Monica (automobile), Balbigny, Loire, France 1972 till 1974

Monica 560
1973 Monica 560
Overview
Manufacturer	Monica
Model years	1973 – 1975
Assembly	France: Balbigny, Loire
Designer	Tony Rascanu, David Coward
Body and chassis
Class	Grand tourer
Body style	4-door sedan
Layout	Longitudinal front-engine, rear-wheel drive
Powertrain
Engine	5.6 L Chrysler LA V8(gasoline)
Transmission	3-speed automatic (TorqueFlite ) 5-speed manual (ZF)
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,769 mm (109.0 in)
Length	4,928 mm (194.0 in)
Width	1,803 mm (71.0 in)
Height	1,346 mm (53.0 in)
Kerb weight	1,821 kg (4,015 lb)

Mon­ica is the name of a French lux­ury au­to­mo­bile pro­duced in the com­mune of Bal­bigny in the de­part­ment of Loire be­tween 1972 and 1974.

The beginning

The Mon­ica car was a pro­ject of Jean Tastevin, a grad­u­ate en­gi­neer of the École cen­trale de Paris. His fa­ther Ar­naud bought the Ate­lier et Chantiers de Bal­bigny in 1930. That com­pany was a man­u­fac­turer of min­ing and rail­way equip­ment. In 1955 Jean suc­ceeded his fa­ther, be­com­ing Chair­man and Man­ag­ing Di­rec­tor. He re­named the com­pany Com­pag­nie française de pro­duits métal­lurgiques, or CFPM, and began to spe­cial­ize in the man­u­fac­ture and rental of rail­road tank cars. The fac­tory where the rolling stock was man­u­fac­tured op­er­ated under a dif­fer­ent name, being Com­pag­nie Française de Matériels Fer­rovi­aires (CFMF). The com­pany pros­pered, even­tu­ally com­ing to have 400 em­ploy­ees.

Tastevin was an au­to­mo­bile en­thu­si­ast who per­son­ally owned cars from Aston Mar­tin and Facel Vega. After Facel Vega shut down in 1964 he bought a Jaguar, but re­gret­ted not being able to buy a French-made car of that class.

In pur­suit of both his in­ter­est in cars and a way to di­ver­sify his rail­way busi­ness, Tastevin began mak­ing plans to launch his own brand of au­to­mo­bile in 1966. He made his long-time as­sis­tant, Henri Szykowksi, the pro­ject man­ager. He would also set aside a por­tion of his fac­tory in Bal­gigny so that the cars could truly be said to be made in France.

The car was named in ho­n­our of Tastevin’s wife, Monique Tastevin.

Monica 1973 in video

Development history and prototypes

Au­to­mo­tive en­gi­neer and rac­ing dri­ver Chris Lawrence’s com­pany Lawrence­Tune En­gines had de­vel­oped a 2.6-litre ver­sion of the Stan­dard en­gine used in the Tri­umph TR4. Lawrence’s ver­sion used a cross­flow cylin­der head of his own de­sign and Tecalemit-Jack­son fuel in­jec­tion to make a claimed 182 bhp (136 kW) bhp. Au­to­mo­tive jour­nal­ist Gérard ”Jabby” Crom­bac had seen the en­gine at the 1966 Rac­ing Show at Olympia West Hall in Lon­don. The ar­ti­cle he wrote about it had caught Tastevin’s eye. Tastevin wrote to Lawrence ask­ing about hav­ing Lawrence­Tune sup­ply 250 en­gines per year for his new car. Upon learn­ing that the car was not yet de­vel­oped, Lawrence of­fered the ser­vices of his own com­pany. Crom­bac, who was fa­mil­iar with Lawrence’s rac­ing ex­ploits, vouched for Lawrence and Tastevin en­trusted de­vel­op­ment of the Mon­ica to LawrenceTune.

The first chas­sis and the jig to pro­duce it were built to­gether. Lawrence laid out a chas­sis with a cen­tral tun­nel made of four square-sec­tion 18 gauge steel tubes with ex­ten­sive cross-brac­ing. Two long steel boxes with tri­an­gu­lar cross-sec­tions were made of 16 gauge steel and at­tached to the chas­sis in the door sill area. These stiff­ened the chas­sis and were also to serve as the car’s fuel tanks. 16 gauge alu­minum formed the front and rear bulk­heads and floors and was used on both sides of the cen­tral tun­nel to stiffen the car fur­ther. Voids in the tun­nel were filled with ex­panded polyurethane foam to add even more stiff­ness and deaden sound.

The front sus­pen­sion used very tall up­rights with the wheel spin­dles on one side and a short stub axle ex­tend­ing in­wards on the other. Spring­ing was by ver­ti­cally mounted coil-over-damper units mounted in­board and op­er­ated through rocker-style upper arms. The lower arms were con­ven­tional wide-based wish­bones made of a one-piece wish­bone and long ra­dius arm run­ning back to­wards the bulk­head. Steer­ing was rack-and-pin­ion mounted high, at the same level as the upper wish­bone.

The rear sus­pen­sion was a De Dion sys­tem with coil springs, two par­al­lel lead­ing links on each side and a Pan­hard rod. The dif­fer­en­tial was from the Rover P6B (also known as the Rover 3500) with a crown-and-pin­ion made by Hew­land, but with an ad­di­tional nose-piece that gave the op­tion of two rear-axle ra­tios; a high-nu­meric ratio for in town and a low-nu­meric ratio for high-speed cruising. A lever in the cock­pit al­lowed the ratio to be changed while in mo­tion.

Brak­ing was pro­vided by a dual-cir­cuit power as­sisted Lock­heed and Girling sys­tem with 12-inch vented disks in front and 10-inch solid disk brakes in the rear. The rear brakes were mounted in­board and the front brakes were mounted to the stub-axle on the front up­right, which brought them out of the wheels and into the air-stream for cool­ing.

As the pro­to­type chas­sis was near­ing com­ple­tion Lawrence began to have sec­ond thoughts about using the Lawrence­Tune/Stan­dard-Tri­umph en­gine. Lawrence knew that the Tri­umph en­gine was to be phased out of pro­duc­tion by 1967. He also felt that this rel­a­tively heavy, rough, and noisy en­gine was not ap­pro­pri­ate for a new lux­ury car.

Lawrence put Tastevin in touch with Ed­ward C. “Ted” Mar­tin, who had de­signed an en­gine that Lawrence thought would work well in the Monica. After eval­u­at­ing the en­gine Tastevin bought the de­sign, rights and ex­ist­ing tool­ing for Ted Mar­tin’s en­gine. The agree­ment in­cluded four com­plete 3.0 litre engines.

The Mar­tin en­gine was an all-al­loy V8 with a sin­gle over­head camshaft (SOHC) per bank dri­ven by a toothed-belt (orig­i­nally Gilmer belt – see also Tim­ing belt). De­signed for the new 3-litre limit an­nounced for the 1966 For­mula One sea­son, it weighed just 230 lb (100 kg) with an­cil­lar­ies and pro­duced 270 bhp (200 kW)@7000 rpm. An un­usual fea­ture of the Mar­tin V8 was that four of the con­nect­ing rods were forked at the big end, much like those on the Rolls Royce Mer­lin engine. The con­nect­ing rod for the op­pos­ing cylin­der bore fit into the gap of the forked rod. This meant that the cylin­der banks were not off­set on the crank-line, re­duc­ing over­all en­gine length. The en­gine was used in the Pearce-Mar­tin F1 car as well as the Lu­cas-Mar­tin, a mod­i­fied Lotus 35 For­mula 2 frame that was run briefly in For­mula One. It also ap­peared in 2.8-litre form in some spe­cials, in­clud­ing some of Lawrence’s own Deep Sander­son sports and rac­ing cars.

This ini­tial pro­to­type first ran at Sil­ver­stone in 1968 with­out bodywork. The dri­ve­train for the car was a 3-litre Mar­tin V8 dri­ving through a Tri­umph TR4 gear­box with overdrive. The car weighed 1070 kg. Over­all per­for­mance was good but the test­ing un­cov­ered prob­lems with the en­gine and its lack of road-car an­cil­lar­ies.

Body­work for the first pro­to­type was fab­ri­cated by Mau­rice Gomm. This car was very dif­fer­ent in ap­pear­ance from the sub­se­quent pro­to­types and the pro­duc­tion mod­els and has been com­pared to an over­sized Pan­hard CD. Nei­ther Tastevin nor his wife were happy with the ap­pear­ance of the first pro­to­type.

A sec­ond pro­to­type chas­sis was built and sent to Williams & Pritchard, who pro­duced a body for it in alu­minum. The style of this body was much more an­gu­lar than the first. Tastevin per­son­ally re­quested some last-minute changes to the shape which would be un­done in later pro­to­types, but in gen­eral pro­to­type #2 set the gen­eral di­rec­tion for sub­se­quent bodies. This sec­ond car was reg­is­tered as a Deep Sander­son and given reg­is­tra­tion num­ber 2 ARX. After its use as a de­vel­op­ment mule pro­to­type #2 was used as a per­sonal car by team mem­ber Colin James, after which it was ac­quired by Peter Dodds, an­other mem­ber of the Mon­ica team.

In 1969 pro­to­type chas­sis #3, the first to re­ceive a ZF 5-speed man­ual trans­mis­sion, was built. At this time the Tastevins in­tro­duced Tudor (Tony) Ras­canu, a Ro­man­ian exile and for­mer shop man­ager for Vi­g­nale in Italy, to the pro­ject. Ras­canu was en­trusted with the job of com­pletely restyling the body­work for the third pro­to­type, but was not al­lowed to make any mod­i­fi­ca­tions to Lawrence’s chas­sis, which was to be sent to French coach-builder Henri Chapron in Paris. Chapron was to build a full-sized ma­que­tte, or body-form, of the re­vised car under Ras­canu’s oversight. Ras­canu and Capron’s work met with Tastevin’s ap­proval. With hid­den head­lamps in a slop­ing aero­dy­namic nose and wide hor­i­zon­tal tail­lights it was much more ap­peal­ing than the pre­vi­ous two at­tempts. The ma­que­tte was then sent to Car­rozze­ria Al­fredo Vi­g­nale in Turin to be used as a base for Vi­g­nale to pro­duce a body in steel.

Be­fore de­liv­er­ing the ma­que­tte to Vi­g­nale, Tastevin asked Lawrence to first de­liver pro­to­type #2 to the work­shops of Vir­gilio Con­rero, also in Turin. The fa­mous Alfa me­chanic was to do a de­tailed as­sess­ment of the Mar­tin en­gine and eval­u­a­tion of the car’s performance. Con­rero was crit­i­cal of al­most every as­pect of the Mar­tin en­gine and was skep­ti­cal of the power curves pro­vided by Lawrence. He told the fac­tory “this en­gine is a trap that will never work under nor­mal traf­fic conditions”. Con­rero in­sisted on a fly­ing-kilo­me­tre test of the pro­to­type, after which he would run his 2-litre Giuli­etta on the same course for com­par­i­son. Lawrence sus­pected that Con­rero was try­ing to dis­credit both the Mar­tin en­gine and Lawrence­Tune in an at­tempt to take Lawrence’s place on the Mon­ica pro­ject. He ex­am­ined the times recorded for the Mon­ica’s run and dis­cov­ered an ir­reg­u­lar­ity in the num­bers. When Tastevin con­fronted Con­rero with this in­for­ma­tion the test­ing was halted and Con­rero’s in­volve­ment in the pro­ject ended.

Lawrence de­liv­ered chas­sis #3 to Vi­g­nale’s car­roz­e­ria, and they com­pleted the body in steel. While pro­to­type #3 was a sig­nif­i­cant im­prove­ment the Tastevins were not yet en­tirely sat­is­fied with its ap­pear­ance. Per­for­mance of this car was also dis­ap­point­ing due to it being be­tween 200 kg (440 lb) and 250 kg (550 lb) over­weight. By way of ex­pla­na­tion Lawrence drilled a hole into the scut­tle. The drill pen­e­trated 13 mm (0.5 in) of lead. Vi­g­nale, in the mean time, sold his com­pany to DeTomaso in De­cem­ber 1969 and died three days later in an au­to­mo­bile ac­ci­dent while dri­ving a Maserati.

