Lanchester

The Lanchester brothers built the first truly all-British car in 1895: underpowered, it was rebuilt the next year with a balanced (two cylinders, two counter-rotating cranks, six connecting rods) power unit, air-cooled, and with Frederick Lanchester's famous wick carburetor. One valve per cylinder was both inlet and exhaust, thanks to a concentric "crossover" disc valve.

The experimental cars set the pattern for production vehicles, which began to leave the Lanchester Engine Company's Armourer Mills, Birmingham, factory in 1900: there was no bonnet, the driver sitting well forward behind a hinged leather dashboard, steering with a right-hand tiller. Cantilever springs had the same periodicity as a walking man; final drive was by Lanchester worm; compound epicyclical gearing gave three forward speeds. The first Lanchesters had 4035cc twin-cylinder air- cooled engines and incorporated a disc brake in the transmission; a water-cooled version appeared in 1902, a larger 18 hp model in 1904. Rudyard Kipling was an early owner who reflected his enthusiasm for the car in his short stories. Also in 1904 came the first four-cylinder, the over-square 20 hp of 2471cc.

Though in engineering terms Lanchesters were a long way ahead of their contemporaries they pioneered the rigorous interchangeability of parts their very unorthodoxy created sales resistance. So in 1907 wheel steering became available. A 38 hp six of 3295cc joined the 28 hp: it was to solve problems of six-cylinder vibration that Frederick Lanchester devised his famous crankshaft damper. Youngest brother George Lanchester took over as chief engineer and in 1914 produced a thoroughly conventional long-bonneted "Sporting Forty" 5560cc sv six, with half-elliptic front springs: a similar chassis was used on the 6178cc ohv Forty of 1919.

Though it was so different from the pre-war Lanchesters, the new Forty was a worthy rival for the Rolls-Royce 40/50 hp; it was joined in 1924 by an ohc 2982cc 21 hp six. A 4440cc straight-eight was launched at the 1928 Southport Rally, again with ohc: it proved to be the last "real" Lanchester, for in 1931 the company was acquired by Daimler, and Lanchesters became merely re-radiatored Daimlers.

The 1932 "Ten" was still in production in the late 1940s, updated with independent front suspension;1952 saw a "14", whose chassis was used on the six-cylinder Daimler-engined, Hooper-bodied Dauphin;1956 saw the short-lived Sprite 1.6-litre with Hobbs automatic transmission.

(Vintage European Automobiles)