October 9th, 2009
From a simple beginning…
The National Motor Museum evolved from The Montagu Motor Museum which was founded by Lord Montagu in 1952 as a tribute to British motoring achievement and particularly in memory of his father, one of the pioneers of monitoring in Great Britain and the first Parliamentary champion of the motorist’s cause. Within 10 years the collection numbered more than 100 vehicles. To cater for the ever increasing demand for information of motoring history, Lord Montagu created, in 1960, a Motoring Library for books, manuscripts and photographs.
The decision to found a charitable Trust was taken in 1968 in order to safeguard The Museum and the Library collections for the long-term benefit or the nation. The National Motor Museum Trust came into being on the 17th November, 1970. (more…)
Tags: accessories, components, motor cycle, Motor Cycle Section, Motor Museum, motoring, Museum, National Motor Museum
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Friday, August 7th, 2009
These were prosperous years for the British motor-cycle industry, a flourishing proprietary-engine business (led by J.A.P. and Villiers) allowing smaller firms like Coventry-Eagle to concentrate on frame design with their 1926 J.A.P. engined 200 c.c. B33. In the early 1920s belt drive was still in evidence on light weights as typifued by the 1921 2 1/2 h.p. Wooler also used belt drive, though this one has a foot-operated infinitely-variable gear. Chains and multi-speeds, however, featured on even the little 1925 “round tank” 2 1/4 h.p. B.S.A., long the transport of G.P.O. messenger boys.Unit construction of engine and gearbox was gaining hold, on Royal Enfild’s 1919 inline four cylinder prototype, retrieved for exhibition from a forgotten storeroom after 35 years. Sunbeam’s 1925 Light Solo had proper chain cases, and superior finish which justified a price of $88 for a touring 500.
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Tags: Auto glider, drive, engine, machine, Mobile, Motor cycles, Motorcycles, wheel
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Friday, July 31st, 2009
In the beginning, every journey was a hazardous pleasure: ergo, every car was a sports car. The 1903 Mercedes Sixty was effectively Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and Lotus Coswoth rolled into one: this example nearly competed in the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup (which a sister car won), and was Lord Northcliffe’s personal transport until 1910. The 1907 Napier 60 was conceivedas a six-cylinder town carriage, though a similar sports two seater was used by S.F. Edge to cover 24 hours at 65-91 m.p.h. on the then-new Brooklands Track.
Once the motor car was reliable, models conceived for the sheer pleasure of driving were viable. Race-bred was the 1912 ALFONSO XIII Hispano-Suiza, named after Spain’s motoring monarch: it offered the same 70 m.p.h. from only 3-6 litres that the big Mercedes had given from over nine. (more…)
Tags: car, cylinder, engine, Lamborghini, Mercedes Sixty, motor car, old car, Old Transportation, Rolls Royce, Sports Cars
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Sunday, July 26th, 2009
After World War II, the hairy, hard riding sports car became largely obsolete, though the 1950 J2 Allard with its stark bodywork remained as a superb motor cycle on four wheels. Designed round American V8 power, it wore a 3-9 litre Mercury on the home market, but big Chrysler and Cadillac of up to 300 b.h.p. were used for export. Typical of the new generation was the 1950 Jaguar XK 120-quite, comfortable, yet with a 31/2 litre twin-cam 160 b.h.p. six cylinder engine giving speeds of up to 120 m.p.h.
This example won an Alpine Gold Cup for three successive clean sheets (1950-1-2) in the Alpine, but for racing Jaguar evolved the advanced 1954 D-TYPE, with an entirely new monocoque struture and 250 b.h.p., corresponding to nearly 200 m.p.h. in suitable tune. It won Le Mans three times 1955, 1956, and 1957. (more…)
Tags: Cadillac, car, engine, Ferrari, four wheels, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, old car, Sports Cars, Thunderbird, Wheels
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Friday, July 10th, 2009
Both motor cycle and light car have a common ancestor in the de Dion-type tricycle with single-cylinder engine geared direct to the back axle: the 1898 Ariel was a successful British version, Two wheelers came later, their early form consisting of a simple bicycle frame into which were inserted a single-cylinder power unit, a fuel tank, primitive controls, and a plain belt drive with no gears or clutch. Components could be bought out – engines mainly from de Dion, Minerva, or M.M.C.
The 1903 Madison was a bicycle built by a small shop in Gillingham, dorset, fitted with a 200c.c. clip-on engine made in Derby. The Leicester-built 1903 Clyde was a similar machine sold on a regional basis. Many famous names started with bicycle-based types: in France the pioneers were Werner (a 1903 2 h.p. was ridden from John o’Groats to Land’s End in 653/4 hours), while in England there were the 1902 Matchless, 1903 Rover, and 1903 Triumph, this last using one of the first proprietary engines built by J.A.P., long a general provider to Europe’s motor cycle industry.