Dur­ing the May 1968 events in France, Tastevin de­camped the en­tire staff of CFPM to Geneva and tasked Lawrence to keep the Mon­ica pro­ject going. Tastevin pro­vided Lawrence with fund­ing to find sub-con­trac­tors to build cars in England. Lawrence ap­proached Jensen, who he knew were al­ready build­ing cars for Sunbeam, Volvo and Austin-Healey as well as their own C-V8s and In­ter­cep­tors. Jensen was not set up to pro­duce the body pan­els though. Pan­els for their other as­sem­bly con­tracts came from out­side of the com­pany. Lawrence took pro­to­type #3 and went look­ing for some­one to pro­vide the pan­els. He found a com­pany named Air­flow Stream­line in Luton that spe­cial­ized in pro­duc­ing alu­minum cabs for trucks. Air­flow only asked for a com­plete set of en­gi­neer­ing draw­ings, a chas­sis and the num­ber of body pan­els that Lawrence would require. Chas­sis #4 and #6 were de­liv­ered to Air­flow Stream­line and Ras­canu was in­stalled there to su­per­vise the pro­duc­tion of the nec­es­sary draw­ings.

An­other sub-con­trac­tor would be needed to sup­ply the en­gines. Two pos­si­bil­i­ties pre­sented them­selves. One was Coven­try-Vic­tor, and the other was Rolls-Royce. Lawrence had heard that Rolls-Royce had re­cently idled one of their pro­duc­tion fa­cil­i­ties due to the loss of a con­tract and might be in­ter­ested in tak­ing on the Mar­tin V8 project. Lawrence met with rep­re­sen­ta­tives from Rolls-Royce, who were fas­ci­nated by the small size of the Mar­tin V8 and in­trigued by the forked con­nect­ing rods so rem­i­nis­cent of those in Rolls-Royce’s own Mer­lin. Rolls-Royce sub­se­quently won an­other de­fense con­tract which would re­ac­ti­vate the pre­vi­ously idled plant and bowed out of ne­go­ti­a­tions. Lawrence went back to Coven­try-Vic­tor.

In the in­ter­ven­ing time things had set­tled down in Paris, and Tastevin wanted to move the pro­ject along quickly. Chas­sis #5 was sent to the fac­tory in Bal­bigny while Lawrence set about es­tab­lish­ing a ma­chine shop at Lawrence­Tune En­gines able to pro­duce the en­gines as well. Prob­lems with cast­ings com­ing from a com­pany called Birm­ing­ham Al­loys prompted Lawrence to have Tastevin search his con­tacts in the French alu­minum in­dus­try for an al­ter­na­tive sup­plier, set­tling on a com­pany called Montupet.

Air­flow Steam­line was still with­out their tech­ni­cal draw­ings and was not get­ting any in­for­ma­tion out of Paris. It turned out that Ras­cenu, sadly, had died in 1970 be­fore being able to com­plete the drawings. Lawrence met with Air­flow Stream­line to dis­cuss the changes they wanted in the ma­que­tte and Lawrence con­vinced Air­flow to build two bod­ies on the two chas­sis they had using pro­to­type #3, which would be left there, as a struc­tural guide. The car they would pro­duce, pro­to­type #4, would be Lawrence’s favourite Mon­ica of all.

David Cow­ard was hired from Au­to­car mag­a­zine where he was work­ing as an illustrator. Prior to that he had worked at coach­builder James Young. Cow­ard re­fined Ras­canu’s de­sign by low­er­ing the side win­dow line and deep­en­ing the wind­screen to give the car a more con­tem­po­rary ap­pear­ance. The body was also low­ered three inches be­tween the floor pan and the roof and four inches were added to the width.

After sort­ing out some is­sues with pro­to­type #4 at­ten­tion turned to tool­ing. Tool­ing to pro­duce the body­work in alu­minum turned out to be pro­hib­i­tively ex­pen­sive, but a com­pany named Ab­bate was found in Turin that would make tool­ing out of resin that would be able to pro­duce up to 100 body sets in steel. The price for the set would be £100,000.

When the un­rest in Paris had sub­sided the idea of con­tract­ing out pro­duc­tion of the car had ended, but Tastevin had kept Coven­try-Vic­tor under con­tract to pro­duce the en­gines. They had been asked to pro­duce 25 copies of the en­gine in a 2.8 litre dis­place­ment. Coven­try-Vic­tor was only able to pro­duce 18 en­gines be­fore de­clar­ing bankruptcy.

At the same time Lawrence had pressed ahead with pro­duc­ing the en­gines at Lawrence­Tune head­quar­ters in Eng­land. Tests of the 2.8 litre en­gine led him to be­lieve that this ver­sion was un­der-pow­ered for the car, and so he en­larged his. With dis­place­ment in­creased to 3423 cc fed by four 2-bar­rel Weber 40 DCLN down-draught car­bu­re­tors and the Mon­ica name in script cast into its valve-cov­ers, the re­vised en­gine pro­duced 240 bhp (180 kW)@6000 rpm. While max­i­mum torque wasn’t pro­duced until 4000 rpm the torque curve was rel­a­tively flat from 2500 to 4000 rpm.

Even­tu­ally the tech­ni­cal draw­ings were com­pleted and ap­proved by Tastevin, which Lawrence de­liv­ered to Turin along with pro­to­type #4 so that pro­duc­tion of the body pan­els using the resin/steel hy­brid tool­ing could begin. Com­par­isons have been drawn be­tween the final shape of the Mon­ica and many of its con­tem­po­raries, with the front view hav­ing been com­pared to the Maserati Indy and Lotus Elan +2, the rear to the Fer­rari 365 GT 2+2, and the side el­e­va­tion to the Aston Mar­tin DBS.

Prob­lems con­tin­ued with the en­gine how­ever. Blown head-gas­kets were com­mon and dif­fi­cul­ties with de­liv­er­ies of both block and cylin­der head cast­ings held back development.

In an ex­clu­sive ar­ti­cle in l’Auto-Jour­nal, writ­ers Jean Mis­tral and Gilles Guérithaut pub­lished a pre­view of the Mon­ica’s debut at the up­com­ing Salon de l’Auto in Oc­to­ber along with an in­ter­view with Tastevin. Among the things the founder re­vealed were his plans to build 400 cars per year.

Tastevin de­cided that the car would debut at the Salon de l’Auto show in Paris in Oc­to­ber 1971. The car on dis­play was pow­ered by a Mar­tin V8 and was called the Mon­ica 350. Tastevin arranged to have a car raised to the tenth floor of a Paris hotel the day be­fore the show, and then have it moved over to the Salon, where the car was re­ceived en­thu­si­as­ti­cally. The morn­ing after the day of the show Lawrence was ap­proached by Zora-Arkus Dun­tov, who asked if he could take the car for a drive. Lawrence handed him the keys.

Shortly after the Paris auto show, Tastevin phoned Lawrence and told him that he had arranged for the car to be eval­u­ated by a team from Matra. A team of six from Matra drove the cars for over three hours straight and then met with Tastevin. The out­come of the eval­u­a­tion was that the Matra en­gi­neers thought that the car should go into pro­duc­tion, but only with a dif­fer­ent engine.

Con­sid­er­a­tion was given to using an Aston Mar­tin V8, but that op­tion was too ex­pen­sive to pur­sue. Lawrence was sent to the United States to meet with Ford, Chevro­let and Chrysler to arrange for a sup­ply of en­gines. Ford and Chevro­let were quickly elim­i­nated from the run­ning but Chrysler was very open to the idea. At the be­gin­ning of 1973 the de­ci­sion was fi­nally made to aban­don the Mar­tin V8 and adopt a North Amer­i­can en­gine, specif­i­cally the 5.6-litre (5563 cc) “340” Chrysler LA se­ries V8.

To han­dle the extra weight power-steer­ing was added, and the rear axle was beefed up. As an added bonus, Chrysler shipped the en­gines with an air-con­di­tion­ing com­pres­sor, so that fea­ture was added at the same time. Other minor changes in­cluded fab­ri­cat­ing the req­ui­site motor mounts, hav­ing two new vents let into the fend­ers and, on later mod­els, two ad­di­tional grilles fit­ted to the hood.

Dur­ing road test­ing the new Chrysler en­gines began to fail. After in­ves­ti­gat­ing it be­came ap­par­ent that the cause of these prob­lems was that these en­gines were not de­signed to run for ex­tended du­ra­tion at the speeds pos­si­ble on the con­ti­nent. Lawrence re­turned to the States look­ing for the re­sources to rem­edy these prob­lems.

The en­gines des­tined for use in Mon­i­cas would all be spe­cially tuned by Racer Brown in the United States. Mod­i­fi­ca­tions to the en­gines in­cluded a Racer Brown stage 3 road camshaft with hy­draulic lifters, an Edel­brock Tor­quer in­take man­i­fold, a 4-bar­rel Holly R6909 750 CFM car­bu­re­tor, a Chrysler ma­rine spec­i­fi­ca­tion oil pump, Cle­vite shell bear­ings, Forge True pis­tons, Ma­rine spec­i­fi­ca­tion valves, and a Fel­pro race-qual­ity gas­ket set.^[1]:181 The com­pres­sion ratio was 10.5:1. All of these changes com­bined to bring out­put to 285 bhp (213 kW)@5400 rpm and 333 lb⋅ft (451 N⋅m)@4000 rpm.

It is re­ported that some cars may have been built with the larger 5.9 litre (5898 cc) “360” ver­sion of the Chrysler LA en­gine. These cars would have been des­ig­nated Mon­ica 590s. The di­men­sions at­trib­uted to this ver­sion by var­i­ous sources dif­fer, some­times sig­nif­i­cantly, from those of the 560 model. In par­tic­u­lar the 590 is listed as being 630mm shorter with a 100mm shorter wheel­base and 140 kg heav­ier. It was also more pow­er­ful, the en­gine being rated at 315 bhp (235 kW) and 332 lb⋅ft (450 N⋅m).

The re­vised and re­named Mon­ica 560 made its world pre­mier at the Geneva Auto Show in March 1973. It would ap­pear again at the Paris Auto Show in Oc­to­ber. The car was priced at 164,000 francs (roughly US$34,000 at the time), at a time when a Rolls-Royce Sil­ver Shadow cost 165,000 francs.

After the Geneva show Tastevin in­vited sev­eral rac­ing dri­vers and au­to­mo­tive jour­nal­ists to Paul Ri­card’s cir­cuit, Le Castel­let, to eval­u­ate the new Chrysler-pow­ered car. Among those there was dri­ver/jour­nal­ist Paul Frère, whom Tastevin in­vited to “lend a hand” in sort­ing out the car’s han­dling. He would also be the per­son who wrote the semi-of­fi­cial obit­u­ary for the Mon­ica car.

A rapid suc­ces­sion of pro­to­types would be built to fi­nal­ize the car. The cars at Le Castel­let were num­bers 8 and 9. Num­bers 10 and 11 were built for crash-test­ing and num­bers 12, 13 and 14 came after. Pro­to­type 14 was ba­si­cally pre-pro­duc­tion and would even­tu­ally be one of the cars Tastevin kept for his per­sonal use. Tastevin had hired a di­rec­tor to get pro­duc­tion under way at Bal­bigny, but noth­ing was built for a year while the new di­rec­tor stalled and made changes to the car. Even­tu­ally Tastevin fired the di­rec­tory and turned pro­duc­tion over to Lawrence­Tune again while he looked for a new director. The car was also sub­se­quently shown at the Earls Court auto show.

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AGENDA 21: SANTA MONICA TAKES OUT 1 CAR LANE FOR BIKE CORRIDOR ON BRIDGE.

LAFD Engine 43 / Auto / EB Santa Monica FWY @ Overland

The car

With the long de­vel­op­ment pe­riod fi­nally at an end, pro­duc­tion gets un­der­way in Bal­bigny.

The car is built on Lawrence’s steel-tube and sheet metal chas­sis. The body is Ras­canu’s de­sign with Cow­ard’s re­vi­sions ex­e­cuted en­tirely in steel. Five ex­te­rior colours are avail­able: At­lantic Blue, Azure Blue, Pur­ple Ama­ranth, Chest­nut Brown and Beige Sand. The final ver­sion of Lawrence’s rocker-arm/De Dion sus­pen­sion is au­to­mat­i­cally lev­el­ing, and the car sits on four Miche­lin 215/70VR-12 Col­lec­tion tires mounted on 14 inch alloy wheels. The orig­i­nal sill-mounted fuel tanks have been re­placed with a sin­gle tank under the floor of the trunk due to reg­u­la­tory re­stric­tions.

The power-as­sisted rack-and-pin­ion steer­ing is con­nected to an ad­justable steer­ing col­umn that is topped by a cus­tom Mo­tolita steer­ing wheel.

Brak­ing on the pro­duc­tion Mon­ica was still a dual cir­cuit sys­tem with Lock­heed disks in­board at the front op­er­ated by a 4-pis­ton caliper and Girling disks at the rear op­er­ated by a 3-pis­ton caliper but the disks front and rear were both now 11 inch ven­ti­lated pieces.

