Category: Classic Cars

The AMC Javelin was released in the American autumn of 1967 and was intended to finally give AMC a car to counter the Mustang. It was born from the marriage of Nash, Rambler and Hudson and followed a series of cars released after the Mustang first appeared in 1965, none of which were any match for it either in looks or performance. In its SST form the Javelin had a 5.62-litre 209kW V8 motor which placed it in between Mustang’s highest and lowest output and closely aligned it with its… Read more

Harry C Stutz built his first gas buggy in 1899 and later went into the manufacture of transmissions and axles. His first involvement with automobile manufacture was in 1907 when he designed the American Underslung. Stutz created the Underslung by inverting an orthodox chassis so that it hung from its axles instead of riding above them. With front and rear leafsprings anchored outboard and above the frame, added stability was obtained. This placed the centre of gravity much closer to the ground and these basic principles are still common to… Read more

The Riley Brooklands was first introduced in mid-1927 and was produced from 1927 to 1932. It was powered by a front mounted four-cylinder 1087 cc overhead-valve engine which had part spherical combustion chambers driving the rear wheels. This engine was originally introduced in the Riley Nine family car in 1926 and its early performance indicated that it would make a good power source for a sports car. After some modifications, including the fitting of two horizontal SU carburettors, power output was raised to 37 kW at 5000 rpm, very high… Read more

Opel cars were first made in Germany by Adam Opel GmbH, a German automobile company founded by Adam Opel in 1863. It became a subsidiary of General Motors (USA) in 1929 with GM holding an 80 per cent interest. General Motors was very impressed by Opel’s modern production facilities and in 1931 GM increased its ownership to 100 per cent. In 1935, Opel became the first German manufacturer to produce over 100,000 vehicles in a year. This was based on the popular Opel P4 model. Opel also produced he first… Read more

Donald Healey was born in Perranporth, in Cornwall, England in 1898. He became a successful competition driver, engineer and finally a car manufacturer with his own business. In 1931, driving a 4.5 litre Invicta he won the Monte Carlo Rally outright, and joined Triumph in Coventry in 1933 and shortly after became their Technical Director. At the end of World War II he started his own car manufacturing business in Warwick producing Healey cars using engines sourced from Riley. In 1952 BMC’s chief executive, Leonard Lord, sponsored an informal `design… Read more

Although Austin models were first assembled and partly manufactured in Australia before WWI, the 1958 Lancer was probably the first to have a significant local design input. The Lancer was one of ‘twins’ produced by BMC in Australia, the other being the Morris Major. Powered by a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder engine, the Lancer (like the Major) was based largely on the Wolseley 1500. By the standards of the day, the Lancer had an above average power-to-weight ratio. It was praised for its brisk acceleration and top speed of 125 km/h, which… Read more

Gabriel Voisin gained his engineering experience in the infant aviation industry and was actually running an aeroplane factory in Paris before the Wright brothers’ planes were in production, producing a number of aircraft during World War I. He later switched to car manufacture and one of his best products was the V12 Simoun. The Simoun was powered by a V12 sleeve-valve 4860cc engine which had many unique features. One interesting one was the electromagnetically engaged overdrive on all three speeds. Voisin claimed that his V12 engine could rotate at a… Read more

The Trojan was produced in the UK during the years 1922 to 1929. Originally assembled by Leyland up to 1926, production was then taken over by the designer, Leslie Hounsfield for the next few years. During this time some minor updating took place. The ‘Utility’ became the ‘Ten’ and sales continued until the mid-1930s, when car production finally ended. Whilst the Trojan had a rather odd look and could never be described as a performance car it must have had some appeal to many motorists as more than 16,000 cars… Read more

Errett Lobban Cord’s life could have been very different: he nearly struck gold with his first motor car. It was called the L-29 because it made its debut in 1929 with power from Lycoming, the aero engine wing of the Auburn car manufacturing company which Cord owned. He had acquired the decaying Auburn company of Indiana, as well as the legendary Duesenberg high-performance car makers, as part of a financial package. Cord knew little about cars other than how to sell them. He was an outstanding salesman, perhaps one of… Read more