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Tags: bicycle frame, cylinder engine, engine, gears, Harley Davidson, motor cycle, motor cycle industry, Motorcycles, suspension, tricycle
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Monday, July 6th, 2009
The cost accountant governed the motor car’s progress through the 1930s. Foolproof vehicles were the order of the day. The 1938 Morris 8 featured cellulose and chromium plate (easy to clean), a crashproof synchromesh gearbox and hydraulic brakes, while magneto ignition (expensive to make) was replaced by the simpler coil. To introduce schoolchildren to motoring (if not the public road) the At co lawnmower factory launched their Junior miniature in 1939: it had only one forward gear, but controls were of orthodox car type.
Stylists tidied up outlines and produced such streamlined excesses as the 1935 Chrysler Airflow, a tear drop shape on which the traditional radiator gave way to an aggressive grille – wheel had to be removed to get at the valves! More restrained was the Chrysler’s English equivalent, the Humber Super Snipe, here seen in 1941 as Old Faithful, Field Marshal Montgomery’s personal transport from El Alamein to the Sangro. Its independent front suspension gave a smoother ride.
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Tags: billiard-table, car type, engine, suspension
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Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
With a second World War over, the car makers had to cope, not only with an unprecedented vehicle shortage, but with an automobile-oriented generation.
Makers who had thought nationally now had to think globally. Standard’s post-War ideas centred round the 2′1-litre four-cylinder Vanguard with independently sprung front wheels and hydraulic brakes, styled in the American slab-sided idiom, and minus the traditional British wood and leather trim. Unitary construction (with similar ideas) characterised Alec Issigoni’s brilliant1949 Morris Minor and Gerald Palmer’s Jowett Javelin, a sporting 1 1/2-litre saloon capable of 80 m.p.h. Now the chassis had gone, it meant expensive tooling and long, inflexible runs, with structural problems in the case of convertibles, though Ford offered one on their Consul from 1952 to 1962.
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Tags: cycle cars, Javelin, Mini Cooper, Morris Minor, old car, Volkswagen Beetle, Volkwagen, Wheels
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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
World War I introduced a generation to the motor car, the benefits of mass production reaching britain from America on models like the 1924’s Morris Cowley. Refinements of 1914’s luxury models were now universal: with electric lighting came electric starters, four-wheel brakes, and low pressure tyres of longer life. Once no longer needed a big engine to carry four people: Herbert Austin’s 1923 SEVEN, intended to replace the motor cycle combination, coped on a mere 3/4-litre and was still only 104 in. long. The peculiar English taxation system bred such tax-dodging curiosities as the 1927 Jowett, in which a small flat-twin engine lived at the front of a long and narrow chassis capable of transporting four large adults.
By 1927 closed cars were beginning to supplant the traditional open tourer. Sex appeal crept in, William Lyons of jaguar fame producing his Swallow “customisation” of the Austin Seven – curvaceous lines, pretty two-tone paintwork in place of sombre blacks or greys, and still costing less than $200. (more…)
Tags: car, cars, engine, motoring, Porsche, Rolls Royce
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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Before the car, long road journeys were not lightly undertaken, though the Travelling Chariot commissioned in 1825 by J. D Taylor of Southgate was used for annual trips to Rome. The true pioneers of the automobile were happy if it worked at all: horse-carriage practice is visible in the early Germain designs of Benz (1899 3 h.p.) and Daimler (1898 4 h.p.), with solid-tyred artillery wheels of unequal diameter, primitive steering, candle lamps, and spoon brakes. Engines (and their slip-prone belt transmissions) are tucked away apologetically at the rear, though the Benz, with its electric ignition, offered a reliable 14 m.p.h. on the level, inspiring such early British esperiments as J. H.
Knight’s 1895 single-cylinder machine. Knight motored about Farnham in it, being fined for not having an attendant walking in front. After 1896 the British speed limit was 12 m.p.h., and serious manufacture was under way. Herbert Austin’s 1899 3 1/2 h.p. Wolseley would go through the country’s first big rally, the 1,000 Miles’ Trial of 1900, without mechanical stoppage. (more…)
Tags: car, Cars Pioneers, Engines, machine, old cars, single cylinder machine
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Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
The Panhard layout was firmly established by 1902, on such cars as Panhard’s own 7 h.p. twin, the 1903 22 h.p. Daimler, and the 1903 24 h.p. Deditrich: it would remain unchallenged for half a century. Frontal bonnets helped eliminate the horseless carriage look, though practical utility was still restricted by oil lamps, non-detacheble whells, and tyres with a life of only some 2,000 miles. Shaft drive was quieter than chains, and the honeycomb radiator made for a neater appearance: both are found on the 1908 essex-built 16/20 h.p. Bentall. Weather protection was still poor. Closed cars were high-built and heavy (the 1906 20-30 h.p. Renault limousine is typical), and mainly used for formal town work. New standards of silence and flexibility came in 1907 on the Silver Ghost Rolls-Royce, but at a price of around $1,400 this was for the favored few.
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Tags: Cadillac, electric light, limousine, Luxury models, old cars, roll royce, single cylinder, transmission
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