The seats are up­hol­stered in Con­nolly leather avail­able in three colours: Ma­rine, Ha­vana, and Cham­pagne. The floor is cov­ered in Shet­land wool car­pet­ing. The dash­board is fin­ished in burl elm wood and suede.

The state of the car is mon­i­tored by a brace of cus­tom Jaeger in­stru­ments all bear­ing the Mon­ica name. Gauges in­clude a speedome­ter, tachome­ter, oil tem­per­a­ture gauge, oil pres­sure gauge, am­me­ter, water tem­per­a­ture gauge, fuel gauge, and clock.

The win­dows are elec­tri­cally op­er­ated. A High-fi­delity sound sys­tem with in­te­grated tape recorder and player is stan­dard equip­ment, as is an air-con­di­tion­ing sys­tem with sep­a­rate con­trols for the rear seat pas­sen­gers. The doors on the Mon­ica are elec­tri­cally op­er­ated to open and close silently at the touch of a but­ton. In the trunk is a com­plete set of cus­tom lug­gage.

With a quoted top speed of 240 km/h (150 mph) the Mon­ica 560 could lay claim to being “The fastest sedan in the world” at the time.

Pho­tos from the pe­riod in­di­cate that a fu­ture coupe and con­vert­ible were al­ready being planned.

The end

The Mon­ica 560 makes its last pub­lic ap­pear­ance at the Paris Auto Salon Paris Auto Show in Oc­to­ber 1974. On Feb­ru­ary 7 of 1975 Tastevin an­nounces the ces­sa­tion of pro­duc­tion and closes the com­pany.

Many fac­tors con­tributed to the fail­ure of the car. It en­dured a seven-year long ges­ta­tion pe­riod. The car was re­mark­ably ex­pen­sive while lack­ing the kind of rep­u­ta­tion or recog­ni­tion en­joyed by other more es­tab­lished mar­ques in this mar­ket. It faced com­pe­ti­tion from many sim­i­lar-sized low-vol­ume man­u­fac­tur­ers. Fi­nally, it had the mis­for­tune to be of­fi­cially re­leased just as the first major oil cri­sis made fuel prices jump and large ex­pen­sive mo­tor­cars less de­sir­able.

Five Mon­i­cas re­main­ing at the Lawrence­Tune head­quar­ters were sold by Lawrence to Cliff Davis and Bernie Ec­cle­stone, the pro­ceeds being pay­ment for Lawrence­Tunes work for Tastevin. Lawrence was dri­ving pre-pro­duc­tion car #21 at the time. The Tastevins kept three Mon­i­cas for their own use.

The pro­duc­tion as­sets of the Mon­ica com­pany and as many as thirty cars in var­i­ous stages of com­ple­tion were sold to French race dri­ver and For­mula One team owner Guy Ligier. Ligier did not re­sume pro­duc­tion.

In April 1976 Motor Sport mag­a­zine re­ported an an­nounce­ment by Bob Jankel of Pan­ther West­winds that his com­pany and C.J. Lawrence and Co. would re­sume pro­duc­tion of the Mon­ica. C.J. Lawrence and Co. would man­u­fac­ture sub-as­sem­blies and Pan­ther would as­sem­ble, paint and trim the car. Power was else­where ru­mored to be com­ing from a Jaguar V12 motor. Pro­duc­tion would move from Bal­bigny to Sur­rey. Noth­ing came of these plans.

Six pro­duc­tion Mon­i­cas are known to exist. At least three of the pro­to­types are re­ported to re­main in Britain. Chris Lawrence per­son­ally owned a pro­duc­tion Mon­ica for sev­eral years that was sold from his estate.

Gallery

• 

  Front three-quar­ter view

  

  Rear three-quar­ter view

  

  Rear view

  

  In­te­rior

  

  Trunk logo

  

  Door­sill logo

  collected pictures

  

Literature

• Monica – edited by Emory Christer ISBN 978-6-134977-82-1
• Preston Tucker & Others: Tales of Brilliant Automotive Innovations ISBN 978-1-845840-17-4
• Monica, automobile française de prestige by Frédéric Brandely. Hardcover (published June, 2012) ISBN 979-1090084049
• Monica, automobile française de prestige by Frédéric Brandely. Paperback. ISBN 978-2-913307-13-1
• Kevin Brazendale: The Encyclopedia of classic cars. Advanced Marketing Services, London 1999, ISBN 1-57145-182-X (engl.).

References

1. ^ ^{abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafagahaiajakal} Lawrence, Chris (2008). Morgan Maverick. Yorkshire: Douglas Loveridge Publications. ISBN978-1-900113-04-5.
2. ^ ^abc “1972/1975 Monica…”http://www.gatsbyonline.com. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
3. ^ “London Racing Car Show 1967”. http://www.sportscars.tv. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
4. ^ “Ted Martin and the AMCO Engines”. http://www.modelenginenews.org. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
5. ^ “Anglo-French Monica”. http://www.motorsportmagazine.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
6. ^ “Monica Prototype No. 2”. classiccars.brightwells.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
7. ^ “Tudor Rascanu, de Dody à Tony”. voronet.centerblog.net. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
8. ^ “ECLIPSE AVORTEE”. http://www.automobile-sportive.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
9. ^ “Monica : Belle, luxueuse, française et ancêtre des coupés 4 portes”. blog.p.free.fr. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
10. ^ Georgano, Nick (2001). The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile (2nd ed.).
11. ^ “1973 Monica 590 technical specifications”. http://www.carfolio.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
12. ^ “History of Lawrence Tune     …… continued”. http://www.lawrence-tune.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
13. ^ “Monica”. http://www.allcarindex.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
14. ^ “1974 Monica”. http://www.silverstoneauctions.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.

External links

• http://blog.doctissimo.fr/phedor/monica-belle-oubliee-2266489.html
• http://www.automobile-sportive.com/guide/monica/560.php
• https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/features/a-rare-beauty-223823.html
• https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/monica-590-1973.304443/

Standard Motor Company

Standard Motor Company

Standard-Triumph International Limited

The Union Jack is a standard
Formerly called	The Standard Motor Company Limited
Industry	Automobile
Fate	1960 purchased by Leyland Motors 1968 swept into British Leyland
Founded	1903 in Coventry, UK
Founder	Reginald Walter Maudslay
Defunct	1968 (British Leyland)
Headquarters	Canley, Coventry, UK
Key people	Reginald Walter Maudslay Sir John Black
Products	Motor vehicles and Fergusontractors
Brands	Standard, Triumph, Ferguson
Parent	1903-1960 independent 1960-1968 Leyland Motors

The Standard Motor Company Limited was a motor vehicle manufacturer, founded in Coventry, England, in 1903 by Reginald Walter Maudslay. It purchased Triumph in 1945 and in 1959 officially changed its name to Standard-Triumph International and began to put the Triumph brandname on all its products.

Standard Motor Canley Works Coventry

Moving Pictures about Standard Motor Car Company:

https://youtu.be/UPIEk1tLbZU

https://youtu.be/eNcSOwUCuyE

https://youtu.be/I4khknZnQmM

https://youtu.be/lzWSEnZWa_U

https://youtu.be/TM1rnfIdqtM

https://youtu.be/H3rNe0l1Utw

Looking at this moving pictures is funny and interesting. Take a look. There is much more but I can’t put all film links here.

For many years, it manufactured Ferguson tractors powered by its Vanguard engine. All Standard’s tractor assets were sold to Massey-Ferguson in 1959.

In September 1959, Standard Motor Company was renamed Standard-Triumph International Limited. A new subsidiary took the name The Standard Motor Company Limited and took over the manufacture of the group’s products.

The Standard name was last used in Britain in 1963, and in India in 1988.

History

1903–14

Maudslay, great grandson of the eminent engineer Henry Maudslay, had trained under Sir John Wolfe-Barry as a civil engineer. In 1902 he joined his cousin Cyril Charles Maudslay at his Maudslay Motor Company to make marine internal combustion engines. The marine engines did not sell very well, and still in 1902 they made their first engine intended for a car. It was fitted to a chain-drive chassis. The three-cylinder engine, designed by Alexander Craig  was an advanced unit with a single overhead camshaft and pressure lubrication.

A Roman military Standard of 1 A.D. Maudslay kept a Roman standard at his home

Realising the enormous potential of the horseless carriage and using a gift of £3,000 from Sir John Wolfe-Barry, R. W. Maudslay left his cousin and became a motor manufacturer on his own account. His Standard Motor Company was incorporated on 2 March 1903 and he established his business in a small factory in a two-storey building in Much Park Street, Coventry. Having undertaken the examination of several proprietary engines to familiarise himself with internal combustion engine design he employed seven people to assemble the first car, powered by a single-cylinder engine with three-speed gearbox and shaft drive to the rear wheels. By the end of 1903 three cars had been built and the labour force had been increased to twenty five. The increased labour force produced a car every three weeks during 1904.

1903 Standard 6 hp 1006 cc single cylinder

The single-cylinder model was soon replaced by a two-cylinder model quickly followed by three- and four-cylinder versions and in 1905 the first six. Even the first cars boasted shaft drive as opposed to chains, and the engines were not merely “square” but had 6″ diameter pistons with a 3″ stroke. As well as supplying complete chassis, the company found a good market selling engines for fitting to other cars, especially where the owner wanted more power. Although Alex Craig, a Scottish engineer, was engaged to do much of the detail work, Maudslay himself was sufficiently confident to undertake much of the preliminary layout. One of the several derivations of the name “Standard” is said to have emanated from a discussion between Maudslay and Craig during which the latter proposed several changes to a design on the grounds of cost, which Maudslay rejected, saying that he was determined to maintain the best possible “Standard”.

1910 Thirty cabriolet with division

1913 Model S 2-seater tourer

In 1905 Maudslay himself drove the first Standard car to compete in a race. This was the RAC Tourist Trophy in which he finished 11th out of 42 starters, having had a non-stop run. In 1905 the first export order was also received, from a Canadian who arrived at the factory in person. The order was reported in the local newspaper with some emphasis, “Coventry firm makes bold bid for foreign markets”.

The company exhibited at the ^ 1905 London Motor Show in  Crystal Palace, at which a London dealer, Charles (later Sir Charles) Friswell 1872-1926 agreed to buy the entire factory output. He joined Standard and later was managing director for many years.

In late 1906 production was transferred to larger premises and output was concentrated on 6-cylinder models. The 16/20 h.p. tourer with side-entrance body was priced at £450. An indication of how much this was can be gained from the fact that a draughtsman earned £3 a week. In 1907 Friswell became company chairman. He worked hard to raise its profile, and the resulting increase in demand necessitated the acquisition of a large single-storey building in Cash’s Lane, Coventry. Even this was inadequate after the publicity gained when a fleet of 20 cars, 16/20 tourers, were supplied for the use of Commonwealth editors attending the 1909 Imperial Press Conference in London.

In 1909 the company first made use of the famous Union Flag Badge, a feature of the radiator emblem until after the Second World War. By 1911 the range of vehicles was comprehensive, with the 8-horsepower model being produced in quantity whilst a special order for two 70 hp cars was at the same time executed for a Scottish millionaire. Friswell’s influence culminated in supplying seventy 4-cylinder 16 hp cars for King George V and his entourage, including the Viceroy of India, at the 1911 Delhi Durbar. In 1912 Friswell sold his interest in Standard to C. J. Band and Siegfried Bettmann, the founder of the Triumph Motor Cycle Company (which became the Triumph Motor Company). During the same year the first commercial vehicle was produced, and the 4-cylinder model “S” was introduced at £195, the first to be put into large-scale production. 1600 were produced before the outbreak of the First World War, 50 of them in the final week of car production. These cars were sold with a three-year guarantee. In 1914 Standard became a public company.

First World War

During the First World War the company produced more than 1000 aircraft, including the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.12, Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8, Sopwith Pup and Bristol F.2-B in a new works at Canley that opened on 1 July 1916. Canley would subsequently become the main centre of operations. Other war materials produced included shells, mobile workshops for the Royal Engineers, and trench mortars.

1922 Eleven 4-door tourer

1927 Nine Selby 4-seater tourer

1930 Standard Swallow
2-door sports saloon on a Big Nine chassis

1933 Ten 4-door saloon

1934 10/12 Speedline sports coupé

1936 4-door sports saloon by Avon on a Sixteen chassis

1937 Flying Twelve 4-door saloon RAF

1919–39

Civilian car production was restarted in 1919 with models based on pre-war designs, for example the 9.5 model “S” was re-introduced as the model SLS although this was soon superseded by an 8 h.p. model.

