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The Family Man's Sports Car, the Light Sports Saloon and Hot Hatchback

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The Family Man's Sports Car, the Light Sports Saloon and Hot Hatchback The Family Man’s Sports Car, The light Sports Saloon and Hot Hatchback. Part One 1920 to 1980 Alvis 12/75 sports saloon The hot hatch back has been with us since the mid seventies, sporting version’s of the small family hatch back saloons that had come to replace in much of the world the smaller booted/trunk saloon car. Of late many of the hot hatch models of this century have been fitted with ever increasingly larger engines in the relentless quest for even more speed, but there are still some models in production with modest sized engines in the spirit of the original hot hatches and the light sports saloons that came before them, with capacities up to 1600cc’s. What do I mean by light sports saloon, I am referring to the kind of light car, that is one with a moderate size engine, that was purchased not just for transport but one that will provide an increased degree of performance that will enhance the pleasure of motoring and that in some cases could take part in motorsport of one form or another. The sports saloon was a very British thing in the nineteen twenties, thirties and forties, with quite a few models on offer with that description, but for many of them it was unwarranted and I have only mentioned those with a sporting connection here. In most of the world in that period light cars were usually just for transport and if a sporting car was required it had a larger engine ,some times very large. Taxation had a large influence on the British market and would influence Italy in the nineteen fifties with some outstanding sporting saloons. This is only a summary and an introduction. A great deal of information on each car mentioned can be found else ware on the internet. For most of the first half of the twentieth century cars were produced in the form of a chassis complete with engine, transmission, suspension, steering and brake that a body could be mounted on. The form of that body was dictated by requirements of the purchaser, subject to the limitations of the chassis. For much of the early years of the automobile industry body building was a craft, with each body of whatever type produced by hand by one or more craft men, a continuation of the old coach building technics. Bodies where constructed with wooden floor and body frame that was covered in aluminium panels, or in a limited period during the nineteen twenties of fabric, with the addition of padding a more shapely and lighter body could be produced than with sheets of metal. The fabric body was first devised by the French industrialist Charles Torres Weymann but later had many imitators. Many car producing companies only made the running chassis, and had their bodies made by an outside coach building company who either fitted the body to the completed chassis or supplied the body to be fitted at the factory. Lightly built enclosed bodies as fitted to sporting car proved not to durable and were often replace by roadster bodies, especially if the chassis it was on was desirable. By the mid nineteen thirties the more durable presses steel body replaced the coach built type, but much later than those for cars that were mass produced . Page #1 of 10# The Nineteen Twenties! Aston Martin Sports Saloon! To find the earliest light sports saloon, we have to go back to the nineteen twenties when some sports car makers produced chassis long enough to mount a saloon body on it. As the sports car makers only produced a limited number of cars, in some cases only in double figures in a year, therefore the number of sports saloons produced was even smaller, maybe just one or two. At least one owners of the First Series Aston Martin’s, chose to have a sports saloon body built on this sporting chassis in 1928. Layout. Front engine/rear wheel drive. Chassis. Pressed steel channel. Engine. 4 IL WC SOHC 1494cc. Transmission. 4 Speed & reverse. Suspension front. Beam axle 1/2 elliptic. Suspension rear. Live axle 1/2 elliptic. Brakes front. Drum. Brakes rear. Drum. Weight. Le Mans, 19cwt. Wheelbase. Various. Engine output. Series One, 56 bhp. Inter, 60 bhp. Series Two, 60bhp. Le Mans, 70 bhp. Mark Two, 73 bhp. Ulster, 85 bhp.@ R.P.M. 4250 to 5250. Max speed. Series One & Series Two, 80 mph. Another was the Alvis 12/75 sports saloon of 1928-30, a pioneering front wheel drive car the 12/75, it had all independent suspension using four transverse leaf springs at the front in a “Wishbone” configuration, behind the front mounted radiator was the final drive with the brakes mounted inboard, then the four speed gearbox and finally the engine, mounted back to front by contemporary standards, this necessitated a long bonnet. When a Roots supercharger was fitted, speeds of 85 mph. were attained. Being a pioneering venture, the transmission was noisy and the handling di$cult. Layout. Front engine/ front wheel drive.Chassis. Pressed steel channel. Engine. 