In the early 1920s saloon bodies were first offered; previously all cars had been tourers. The bodies had, since the move to Bishopsgate Green, been made in Coventry by the company itself, but it was not until 1922 that they were mass-produced, using a wooden track along which they were pushed by hand. The company was justifiably proud of the modern factory at Canley, boasting in its advertisements “It is a beautifully lighted and well-aired factory standing on the edge of a breezy common away from the city din and smoke, that the finishing touches and test are given to the All British ‘Standard’ Light cars which issue there to almost every quarter in the world”.

It was about this time during the early 1920s that the slogan “Count them on the road” appeared on every advertisement. By 1924 the company had a share of the market comparable to Austin Motor Company, making more than 10,000 cars in 1924. As the immediate post-war boom faded, many rival marques were discontinued. Cars became steadily larger and more elaborate as manufacturers sought to maintain sales. During the 1920s all the models were named after towns, not only near the factory such as Canley and Kenilworth but also further afield – Teignmouth, Falmouth, and Exmouth.

By the late 1920s profits had decreased dramatically due to great reinvestment, a failed export contract and bad sales of the larger cars. In 1927 the inadvisability of matching the larger more elaborate trend became apparent and the 9 hp Fulham with fabric body was introduced at £185. Production was concentrated mainly on one basic chassis with a 9 hp engine. The importance of standardisation was now appreciated and only one alternative was offered. In 1929 John Paul Black (later Sir John Black) a joint managing director of Hillman took up an appointment at Standard as joint Managing Director.

Standard Swallow and Jaguar

Black encouraged the supply of chassis to external coachbuilders such as Avon and Swallow Coachbuilding and Jensen. The coachbuilding company of Avon during the early 1930s commenced producing cars with a distinctly sporty appearance, using as a foundation, a complete chassis from the Standard Motor Company. These chassis were ordinary production units, used because of their sound engineering design and good performance. Known as Avon Standard Specials they catered for a select market too small for Standard themselves.

S S One Engine and chassis by Standard but chassis designed by S S Swallow decided to produce a car under their own name using a Standard engine and chassis. A prototype S S One was displayed at London’s October 1931 Motor Show and in 1932 Swallow were able to supply three models, two of them used the same body. Swallow’s business was moved to S S Cars Limited and began to use a model name of Jaguar for part of their range then extended it to include their saloons. In 1945 S S Cars became Jaguar Cars and Standard still manufactured Jaguar’s engines though only the smallest remained a standard Standard design.

It was not until 1930, after the replacement of artillery wheels by spoke wheels that the distinctive radiator shape first used on the 6-cylinder models in 1906 was finally abandoned. In 1930, before the worst of the Depression, the Big Nine was introduced which together with the 6-cylinder Ensign and Envoy constituted the complete range. Here standardisation was taken a step further with the bodies on 9 hp four-cylinder and 15 hp six-cylinder being almost indistinguishable except for bonnet length. The Big Nine was soon followed by the Big Twelve and sales for the second six months of 1931 exceeded those of the whole of the previous year. In 1932 there was a Royal visit to the Canley works by the Duke of Gloucester who came to open the Canley Pavilion outside which he took delivery of a new 6-cylinder model.

Founder and Chairman Reginald Maudslay retired in 1934 and died soon afterwards on 14 December 1934 at the age of 64. Charles James Band 1883-1961, a Coventry solicitor and a Standard director since 1920, replaced him as chairman and served in that capacity until the beginning of 1954 though Sir John Black briefly held the appointment before he retired. 1935 saw all production transferred to the Canley site. Extensive re-organisation occurred including a continuous track being laid down in the paint shop on which the cars were completely painted.

Through the 1930s, fortunes improved with new models, the Standard Nine and Standard Ten addressed the low to mid range market. At the 1935 Motor Show the new range of Flying Standards was announced with (semi) streamlined bodies. The Flying Standards came to the market in 1936 with their distinctive streamlined sloping rears virtually replacing the existing range of Nine, Twelve, Sixteen, and Twenty. The Flying Standards were so-called because of the major radiator shell change to a waterfall grille topped by the Union Jack badge apparently streaming backwards in contrast to its previous forward-facing position.

1936 20 hp V8 The Flying Nine, Flying Ten, Flying Twelve, and Flying Fourteen had four-cylinder engines, while the Flying Sixteen and Flying Twenty had six-cylinder engines. At the top of the range was the Standard Flying V-Eight, with a 20 RAC hp side-valve 90 degree V8 engine and a top speed of more than 80 mph (130 km/h). 250 Flying V-Eights were made from 1936 to 1937; they were offered for sale from 1936 to 1938 with the initial price of £349 lowered to ₤325 in the last year to clear inventory.

In 1938 a new factory was opened at Fletchampstead. That year, Standard launched the Flying Eight. The Flying Eight had a new four-cylinder engine smaller than that in the Flying Nine, and was the first British mass-produced light saloon with independent front suspension. The Flying Ten and Flying Twelve were also given new chassis with independent front suspension in 1938.

The aero engine plant at Banner Lane, a shadow factory, began construction in mid 1939 and production began in 1940. It was managed by Standard for the Air Ministry. After the war Standard leased Banner Lane and in partnership with Harry Ferguson made his Ferguson tractors.

By the beginning of the war, Standard’s annual production was approximately 50,000 units.

1946 Eight 2-door saloon

1947 Twelve drophead coupé

1948 Fourteen 4-door saloon

1952 Vanguard Phase 1A

c. 1953 Eight

1956 Ensign. It shared the Vanguard Series III body, but had a reduced specification. It was popular with the RAF.

1958 Vanguard

1959 Ten

Second World War

The company continued to produce its cars during the Second World War, but now mainly fitted with utility bodies (“Tillies”). However, the most famous war-time product was the de Havilland Mosquito aircraft, mainly the FB VI version, of which more than 1100 were made. 750 Airspeed Oxfords were also made as well as 20,000 Bristol Mercury VIII engines, and 3,000 Bristol Beaufighter fuselages.

Other wartime products included 4000 Beaverette light armoured cars and a prototype lightweight “Jeep” type vehicle.

Post-war years

With peace, the pre-war Eight and Twelve the twelve fitted with 1776cc engine sold as 14 hp cars were quickly back in production using tools carefully stored since 1939. Of greater significance was the 1945 purchase, arranged by Sir John Black for £75,000, of the Triumph Motor Company. Triumph had gone into receivership in 1939, and was now reformed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard, named Triumph Motor Company (1945) Limited. The Triumph factory was near the city centre and had been completely destroyed in the blitz. A lucrative deal was also arranged to build the small Ferguson Company tractor. This arrangement was considered primarily by Black as a means to securing increased profits to fund new car development.

Ferguson tractor

Main article: Ferguson TE20

In December 1945 Standard Motor Company Limited announced that an arrangement had been made to manufacture Mr Harry Ferguson‘s tractors and the Air Ministry‘s shadow factory at Banner Lane Coventry run by Standard during the war would be used for the project. These tractors would be for the Eastern hemisphere, Ferguson tractors built by Ford in America for the Western hemisphere. Production was expected to start in 1946. Implements would be sourced separately by Ferguson who would also merchandise the tractors and the implements.

Standard Vanguard

A one-model policy for the Standard marque (alongside a range of new Triumphs) was adopted in 1948 with the introduction of the 2-litre Standard Vanguard, which was styled on American lines by Walter Belgrove, and replaced all the carry-over pre-war models. This aptly named model was the first true post-war design from any major British manufacturer. The beetle-back Vanguard Phase 1 was replaced in 1953 by the notch-back Phase 2 and in 1955 by the all-new Phase 3, which resulted in variants such as the Sportsman, Ensign, Vanguard Vignale and Vanguard Six.

Standard Eight and Ten

The one-model policy lasted until 1953, when a new Standard Eight small car was added. This was introduced at £481. 7. 6. the cheapest four-door saloon on the market, yet it boasted independent front suspension, hydraulic brakes and an economical O.H.V. engine. At the same time in another part of the same building Standards were producing a very different engine, the Rolls Royce Avon jet aero engine of which 415 were made between 1951 and 1955. In 1954 the Eight was supplemented by the slightly more powerful Standard Ten which featured a wider chrome grille.

Engines

The Phase II Vanguard was powered, like the Phase I, by a 2088 cc 4-cylinder “wet sleeve” engine, now with a modestly increased compression ratio, and producing 68 hp. This engine could be modified by using an additional intake system and two single-barrel Solex carburettors, producing 90 hp. Typically, the Phase II engine was one Solex carburettor, with 85 mm by 93 mm pistons. Standard Motors at the time supplied many of these engines to Ferguson Tractor distributed in the United States.

Standard Pennant

The Ten was followed in its turn in 1957 by the Standard Pennant featuring very prominent tail fins, but otherwise little altered structurally from the 1953 Standard Eight. An option for the Ten, and standard fitment to the Pennant, was the Gold Star engine, tuned for greater power and torque than the standard 948 cc unit. Another tuning set, featuring a different camshaft and twin carburettors, was available from dealers. As well as an overdrive for the gearbox, an option for the Eight, Ten and Pennant was the Standrive, a semi-manual transmission that automatically operated the clutch during gearchanges.

Triumph TR2

See also: Triumph TR1 / 20TS and Triumph TR2

During the same year that the ‘8’ was introduced, another car was displayed at the London Motor Show. This was the Triumph 20TS, a sports two-seater with a modified Standard ‘8’ chassis and a Vanguard engine. The 20TS’s lack of luggage space and unsatisfactory performance and handling resulted in production being delayed until the next year when the chassis and drivetrain were developed and the body was restyled to incorporate a generous boot. The car was badged as a ‘Triumph’ rather than a ‘Standard’ and the Triumph TR2 was a winner. Ken Richardson achieved 124 mph (200 km/h) on the Jabbeke Highway in Belgium in a slightly modified car. As a result of the publicity, small manufacturers, including Morgan, Peerless, Swallow, and Doretti, bought engines and other components from Standard Motor Company.

Standard Atlas van

Atlas van 1959. In a segment dominated, in the UK market, by Bedford, a number of UK automakers competed with under-powered forward control competitors. The Atlas was Standard-Triumph’s contender.

In 1958 the Standard Atlas panel van and pick-up was first vended, a cab-over-engine design. It initially used the 948 cc engine from the Standard 10, making the resulting vehicle woefully underpowered, even with its 6.66:1 final drive ratio. In 1961, the Atlas Major was introduced, and sold alongside the original 948 cc Atlas. This variant was powered by the Standard 1670 cc wet-liner motor, as used with different capacities in the Vanguard cars, and the Ferguson tractor. The same engine was also used in Triumph TR2, TR3 and TR4 sports cars. To use this larger engine, a substantial redesign of the cab interior and forward chassis was necessary. The vehicles were of a high standard but not priced competitively, which resulted in relatively few sales. In 1963 the Atlas Major became the Standard 15, with a new long-wheelbase variant, with 2138 cc engine, became the Standard 20. Later that year, the Standard name became disused by Leyland, and these models were rebranded hastily as Leyland 15 and 20. By 1968 when production ended in the UK, all variants were powered by the 2138 cc engine and badged as Leyland 20s.

These vehicles were badged as Triumphs for export to Canada, and possibly other overseas markets. The van’s tooling was also exported to India after UK production ceased, where the resultant vehicle continued in production until the 1980s.

Triumph Herald

By the later 1950s the small Standards were losing out in the UK market to more modern competitor designs, and the Triumph name was believed to be more marketable; hence the 1959 replacement for the Eight, Ten and Pennant was badged as the Triumph Herald; with substantial mechanical components carried over from the small Standards. Despite the separate chassis and independent rear suspension, the differential, hubs, brakes, engine and gearbox were all common to the last Standard Pennants. In order to build the Herald the company invested £​2 ¹⁄₂ million in a new assembly hall extension at the Canley plant which Standard had acquired in 1916. The builders of the three-storey building excavated 250,000 tons of soil and rock. Inside the building were three 1300 ft assembly lines equipped to be one of the most modern car assembly plants in the world. This turned out to be the company’s last investment on such a scale at Canley: investment decisions after the merger with Rover would favour the newer plant at Solihull.

Overseas plants

Overseas manufacturing plants were opened in Australia, France, India and South Africa. Overseas assembly plants were opened in Canada, Ireland and New Zealand.

Sir John Black

During the year ended 31 August 1954 Standard made and sold 73,000 cars and 61,500 tractors and much more than half of those were exported. Since the war Standard had made and sold some 418,000 cars and 410,000 tractors and again much more than half were exported. Appointed to Standard’s then ailing business in 1929, director and general manager since 1930 and appointed managing director in 1934 energetic Sir John Black resigned as chairman and managing director of Standard that year following a serious motorcar accident. He was advised (after consultations with his wife and close friends) to relinquish his offices of chairman and managing director and his membership of the board of directors. His deputy and long-time personal assistant, Alick Dick 1916-1986, took his position as managing director. Air Marshal Lord Tedder was appointed chairman, Tedder would hold that position until the Leyland takeover at the end of 1960. A S Dick resigned in August 1961 when the board was reorganised by Leyland in view of the substantial losses Standard was accumulating.

The company started considering partners to enable continued expansion and negotiations were begun with Chrysler, Massey-Harris-Ferguson, Rootes Group, Rover and Renault but these were inconclusive.

Standard’s Vanguard engine

The Vanguard’s engine, later slightly enlarged, powered two saloons, a tractor and three sports cars

• 1949 Vanguard
• 1954 Triumph Renown
• 

  1951 Ferguson

• 

  1964 Triumph TR4

• 

  1951 Morgan Plus 4

• 

  Swallow Doretti

Leyland Motors

The Standard-Triumph company was eventually bought in 1960 by Leyland Motors Ltd which paid £20 million and the last Standard, an Ensign Deluxe, was produced in the UK in May 1963, when the final Vanguard models were replaced by the Triumph 2000 model. Triumph continued when Leyland became British Leyland Motor Corporation (later BL) in 1968. The Standard brand was ended on 17 August 1970 when a sudden announcement said that henceforth the Company was to be known as the Triumph Motor Company. The Standard name has been unused in Europe since then and the Triumph or Rover Triumph BL subsidiary used the former Standard engineering and production facilities at Canley in Coventry until the plant was closed in 1980.

BMW

BMW acquired the Standard and Triumph brands following its purchase of BL’s successor Rover Group in 1994. When most of Rover was sold in 2000, BMW kept the Standard brand along with Triumph, MINIand Riley. The management of British Motor Heritage Ltd, gained the rights to the Standard Brand upon their management purchase of this company from BMW in 2001 (reference BMH website linked below).

There was talk of a possible revival of the Standard name by MG Rover for its importation of the Tata Indica (reference Channel 4 website below). However, for reasons relating to the ownership of the brand by BMW, the car was finally launched as the Rover CityRover.

Standard in India

Main article: Standard Motor Products of India

The Standard name had disappeared from Britain during the 1960s but continued for two more decades in India, where Standard Motor Products of India Ltd manufactured the

Indian Triumph Herald Mk3 advert

 Triumph Herald badged as the ‘Standard Herald’ and with the basic 948 cc engine during the 1960s, with increasingly local content and design changes over the years, eventually producing additional four-door and five-door estate models exclusively for the Indian market by the late 1960s.

After 1970, Standard Motor Products split with British Leyland, and introduced a bodily restyled four-door saloon based on the Herald known as the

Standard Gazel 2

Standard Gazel in 1972, using the same 948 cc engine but with a live rear axle, as the Herald’s swing-axle was not liked much by Indian buyers and mechanics alike. Allegedly India’s first indigenous car, the Gazel was built in small numbers – it has been suggested that it did so to keep its manufacturer’s licence – until 1977. With the company concentrating solely on producing commercial vehicles based on the Leyland 20 model, badged as “Standard 20”, production of Standard cars ceased until the Standard 2000, a rebadged Rover SD1, was introduced in 1985. The car was higher and had a slightly modified old 1991 cc Standard Vanguard engine, as the company could not procure the licence to use the original Rover engine on this car. Being expensive and outdated it was not successful, apart from the reasons that it had competition from cars with Japanese and other newer, fuel-efficient technology in India. It ceased production in 1988, with the Bombay factory also closing its operations at the same time, around the same time that the last examples of the SD1 left British showrooms (production had finished in 1986 but stocks lasted for around two more years). After feeble efforts over successive years to revive the company, the premises were auctioned off in 2006 and Britain’s Rimmer Bros. bought up the entire unused stock of SD1 parts. This also signalled the end of the Standard marque.

British car models

Pre World War 1

Year	Name	RAC rating	Cubic capacity	Bore & stroke	Valves	Cylinders	Wheelbase	Production
1903	Motor Victoria	6 hp	1006 cc	5 in (127 mm) x 3 in (76 mm)	side	1	78 in (1,981 mm)
1904–05	Motor Victoria	12/15 hp	1926 cc	5 in (127 mm) x 3 in (76 mm)	side	2
1905		16 hp	3142 cc	100 mm (3.9 in) x 100 mm (3.9 in)	side	4	108 in (2,743 mm)
1905–08		18/20	4714 cc	100 mm (3.9 in) x 100 mm (3.9 in)	side	6	120 in (3,048 mm)
1906	Model 8	16/20	3531 cc	102 mm (4.0 in) x 108 mm (4.3 in)	side	4	108 in (2,743 mm) / 120 in (3,048 mm)
1906	Model 9	24/30	5232 cc	4 in (102 mm) x 4 in (102 mm)	side	6	120 in (3,048 mm) / 132 in (3,353 mm)
1906	Model 10	10 hp	631 cc	70 mm (2.8 in) x 82 mm (3.2 in)	side	2	78 in (1,981 mm)
1906–12	Model 11	50 hp	11734 cc	140 mm (5.5 in) x 127 mm (5.0 in)	side	6	132 in (3,353 mm)
1906–12	Model 12	50 hp	11734 cc	140 mm (5.5 in) x 127 mm (5.0 in)	side	6	144 in (3,658 mm)
1907		15 hp	1893 cc	70 mm (2.8 in) x 82 mm (3.2 in)	side	6	87 in (2,210 mm)
1907–08	Model B	30 hp	5297 cc	102 mm (4.0 in) x 108 mm (4.3 in)	side	6	120 in (3,048 mm)
1908–11	Model C	40 hp	6167 cc	102 mm (4.0 in) x 107 mm (4.2 in)	side	6	120 in (3,048 mm)
1908–11	Model D	30 hp	4032 cc	89 mm (3.5 in) x 108 mm (4.3 in)	side	6	120 in (3,048 mm)
1909–11	Model E	16 hp	2688 cc	89 mm (3.5 in) x 108 mm (4.3 in)	side	4	110 in (2,794 mm) / 120 in (3,048 mm)
1912	Model G	25 hp	4032 cc	89 mm (3.5 in) x 108 mm (4.3 in)	side	6	116 in (2,946 mm)
1910–11	Model J	12 hp	1656 cc	68 mm (2.7 in) x 114 mm (4.5 in)	side	4	96 in (2,438 mm)
1911–12	Model K	15 hp	2368 cc	80 mm (3.1 in) x 120 mm (4.7 in)	side	4	120 in (3,048 mm)
1911–13	Model L	20 hp	3620 cc	80 mm (3.1 in) x 120 mm (4.7 in)	side	6	126 in (3,200 mm)
1913–14	Model O	20 hp	3336 cc	89 mm (3.5 in) x 133 mm (5.2 in)	side	4	121 in (3,073 mm) / 128 in (3,251 mm)
1913–18	Model S	9.5 hp	1087 cc	62 mm (2.4 in) x 90 mm (3.5 in)	side	4	90 in (2,286 mm)

(Sources—Standard Motor Club and Graham Robson Book of the Standard Motor Company, Veloce, ISBN 978-1-845843-43-4)

1919–1939

Year	Type	Engine	Production
1919–21	9.5 hp Model SLS	1328 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1921–23	8 hp	1087 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1921–23	11.6 hp SLO	1598 cc ohv 4-cylinder
1922–26	13.9 hp SLO-4	1944 cc ohv 4-cylinder
1923–27	11.4 hp V3	1307 cc ohv 4-cylinder
1926–28	13.9 hp V4	1944 cc ohv 4-cylinder
1927–28	18/36 hp	2230 cc ohv 6-cylinder
1927–30	9 hp	1153 or 1287 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1929–33	15 hp	1930 or 2054 cc side-valve 6-cylinder
1930–33	9.9 hp Big Nine	1287 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1931–35	20 hp Envoy	2552 cc side-valve 6-cylinder
1932–33	Little Nine	1006 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1932–33	Little Twelve	1337 cc side-valve 6-cylinder
1932–33	Big Twelve	1497 cc side-valve 6-cylinder
1934	12/6	1497 cc side-valve 6-cylinder
1934–35	10/12 Speed Model	1608 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1934–36	Nine	1052 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1934–36	Ten	1343 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1934–36	Twelve	1608 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1934–36	Sixteen	2143 cc side-valve 6-cylinder
1935–36	Twenty	2664 cc side-valve 6-cylinder
1937–38	Flying Ten	1267 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1937–40	Flying Twelve	1608 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1937–40	Flying Nine	1131 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1937–40	Flying Light Twelve	1343 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1937–40	Flying Fourteen	1608 cc or 1776 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1936–40	Flying Sixteen	2143 cc side-valve 6-cylinder
1936–40	Flying Twenty	2663 cc side-valve 6-cylinder
1936–38	Flying V8	2686 cc side-valve V-8-cylinder
1938–40	Flying Eight	1021 cc side-valve 4-cylinder

Vanguard Phase I

Vanguard Phase II

Vanguard Vignale

1945–1963

Year	Type	Engine	Production
1945–48	Eight	1021 cc side-valve four-cylinder	53,099
1945–48	Twelve	1608 cc side-valve 4-cylinder	9,959
1945–48	Fourteen	1776 cc side-valve 4-cylinder	22,229
1947–53	Vanguard Phase I	2088 cc OHV 4-cylinder	184,799
1953–55	Vanguard Phase II	2088 cc ohv 4-cylinder 2092 cc ohv 4-cylinder diesel	81,074 1,973
1953–57	Eight	803 cc ohv 4-cylinder	136,317
1954–56	Ten	948 cc ohv 4-cylinder	172,500
1955–58	Vanguard Phase III	2088 cc ohv 4-cylinder	37,194
1956–57	Vanguard Sportsman	2088 cc ohv 4-cylinder	901
1957–61	Ensign	1670 cc ohv 4-cylinder 2092 cc ohv 4-cylinder diesel	18,852
1957–59	Pennant	948 cc ohv 4-cylinder	42,910
1958–61	Vanguard Vignale	2088 cc ohv 4-cylinder	26,276
1960–63	Vanguard Six	1998 cc ohv 6-cylinder	9,953
1962–63	Ensign II	2138 cc ohv 4-cylinder	2,318

Military and commercial

Year	Type	Engine	Production
1940–43	Beaverette	1,776 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1940 -1943 type CD 1943-1945 type UV	12 hp Light Utility	1,608 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1943	Jeep	1,608 cc side-valve 4-cylinder
1947–58	12 cwt	2,088 cc ohv 4-cylinder
1954–62	6 cwt	948 cc ohv 4-cylinder
1958–62	10 hp Atlas	948 cc ohv 4-cylinder
1962–63	Atlas Major	1,670 cc ohv 4-cylinder
1962–65	7 cwt	1,147 cc ohv 4-cylinder

Standard 8 1955 – badge on one of the final basic Standard 8s.

Leyland 15. Rebranded from ‘Standard Atlas’ after Leyland bought out Standard-Triumph in 1961, the ’15’ used the Vanguard 2138cc engine or a diesel.