4 IL WC SOHC 1481cc. Transmission. 4 speed & reverse. Suspension front. Independent 4x 1/2 elliptic. Suspension rear.Independent 1/2 elliptic. Brakes front. Drum . Brakes rear. Drum. Max speed. 85 mph. The Lea Francis produced the 12/40 model from 1927 to 1935, one of the body options was the W type saloon and another of their models available with a saloon type body was the Hyper, a supercharged model. Layout. Front engine/rear wheel drive. Engine. 4 IL OHV WC 1496cc. Transmission. 4 speed & reverse. Suspension front. Beam axle / 1/2 elliptic. Suspension rear. Live axle / 1/2 elliptic. Wheelbase. 9ft 3inches. Max speed. 85 mph. ! In 1926 Riley introduced the Nine, an outstanding new model that formed the basis of a series of sports, touring, coupes and Sports saloons for the next thirty years. The first of the saloons was the Monaco. The outstanding feature of the Nine, was the 1087cc four cylinder engine with two high mounted camshafts actuating inclined valves in a hemispherical combustion chamber, this was at a time when the side valve engine would normally found in this class of car and was the reason, with the help of an advance chassis for the Nine’s, performance with so small an engine. One of the most extreme version of the Nine, in this period was the Brooklands sports roadster. Where as the Aston Martin, Alvis and Lea Francis saloon may have been produced in single figures the Riley Monaco production was in the thousands and continue into the next decade. ! Page #2 of 10# The Nineteen Thirties! MG K1 Sports saloon! Throughout this decade, as well as producing a range of roadsters and tourers MG also produced! a similar range of coupe’s and saloons. The coupe’s mostly shared a chassis with the roadsters and saloon’s with the tourers. The models that had saloon bodies fitted were the D type Midget of 1931-32, the J1 Midget of 1932-33, the K1/K2 Magnette of 1932-34 and the KN Magnette of 1933-34. The Magnette specification was as follows. Layout. Front engine / rear wheel drive. Chassis. Steel channel. Engine. 6 IL WC SOHC 1087cc & 1271 cc. Transmission. 4 speed & reverse. Suspension front. Beam axle / 1/2 elliptic. Suspension rear. Live axle / 1/2 elliptic. Brakes front. 8inch to 13inch drums. Brakes rear. 8inch to 13inch drums. Weight. NE Magnette 16 1/4 cwt. Wheelbase. 94 3/16 inches. Engine output. 37 to 120 bhp. @ R.P.M. Max speed. 75 mph minimum.! Riley developed the Nine throughout the nineteen thirties, with various saloons on o"er, The Monaco, the Falcon, the Kestrel and finally the Victor, which could be purchased with the 1087cc or the 1496cc version of the Nine four cylinder engine that was to continue in production until 1955, in the 1.5 litre model from 1935 to 1938 again with various saloon bodies and in post war models. In 1933 they introduced the 12/6 model with a six cylinder 1458cc version of the nine engine, with two saloon version available the Mentone and the Kestrel which was only produced ! for two years. ! 1937 Riley Kestrel! Page #3 of 10# The Nineteen Thirties! Singer 1.5 Litre Sports Saloon! To have a sporting car, you have to have a tuneable engine. In 1927 Singer Motors introduced a new small car the Junior with a four cylinder single overhead camshaft engine, that in 1933 had been developed and was to power the new 972cc Nine Le Mans model, a development of the Nine Sports model, one version available was a four seat sports saloon. Also in 1933 they introduced the 1.5 Litre model. This had a six cylinder engine of 1493cc, also with a single overhead camshaft. Again it was available with a four seat sports saloon body, and was produced until 1937. ! In the beginning of the nineteen thirties the Triumph Motor Company of Coventry England, was the producer of the Triumph motorcycle and a range of good quality small cars, but after financial di$culties the company sold o" the motorcycle business and began producing more sporting models, including saloon versions. The Gloria range of cars, consisted of the Gloria Four of 1934-37 with a 1087cc or 1232cc engine. The Gloria Six of 1934 -37 with a 1476cc engine and the Gloria Fourteen/1.5 Litre model of 1937 to 1938. The last of the original Triumph models before the companies collapse was the Dolomite 1.5 Litre of 1938 to 1939.! The Rapier had originally been a model produced by Lagonda, but had been dropped in favour of their larger engined models.
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