Standard 10 Companion Estate – badge on bonnet

Standard Ten Pennant – bonnet badge. The name ‘Pennant’ fitted in with the Standard names such as ‘Vanguard’ and ‘Ensign’

Standard Vanguard Phase I – badge on grille

Standard Vanguard Phase II – boot badge

Standard Vanguard Six – bonnet badge

Standard Vanguard Vignale – bonnet badge

See also

• Australian Motor Industries
• List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom

References

1. Jump up^ Standard-Triumph Changes. The Times, Tuesday, Oct 06, 1959; pg. 17; Issue 54584.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Georgano, N. (2000). Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. London: HMSO. ISBN 1-57958-293-1.
3. Jump up^ Sir Charles Friswell. The Times, Friday, Dec 17, 1926; pg. 16; Issue 44457
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b “Goodbye Standard long live Triumph”. Motor: 39–40. 15 May 1976.
5. Jump up^ Apral, K. “Standard 1930”. http://www.classiccarcatalogue.com. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
6. Jump up^ Mr. C. J. Band, The Times, Tuesday, Jan 08, 1935; pg. 19; Issue 46956
7. Jump up^ The Standard Motor Company. The Times, Wednesday, Dec 16, 1953; pg. 12; Issue 52806
8. ^ Jump up to:^a b Robson, Graham (May 2011). The Book of the Standard Motor Company. Poundbury, Dorchester, UK: Veloce Publishing. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-845843-43-4. Retrieved 2013-06-11. A side-by-side comparison shows that the Eight block was smaller in all dimensions than the Nine/Ten, ensuring that all the major components – block, crankshaft, and camshaft – were new, as were the spacings between cylinder centres.
9. ^ Jump up to:^a b Robson, Graham, The Book of the Standard Motor Company, p. 126
10. Jump up^ Robson, Graham, The Book of the Standard Motor Company, pp. 63–64
11. ^ Jump up to:^a b Motor Industry Management: Journal of the Institute of the Motor Industry. Burke House Periodicals. 1995. p. 25. Retrieved 2013-08-18. Standard Flying Eight – first 8hp car with independent front suspension.
12. Jump up^ Roberts, Peter (1984). The history of the automobile. Exeter Books. p. 145. ISBN 0-6710-7148-3. Retrieved 2013-08-18. The ultimate was probably the Standard Flying Eight which had the new advantage for a small car of independent front suspension…
13. Jump up^ Robson, Graham, The Book of the Standard Motor Company, p. 69
14. Jump up^ Robson, Graham, The Book of the Standard Motor Company, pp. 63–64: “However, we do know, for certain, that in the 1938/39 financial year, which ended on 31 August 1939, exactly 50,729 cars were produced …”
15. Jump up^ Standard Motor Company Record Turnover And Profit, Mr. C. J. Band On Expansion Policy The Times, Friday, Dec 21, 1945; pg. 10; Issue 50331
16. Jump up^ Sir John Black. The Times, Wednesday, Dec 29, 1965; pg. 8; Issue 56515
17. Jump up^ Standard Motor Company (Manufacturers of Standard and Triumph Cars, Ferguson Tractors, and Standard Commercial Vehicles). The Times, Thursday, Oct 14, 1954; pg. 13; Issue 53062
18. Jump up^ Reorganizing Standard Triumph. The Times, Tuesday, Aug 22, 1961; pg. 8; Issue 55166
19. Jump up^ Guinness, Paul (2015-06-25). “Curios: Standard 2000”. HonestJohn Classics. Archived from the original on 2015-06-26.
20. Jump up^ Robson 2006, p. 
21. Jump up^ Michael Sedgwick and Mark Gillies, A-Z of Cars 1945-1970, Haymarket Publishing Ltd, 1994, page 185
22. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Sedgwick & Gillies 1986.

External links

• Standard Motor Club
• Standard Flying V-Eight
• Hari’s Motor World—Indian cars
• “Archival material relating to Standard Motor Company”. UK National Archives.
• Catalogue of the Standard archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

ELVA Automobiles

Elva (car manufacturer) Bexhill, Hastings and Rye, East Sussex, England, UK

Elva Engineering Co Ltd

Type	British Sports and racing car manufacturer
Industry	Automobiles
Founded	1955
Founder	Frank G. Nichols
Headquarters	Bexhill, Sussex, England, UK
Products	Elva racing cars Elva Courier

Elva was a sports and racing car manufacturing company based in Bexhill, then Hastings and Rye, East Sussex, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1955 by Frank G. Nichols. The name comes from the French phrase elle va (“she goes”).

Racing cars

 Late Elva Mk IIa (#100/49, 1957), a transition model which shares much of the Mk III’s design

Frank Nichols’s intention was to build a low-cost sports/racing car, and a series of models were produced between 1954 and 1959. The original model, based on the CSM car built nearby in Hastings by Mike Chapman, used Standard Ten front suspension rather than Ford swing axles, and a Ford Anglia rear axle with an overhead-valve-conversion of a Ford 10 engine. About 25 were made. While awaiting delivery of the CSM, Nichols finished second in a handicap race at Goodwood on March 27, 1954, driving a Lotus. “From racing a Ford-engined CSM sports car in 1954, just for fun but nevertheless with great success, Frank Nichols has become a component manufacturer. The intermediate stage was concerned with the design of a special head, tried in the CSM and the introduction of the Elva car which was raced with success in 1955.” The cylinder head for the 1,172 c.c. Ford engine, devised by Malcolm Witts and Harry Weslake, featured overhead inlet valves.

On May 22, 1955 Robbie Mackenzie-Low climbed Prescott in the sports Elva to set the class record at 51.14 sec. Mackenzie-Low also won the Bodiam Hill Climb outright at the end of the season.

The 1956 Elva MK II works prototype, registered KDY 68, was fitted with a Falcon all-enveloping fibreglass bodyshell. Nichols developed the Elva Mk II from lessons learnt in racing the prototype: “That car was driven in 1956 races by Archie Scott Brown, Stuart Lewis-Evans and others.” The Elva Mk II appeared in 1957: “Main differences from the Mark I are in the use of a De Dion rear axle as on the prototype, but with new location, inboard rear brakes, lengthened wheelbase, and lighter chassis frame.” The car was offered as standard with 1,100 c.c. Coventry-Climax engine. This went through various changes up to the Mark IV of 1958.

 Elva BMW Mk VIII.

Carl Haas, from Chicago, was Elva agent in the midwest of the United States from the mid-fifties through the nineteen sixties. In 1958 he was invited to England to drive an Elva in the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood, where he finished twelfth overall. With the Mark IV: “The major change is an all-new independent rear suspension utilizing low-pivot swing axles. The body is entirely new with close attention to aerodynamics and a reduced frontal area.” At the Sebring 12 Hours sports car race in 1959 the #48 Elva Mark IV driven by Frank Baptista, Art Tweedale and Charley Wallace finished first in Class G, and 19th overall.

On June 21, 1959, Arthur Tweedale and Bob Davis won the Marlboro Six Hour Endurance Race in Maryland driving the #37 Elva Mk IV. Arthur Tweedale repeated the win in the Marlboro Six Hours in 1960. Teamed with Ed Costley he covered 337.75 miles in an Elva Mk V sports car. This was the final iteration of the Elva front-engined sports racing car. The last Mk V chassis won a number of important races in the midwest driven by Dick Buedingen, including the 1961 Elkhart Lake 500 teamed with Carl Haas. At this time Elva Cars Limited was operating from premises at Sedlescombe Road North, Hastings, Sussex, England.

 Elva FJ 100

 Elva FJ 200

Elva produced a single-seater car for Formula Junior events, the FJ 100, initially supplied with a front-mounted B.M.C. ‘A’ series engine in a tubular steel chassis. “ELVA CARS, Ltd., new Formula Junior powered by an untuned BMC ‘A’ Series 948cc engine. Price of this 970 lb. car is $2,725 in England. Wheelbase: 84″, tread: 48″, brake lining area: 163″ sq. The 15″ wheels are cast magnesium. Independent suspension front and rear with transverse wishbones, coil springs, and telescopic shock absorbers. The car is 12 feet, four inches long.” Bill de Selincourt won a race at Cadours, France, in an Elva-B.M.C. FJ on September 6, 1959. Nichols switched to a two-stroke DKW engine supplied by Gerhard Mitter. In 1959 Peter Arundell won the John Davy Trophy at the Boxing Day Brands Hatch meeting driving an Elva-D.K.W. “Orders poured in for the Elva but when the 1960 season commenced Lotus and Cooper had things under control and disillusioned Elva owners watched the rear-engined car disappearing round corners, knowing they had backed the wrong horse.”  Sporadic success continued for Elva in the early part of that year, with Jim Hall winning at Sebring and Loyer at Montlhéry.

Elva produced a rear-engined FJ car, with B.M.C. engine, at the end of the 1960 season. Chuck Dietrich finished third at Silverstone in the BRDC British Empire Trophy race on October 1. In 1961 “an entirely new and rather experimental Elva-Ford” FJ-car debuted at Goodwood, making fastest lap, driven by Chris Meek.

After financial problems caused by the failure of the US distributor, Frank Nichols started a new company in Rye, Sussex in 1961 to continue building racing cars. The Elva Mk VI rear-engined sports car, with 1,100 c.c. Coventry Climax power, made its competition debut at Brands Hatch on Boxing Day, 1961, driven by Chris Ashmore, finishing second to the 3-litre Ferrari of Graham Hill. The car was designed by Keith Marsden.

On September 8, 1963, Bill Wuesthoff and Augie Pabst won the Road America 500, round 7 of the United States Road Racing Championship, at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin driving an Elva Mk.7-Porsche. “The Elva-Porsche is based on the Mark VII Elva, but redesigned aft of the front section to take the 1,700 c.c. Porsche air-cooled flat-four unit and its horizontal cooling fan.”

Edgar Barth won the opening round of the European Hill Climb Championship on June 7, 1964, at Rossfeld in southern Germany in an Elva-Porsche flat-8 sports car. The cars were placed throughout the seven-round series with Herbert Muller winning at the final round at Sierre Montana Crans in Switzerland on August 30, 1964.

Around 1964-1966 Elva made a very successful series of Mk 8 sports racers mostly with 1.8 litre BMW engines (modified from the 1.6 litre by Nerus) and some with 1.15 litre Holbay-Ford engines. The Mk8 had a longer wheelbase and wider track compared to the Mk7, which was known for difficult handling due to a 70-30 weight bias to the rear. Following the success of the McLaren in sportscar racing, Elva became involved in producing cars for sale to customers:

“Later a tie-up with Elva and the Trojan Group was arranged and they took over the manufacture of the McLaren sports/racer, under the name McLaren-Elva-Oldsmobile.”

At the 1966 Racing Car Show, held in London in January, Elva exhibited two sports racing cars – the McLaren-Elva Mk.II V8 and the Elva-BMW Mk. VIIIS. The McLaren-Elva was offered with the option of Oldsmobile, Chevrolet or Ford V8 engines. The Elva-BMW Mk. VIIIS was fitted with a rear-mounted BMW 2-litre four-cylinder O.H.C. engine.

Luki Botha campaigned an Elva-Porsche in southern Africa from 1966.

Elva Courier

Elva Courier
Overview
Manufacturer	Elva
Production	1958-1969 500 approx made
Body and chassis
Class	sports car
Body style	2-door convertible 2-door coupe
Dimensions
Wheelbase	90 in (2,286 mm)
Length	154 in (3,912 mm)
Width	60 in (1,524 mm)

The main road car, introduced in 1958, was called the Courier and went through a series of developments throughout the existence of the company. Initially all the cars were exported, home market sales not starting until 1960. Mark Donohue had his first racing successes in an Elva Courier winning the SCCA F Prod Championship in 1960 and the SCCA E Prod Championship in 1961.

The Mk 1 used a 1500 cc MGA or Riley 1.5 litre engine in a ladder chassis with Elva designed independent front suspension. The engine was set well back in the chassis to help weight distribution, which produced good handling but encroached on the cockpit making the car a little cramped. The chassis carried lightweight 2-seater open glassfibre bodywork. It was produced as a complete car for the US and European market and available in kit form for the UK market. After about 50 cars were made it was upgraded to the Mk II which was the same car but fitted with a proprietary curved glass windscreen, replacing the original flat-glass split type, and the larger 1600 cc MGA engine. Approximately 400 of the Mk I and II were made.

The rights to the Elva Courier were acquired by Trojan in 1962, and production moved to the main Trojan factory in Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey. Competition Press announced: “Elva Courier manufacturing rights have been sold to Lambretta-Trojan in England. F-Jr Elva and Mark IV sports cars will continue to be built by Frank Nichols as in the past.”

With the Trojan takeover the Mk III was introduced in 1962 and was sold as a complete car. On the home market a complete car cost £965 or the kit version £716. The chassis was now a box frame moulded into the body. Triumph rack and pinion steering and front suspension was standardised. A closed coupé body was also available with either a reverse slope Ford Anglia-type rear window or a fastback. In autumn 1962: “Elva Courier Mk IV was shown at London Show. New coupe has all-independent suspension, fiberglass body, MG engine. Mk III Couriers were also shown. Though previously equipped with MG-A engines, new versions will be equipped with 1800cc MG-B engine.” Later the Ford Cortina GT unit was available. The final version, the fixed head coupé Mk IV T type used Lotus twin-cam engines with the body modified to give more interior room. It could be had with all independent suspension and four wheel disc brakes. 210 were made.

Ken Sheppard Customised Sports Cars of Shenley, Hertfordshire acquired the Elva Courier from Trojan in 1965 but production ended in 1968.

• 

  1960 Elva Courier

• 

  Elva Courier front/side view

GT160

GT160
Overview
Manufacturer	Elva
Production	1964
Body and chassis
Class	sports car
Dimensions
Wheelbase	93 in (2,362 mm)
Length	150 in (3,810 mm)
Width	60 in (1,524 mm)

There was also a GT160 which never got beyond production of three prototypes. It used a BMW dry sump engine of 2 litre capacity with bodywork styled by Englishman Trevor Frost (also known as Trevor Fiore, and who also designed the Trident) and made by Fissore of Turin. It weighed 11 long hundredweight (559 kg) and had 185 bhp (138 kW; 188 PS) so would have had very impressive performance but was deemed too costly to put into series production. The car was shown at the London Motor Show in 1964. One of the cars was purchased by Richard Wrottesley and entered in the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans. Co-driven by Tony Lanfranchi, the car retired early in the race.

An Elva GT160 at the 2014 Le Mans Classic

 Other ELVA’s from my collection after searching the WWW.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

That’s it

ELVA Race Cars on Facebook

Other companies

There was another Elva car company that lasted for one year, 1907, and was based in Paris, France.

See also

• Stuart Lewis-Evans
• Archie Scott Brown
• Archie Butterworth
• Tony Lanfranchi
• Trojan (racing team)

TRIUMPH Motor Company Coventry England 1885-1984

Triumph Motor Company

Triumph Motor Company

Fate	Taken over by Standard Motor Company later merged with and continuing as a division of Leyland Motors Ltd and its successors
Founded	1885
Defunct	1984
Headquarters	Coventry, England
Key people	Siegfried Bettmann, Moritz (Maurice) Schulte (founders)
Parent	Standard Motors Ltd, Leyland Motors Ltd, British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd, BL plc

The Triumph Motor Company was a British car and motor manufacturing company. The Triumph marque (trade-name) is owned currently by BMW. The marque had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann (1863–1951) of Nuremberg formed S. Bettmann & Co and started importing bicycles from Europe and selling them under his own trade name in London. The trade name became “Triumph” the following year, and in 1887 Bettmann was joined by a partner, Moritz (Maurice) Schulte, also from Germany. In 1889 the businessmen started producing their own bicycles in Coventry, England.

 1923 Triumph 10/20

History

Triumph Cycle Company

The company was renamed the Triumph Cycle Co. Ltd. in 1897. In 1902, they began producing Triumph motorcycles at their works in Coventry on Much Park Street. At first, these used engines purchased from another company, but the business prospered and they soon started making their own engines. In 1907, they purchased the premises of a spinning mill on Priory Street to develop a new factory. Major orders for the 550 cc Model H were made by the British Army during the First World War; by 1918, Triumph had become Britain’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles.

 1931 Triumph Super 9, 4 Door Tourer

In 1921, Bettmann was persuaded by his general manager Claude Holbrook (1886–1979), who had joined the company in 1919, to acquire the assets and Clay Lane premises of the Dawson Car Company and start producing a car and 1.4-litre engine type named the Triumph 10/20 designed for them by Lea-Francis, to whom they paid a royalty for every car sold. Production of this car and its immediate successors was moderate, but this changed with the introduction in 1927 of the Triumph Super 7, which sold in large numbers until 1934.

Triumph Motor Company

 1934 Triumph Gloria Six

 1936 Triumph Gloria Southern Cross 10.8 HP (four, 1,232 cc)

 1937 Triumph Dolomite Roadster

In 1930 the company’s name was changed to Triumph Motor Company. Holbrook realized he could not compete with the larger car companies for the mass market, so he decided to produce expensive cars, and introduced the models Southern Cross and Gloria. At first these used engines made by Triumph but designed by Coventry Climax, but in 1937 Triumph started to produce engines to their own designs by Donald Healey, who had become the company’s Experimental Manager in 1934.

The company encountered financial problems however, and in 1936 the Triumph bicycle and motorcycle businesses were sold, the latter to Jack Sangster of Ariel to become Triumph Engineering Co Ltd. Healey purchased an

Alfa Romeo 8C 2300

and developed a new car model with an Alfa inspired straight-8 engine type named the

Triumph Dolomite.

Three of these cars were made in 1934, one of which was used in competition and destroyed in an accident. The Dolomites manufactured from 1937 to 1940 were unrelated to these prototypes.

In July 1939 the Triumph Motor Company went into receivership and the factory, equipment and goodwill were offered for sale. Thomas W. Ward Ltd. purchased the company and placed Healey in charge as general manager, but the effects of the Second World War again stopped the production of cars; the Holbrook Lane works were completely destroyed by bombing in 1940.

Standard Triumph

 1946 Triumph 1800 Roadster

In November 1944 what was left of the Triumph Motor Company and the Triumph trade name were bought by the Standard Motor Company and a subsidiary “Triumph Motor Company (1945) Limited” was formed with production transferred to Standard’s factory at Canley, on the outskirts of Coventry. Triumph’s new owners had been supplying engines to Jaguar and its predecessor company since 1938. After an argument between Standard-Triumph Managing Director, Sir John Black, and William Lyons, the creator and owner of Jaguar, Black’s objective in acquiring the rights to the name and the remnants of the bankrupt Triumph business was to build a car to compete with the soon to be launched post-war Jaguars.

The pre-war Triumph models were not revived and in 1946 a new range of Triumphs was announced, starting with the

Triumph Roadster.

The Roadster had an aluminium body because steel was in short supply and surplus aluminium from aircraft production was plentiful. The same engine was used for the 1800 Town and Country saloon, later named the

Triumph Renown,

which was notable for the styling chosen by Standard-Triumph’s managing director Sir John Black. A similar style was also used for the subsequent Triumph Mayflower light saloon. All three of these models prominently sported the “globe” badge that had been used on pre-war models. When Sir John was forced to retire from the company this range of cars was discontinued without being replaced directly, sheet aluminium having by now become a prohibitively expensive alternative to sheet steel for most auto-industry purposes.

 1950 Triumph Mayflower

 1955 Triumph TR2

In the early 1950s it was decided to use the Triumph name for sporting cars and the Standard name for saloons and in 1953 the Triumph TR2 was initiated, the first of the TR series of sports cars that would be produced until 1981. Curiously, the TR2 had a Standard badge on its front and the Triumph globe on its hubcaps.

Standard had been making a range of small saloons named the Standard Eight and Ten and had been working on a replacement for these. The success of the TR range meant that Triumph was considered as a more marketable name than Standard and the new car was introduced in 1959 as the Triumph Herald. The last Standard car to be made in the UK was replaced in 1963 by the Triumph 2000 .

Leyland and beyond

 1960 Triumph Herald 948cc Coupe

 1955-57 Triumph TR3

 1970 Triumph Vitesse Mk.2 Convertible

Standard-Triumph was bought by Leyland Motors Ltd. in December 1960; Donald Stokes became chairman of the Standard-Triumph division in 1963. Further mergers resulted in the formation of British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968.

Triumph set up an assembly facility in Speke, Liverpool in 1959 gradually increasing the size of the most modern factory of the company to the point that it could fully produce 100,000 cars per year. However, only a maximum of 30,000 cars was ever produced as the plant was never put to full production use, being used largely as an assembly plant. During the 1960s and ’70s Triumph sold a succession of Michelotti-styled saloons and sports cars, including the advanced

Dolomite Sprint,

which, in 1973, already had a 16-valve four-cylinder engine. It is alleged that many Triumphs of this era were unreliable, especially the 2.5 PI (petrol injection) with its fuel injection problems. In Australia, the summer heat caused petrol in the electric fuel pump to vapourise, resulting in frequent malfunctions. Although the injection system had proven itself in international competition, it lacked altitude compensation to adjust the fuel mixture at altitudes greater than 3,000 feet (910 m) above sea level. The Lucas system proved unpopular: Lucas did not want to develop it further, and Standard-Triumph dealers were reluctant unwilling to attend the associated factory and field-based training courses.

Triumph 2.5 PI Mk 2 Saloon

For most of its time under Leyland or BL ownership the Triumph marque belonged in the Specialist Division of the company which went by the names of Rover Triumph and later Jaguar Rover Triumph, except for a brief period during the mid-1970s when all BL’s car marques or brands were grouped together under the name of Leyland Cars.

 1973 Triumph Spitfire

The only all-new Triumph model initiated as Rover Triumph was the TR7, which had the misfortune to be in production successively at three factories that were closed: Speke, the poorly run Leyland-era Standard-Triumph works in Liverpool, the original Standard works at Canley, Coventry and finally the Rover works in Solihull. Plans for an extended range based on the TR7, including a fastback variant codenamed “Lynx”, were ended when the Speke factory closed. The four-cylinder TR7 and its short-lived eight-cylindered derivative the TR8 were terminated when the road car section of the Solihull plant was closed (the plant continues to build Land Rovers.)

Demise of Triumph cars

The last Triumph model was the Acclaim, introduced in 1981 and essentially a rebadged Honda Ballade built under licence from Japanese company Honda at the former Morris Motors works in Cowley, Oxford. The Triumph name disappeared in 1984, when the Acclaim was replaced by the Rover 200, a rebadged version of Honda’s next generation Civic/Ballade model. The BL car division was by then named Austin Rover Group which also ended the Morris marque as well as Triumph.

Current ownership

 1974 Triumph GT6 Coupé

 1976 Triumph TR6

The trademark is owned currently by BMW, which acquired Triumph when it bought the Rover Group in 1994. When it sold Rover, it kept the Triumph marque. The Phoenix Consortium, which bought Rover, tried to buy the Triumph brand, but BMW refused, saying that if Phoenix insisted, it would break the deal. The Standard marque was transferred to British Motor Heritage Limited. The Standard marque is still retained by British Motor Heritage who also have the licence to use the Triumph marque in relation to the sale of spares and service of the existing ‘park’ of Triumph cars.

The Triumph name has been retained by BMW along with Riley, and Mini. In late 2007, the magazine Auto Express, after continued rumours that Triumph be revived with BMW ownership, featured a story showing an image of what a new version of the TR4 might look like. BMW has not commented officially on this.

 Triumph 2.5PI

 1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint

 1982 Triumph TR7 cabriolet

 1983 Triumph Acclaim

 The ill-fated Triumph Lynx

Triumph car models

Pre-war

Model Name	Engine	Year
Triumph 10/20	1393 cc inline 4	(1923–25)
Triumph 13/35 or 12.8	1872 cc inline 4	(1927–27)
Triumph 15/50 or Fifteen	2169 cc inline 4	(1926–30)
Triumph Super 7	747 cc inline 4	(1928)
Triumph Super 8	832 cc inline 4	(1930)
Triumph Super 9	1018 cc inline 4	(1931)
Triumph Gloria 10	1087 cc inline 4	(1933)
Triumph 12-6 Scorpion	1203 cc inline 6	(1931–33)
Triumph Southern Cross	1087/1232 cc inline 4	(1932)
Triumph Gloria (’12’ / ’12’) Four	1232/1496 cc inline 4	(1934–37)
Triumph Gloria (‘6’ / ‘6/16’) Six	1476/1991 cc inline 6	(1934–35)
Triumph Gloria 14	1496/1767 cc inline 4	(1937–38)
Triumph Dolomite 8	1990 cc inline 8 (DOHC)	(1934)
Triumph Dolomite Vitesse 14	1767/1991 cc inline 4/6	(1937–38)
Triumph Vitesse	1767/1991 cc inline 4/6	(1936–38)
Triumph Dolomite 14/60	1767/1991 cc inline 4/6	(1937–39)
Triumph Dolomite Roadster	1767/1991 cc inline 4/6	(1937–39)
Triumph 12	1496 cc inline 4	(1939–40)

Post war

Model name	Engine	Year	Number built
Triumph 1800 Saloon	1776 cc inline 4	1946–49
Triumph 1800 Roadster	1776 cc inline 4	1946–48
Triumph 2000 Saloon	2088 cc inline 4	1949
Triumph 2000 Roadster	2088 cc inline 4	1948–49
Triumph Renown	2088 cc inline 4	1949–54
Triumph Mayflower	1247 cc inline 4	1949–53
Triumph TR1 / 20TS	2208 cc inline 4	1950
Triumph TR2	1991 cc inline 4	1953–55	8,636
Triumph TR3	1991 cc inline 4	1956–58
Triumph TR3A	1991 cc inline 4	1958–62
Triumph TR3B	2138 cc inline 4	1962
Triumph Italia	1991 cc inline 4	1959–62
Triumph TR4	2138 cc inline 4	1961–65
Triumph TR4A	2138 cc inline 4	1965–67
Triumph TR5	2498 cc inline 6	1967–69
Triumph TR250	2498 cc inline 6	1967–69
Triumph Dove GTR4	2138 cc inline 4	1961–64
Triumph TR6	2498 cc inline 6	1969–76
Triumph TR7	1998 cc inline 4	1975–81
Triumph TR8	3528 cc V8	1978–81
Triumph Spitfire 4 (Spitfire Mk I)	1147 cc inline 4	1962–65	45,763
Triumph Spitfire Mk II	1147 cc inline 4	1965–67	37,409
Triumph Spitfire Mk III	1296 cc inline 4	1967–70	65,320
Triumph Spitfire Mk IV	1296 cc inline 4	1970–74	70,021
Triumph Spitfire 1500	1493 cc inline 4	1974–80	95,829
Triumph GT6	1998 cc inline 6	1966–73	40,926
Triumph Herald	948 cc inline 4	1959–64
Triumph Herald 1200	1147 cc inline 4	1961–70
Triumph Herald 12/50	1147 cc inline 4	1963–67
Triumph Herald 13/60	1296 cc inline 4	1967–71
Triumph Courier	1147 cc inline 4	1962-66
Triumph Vitesse 6	1596 cc inline 6	1962–66
Triumph Vitesse Sports 6 (US version of Vitesse 6)	1596 cc inline 6	1962–64
Triumph Vitesse 2-litre and Vitesse Mark 2	1998 cc inline 6	1966–71
Triumph 1300	1296 cc inline 4	1965–70
Triumph 1300 TC	1296 cc inline 4	1967–70
Triumph 1500	1493 cc inline 4	1970–73
Triumph 1500 TC	1493 cc inline 4	1973–76
Triumph Stag	2997 cc V8	1971–77
Triumph Toledo	1296 cc inline 4	1970–78
Triumph Dolomite 1300	1296 cc inline 4	1976–80
Triumph Dolomite 1500	1493 cc inline 4	1976–80
Triumph Dolomite 1500 HL	1493 cc inline 4	1976–80
Triumph Dolomite 1850	1850 cc inline 4	1972–76
Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL	1850 cc inline 4	1976–80
Triumph Dolomite Sprint	1998 cc inline 4	1973–80
Triumph 2000 Mk1, Mk2, TC	1998 cc inline 6	1963–77
Triumph 2.5 PI Mk1, Mk2	2498 cc inline 6	1968–75
Triumph 2500 TC & S	2498 cc inline 6	1974–77
Triumph Acclaim	1335 cc inline 4	1981–84	133,625

Prototypes

• Triumph TR7 Sprint
• Triumph Fury
• Triumph Lynx

Triumph-based models

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Vale Special	(1932–36) very low built two-seater based on Super 8 and Gloria
Swallow Doretti	(1954–55)
Amphicar	(1961–68) used a Triumph Herald engine
Bond Equipe GT	(1964–67)
Panther Rio	(1975–77) based on the Triumph Dolomite
Fairthorpe Cars
Saab 99	used Triumph engines when the supply of German Ford V-4s ended.
Lotus Seven	(1960–68) the Series 2 had many Standard Triumph parts.
Daimler SP250	used various Triumph parts in its gearbox and suspension, gearbox was a copy of a Triumph unit.
Jensen-Healey	Mk. I used TR-6 front brakes.
MG Midget 1500	(1975–79) Rubber-bumpered Midgets used the 1493cc L-4 and gearbox borrowed from the Triumph Spitfire.

Badging

Globe

Pre-war Triumphs carried a stylised Globe badge, usually on the radiator grille, and this was also used on the first three models produced under Standard’s control.

Griffin

Standard had introduced a new badge in 1947 for their own models, first seen on the Vanguard, a highly stylised motif based on the wings of a Griffin. With the introduction of the TR2, a version of this badge appeared for the first time on the bonnet of a production Triumph, while the Globe continued to appear on the hubcaps. This same double-badging also appeared on the TR3 and TR4, the 2000 and the 1300.

However, the original Herald, Spitfire, Vitesse and GT6 models all carried only the Griffin badge on their bonnets/radiator grilles, with unadorned hubcaps.

The TR4A appeared with a Globe badge on the bonnet, apparently signifying a return to the original Triumph badging. This was short-lived, as a policy of Leylandisation mean that neither Globe nor Griffin appeared on subsequent models from the TR5 onwards, or on later versions of the Spitfire, GT6 and 2000.

Leyland

Leyland’s corporate badge, a design based on the spokes of a wheel, appeared on the hubcaps of the 1500FWD, and next to the Triumph name on the metal identification labels fitted to the bootlids of various models. It was also used for the oil filler cap on the Dolomite Sprint engine. However it was never used as a bonnet badge, with models of that era such as the TR6 and the second generation 2000 carrying a badge simply stating the name “Triumph”.

Stag

The Stag model carried a unique grille badge showing a highly stylised stag.

Laurel wreath

The last versions of the TR7 and Dolomite ranges received an all-new badge with the word Triumph surrounded by laurel wreaths, and this was also used for the Acclaim. It was carried on the bonnet and the steering wheel boss.

See also

• List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom
• Triumph Motorcycles Ltd

References

1. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c} Robson, Graham (1972). The Story of Triumph Sports Cars. MRP. ISBN 0-900549-23-8.
2. ^ Jump up to:^{a b} Georgano, N. (2000). Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. London: HMSO. ISBN 1-57958-293-1.
3. Jump up^ “Alfa Romeo 8C 2300”. rickcarey.com. Retrieved 16 August 2007.
4. Jump up^ Langworth, Richard M. (Second Quarter 1973). “Trundling Along With Triumph – The story thus far…”. Automobile Quarterly (Automobile Quarterly Inc.) 11 (2): 128–129. LCCN 62-4005. Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. Jump up^ Robson, Graham (1982). Triumph Spitfire and GT6. London: Osprey Publishing Ltd. p. 8. ISBN 0-85045-452-2.
6. Jump up^ “Goodbye Standard long live Triumph”. Motor: pp. 39–40. 15 May 1976.
7. ^ Jump up to:^{a b} Marren, Brian. “Closure of the Triumph TR7 Factory in Speke, Merseyside, 1978: ‘The Shape of Thingsto Come’?”.Academia.edu. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
8. Jump up^ Original Triumph TR, Bill Piggott, ISBN 1-870979-24-9
9. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f} Robson, Graham (1982). Triumph Spitfire and GT6. Osprey Publishing. p. 187. ISBN 0-85045-452-2.
10. Jump up^ “The Unofficial Austin-Rover Web Resource”.
11. Jump up^ Long, Brian (2008). Daimler V8 S.P. 250 (2nd ed.). Veloce Publishing. p. 168. ISBN 1-9047-8877-7. Clearly based on a Triumph unit, the SP’s manual gearbox is rather weak for such a powerful engine. First gear has a tendency to strip if misused by the driver, but most gearbox parts are replaceable with Triumph components.
12. Jump up^ Robson, Graham; Bonds, Ray (2002). “Daimler SP250 (‘Dart’)”. The Illustrated Directory of Sports Cars. MBI Publishing. p. 129.ISBN 0-7603-1418-7. The new car, which Daimler wanted to call the ‘Dart’ until Dodge complained that it held the trade mark rights to that name, had a chassis and suspension layout which was unashamedly and admittedly copied from that of the Triumph TR3A (both cars were built in Coventry, England), as was the gearbox.
13. Jump up^ The Standard Car Review January 1947

External links

• Coventry University—Triumph 1918 to 1939—interview with Sir Claude Holbrook transcript available
• The Pre-1940 Triumph Owners Club For all pre-1940 cars
• VINTAGE TRIUMPH REGISTER North American Triumph Club
• Triumph paint codes and colour examples
• International Triumph TR Registry free database with Commission numbers and photographs of TR2-TR6s
• Triumph Motor Company at DMOZ
• British Motor Heritage Ltd – British Motor Heritage Ltd
• Club Triumph – The original British Triumph club
• Triumph Sports Car Club of South Africa – Cape Town branch – A South African club for Triumph owners & enthusiasts

the pictures from my collection of Triumph:

 

Triumph Super 7 Two Seat Tourer (1929 )

Triumph Super 7 Two Seat Tourer (1929 )

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

That’s it.

motor(cycles), cars, trucks, buses, MINERVA Antwerp Belgium IMPERIA

Minerva 

motor(cycles)

cars

trucks

buses

Société Anonyme Minerva Motors

Industry	automobiles
Fate	dissolved
Founded	Antwerp, Belgium (1900)
Founder(s)	Sylvain de Jong
Defunct	1956
Products	bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles, Buses,

The Minerva was a prominent Belgian luxury automobile manufactured from 1902 until 1938. The company became defunct in 1956.

 History

In 1883, a young Dutchman, Sylvain de Jong (1868–1928) settled in Antwerp, Belgium.

Bicycles and motorcycles

A man on a Minerva motorized bicycle in Australia near the turn of the 20th century, by Alice Manfield

1902 Minerva 211 cc

1903 Romania 1¾ pk (Minerva)

1908 Minerva 432 cc (8 pk) zijklepper

1910 Minerva motorcycle

Small Minerva later BSA

Minerva started out manufacturing standard safety bicycles in 1897, before in 1900 expanding into light cars and “motocyclettes”, particularly motorized bicycles which were a forerunner of motorcycles.

They produced lightweight clip-on engines that mounted below the bicycle front down tube, specifically for Minerva bicycles, but also available in kit form suitable for almost any bicycle. The engine drove a belt turning a large gear wheel attached to the side of the rear wheel opposite to the chain. By 1901 the kit engine was a 211cc unit developing 1.5 hp, comfortably cruising at 30 km/h (19 mph) at 1,500 rpm, capable of a top speed of 50 km/h (31 mph), and getting fuel consumption in the range of 3 L/100 km (94 mpg_-imp; 78 mpg_-US). These kits were exported around the world to countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, and other British territories of the time.

As engine power increased, frame ruptures became increasingly common, and by 1903 Minerva had developed an in-frame design for their bicycles, with the engine mounted above the bottom bracket, while still also offering the clip-on kit. From 1904 Minerva began focussing more on car production, and while development and production of the Minerva motorized bicycles and motorcycles continued through to about 1909, they increasingly became a less significant part of the company.

Minerva engines exported to the UK powered the very first Triumph, among others. Motorcycle production would continue until 1909 or 1914, and during this period Minerva became one of the world’s premier names in motorcycles and motorcycle engines. (For instance Chater-Lea produced Minerva-engines in the UK.)

Automobiles

In 1902 De Jong added cars to his production as well with a 6 hp four-cylinder model. In 1903 he founded Société Anonyme Minerva Motors in Berchem (Antwerp). Volume car production began in 1904 with a range of two-, three- and four-cylinder models with chain drive and metal clad wooden chassis and the Minervette cyclecar. The 8-litre Kaiserpreis won the Belgian Circuit des Ardennes race in 1907.

1931 Minerva 8 AL Rollston Convertible Sedan

Charles S Rolls (of future Rolls-Royce fame) was a Minerva dealer in England selling the 2.9-litre 14 hp (10 kW). The most important market for the manufacturer remained England, where at £105 the small 636 cc single-cylinder Minervette was the cheapest car on the market, followed by the Netherlands and France.

In 1908, Minerva obtained a worldwide Knight Engine license. The Knight motor, developed by Charles Yale Knight in the United States, used double sleeve valves and ran almost silently. All future Minervas would use these engines. Sporting successes continued with the new engines including the Austrian Alpine Trials and Swedish Winter Trials. Customers for the Minerva would include kings of Belgium, Sweden and Norway, Henry Ford and the Impressionist Artist Anna Boch.

During World War I Sylvain de Jong and his engineers were based in Amsterdam where they maintained development of their automobiles. Minerva cars were used for hit and run attacks against the Germans initially with rifle fire and light machine guns from simply protected open topped vehicles. These vehicles became increasingly sophisticated until trench warfare robbed them of the mobility needed for their hit and run tactics.

1937 Imperia Minerva AP 22 CV limousine

In 1920, they returned to Belgium to restart the production of luxury cars with the 20CV 3.6-litre four-cylinder and 30CV 5.3-litre six-cylinder models.^[7]The manufacturer’s star rose not only in Europe, but in the United States as well where American film stars, politicians and industrialists appreciated the cars. The Minerva had the same quality as the Rolls-Royce, but was slightly less expensive. In 1923, smaller models were introduced; the 2-litre four-cylinder 15CV and 3.4-litre six-cylinder 20CV with standard four-wheel brakes. In 1927, the 30CV was replaced with the 6-litre AK and also a new 2-litre six, the 12-14, was introduced. Large cars continued to be a specialty of Minerva’s, and in 1930 the then almost-compulsory-for-the-time straight eight was introduced in two sizes; the 6.6-litre AL and the 4-litre AP. The last Minerva was the 2-litre M4 of 1934 but it did not sell well.

With the financial crisis in the 1930s, the company was restructured as Société Nouvelle Minerva but in 1934 merged with the other major Belgian constructor Imperia. Imperia continued to make Minervas for a year and the AP until 1938 and from 1937 badged some of their cars and trucks for export to England and France as Minerva-Imperias. Just before the outbreak of the war, a group of businessmen from Verviers bought out Minerva.

1952 Minerva Land Rover. Note the sloping front faces to the wings

After World War II the company produced a version of the Land Rover under license for the Belgian army up to 1953. There were plans to re-enter the car market but these did not get beyond the prototype stage. The company struggled for survival and made the Continental-engined Land Rover-like C20 until 1956.

That’s it.