Basic motoring

The Evolution of the Modern Ultralight

Economy .

Honda Zest

Preface

I began writing this book because no one else has covered the subject comprehensively, there are a lot of books and web pages on individual models that go into minute often extremely boring details but there is nothing to link all of this class of car together that show how the modern ultralight we use today has evolved. First I must explain what I mean by the rather long winded term ultralight economy car. The type of car or if you prefer automobile, that I refer to below can be classified today by many labels, minicar, economy car, city car, compact if you are from USA or an A-segment mini car if you are a European official. None of these describe exactly the type of car I have included in this text. Yes, they were economy but very small economy cars with an capacity range with some latitude; from 360 cc to 1000 cc. Some could be classed as mini or city cars but not all are and some could be classed as , but they were and are all a relatively low cost form of transport for a great many millions of people around the world in the past and increasingly so today.

Page 1 Basic Motoring

Austin 1909

Introduction.

Before the advent of the autobahn, autostrada and motorway, most European urban based car owners and most of those living in the country were content to drive around at a moderate speed, which was all that road conditions would allow. Therefore small light cars only needing of modest output have always been produced. The first vehicles powered by internal combustion engines had engines of small capacity. This was fortunate as the chassis they were mounted in were no more than adapted carriages. As chassis design advanced, larger and more powerful engines were fitted in larger heavier chassis, some getting to monstrous proportion. Fortunately some designers continued to see the need for machines with engines of modest proportions, and so the Voiterette was conceived, a relatively lightweight machine reflecting the conventions of design of their time, the forerunner of the light-car. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the layout of most automobiles had evolved with some variations, to almost a standard form, with the engine mounted at the front of the chassis frame, with the drive taken to the rear wheels, suspension being beam axles front and rear with leaf springs of various forms. This layout was named at the time ,The System Panhard, after the first manufacturer to use it. The front engine layout being chosen to improve the engine cooling, previously an underfloor or rear engine layout was in common use.

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Jowett 1906 Chapter 1 Early Economy Cars Between the beginning of the twentieth century and the first World War, the first light cars were produced and a need for low cost motor transport was recognised. An attempt to satisfy this need was met from about 1910, by the production of numerous cycle-cars, ultralight weight three and four wheeled vehicles of simple construction using type components. Although of relatively low cost to purchase and run, cycle-cars proved not to be durable or suitable for continuous use. A few manufacturers followed the lead of the light cars makers in making cars that were smaller and lighter than the conventional cars of the period, following the principles of their chassis design, but; making machines that were even smaller and lighter. These were the first true economy cars, the forerunners of today's Ultralight economy cars. At that time all cars with engines less than 1100cc, were classed as cycle-cars for sporting purposes in Europe. The term Cycle-car was in general usage in Britain to describe all cars with engines with less than four cylinders. The cars with four cylinder engines being classed as light cars. Thing were not that clear cut, there were the true Cycle-car’s, all chains and belts, the economy light cars with twin cylinder engines, with four cylinder engines, and some makes of economy light car with either twin or four cylinder engines, all under 1100 c.c. Here are some of the earliest British cars that were the forerunners of todays ultralight economy cars. The Jowett Motor Manufacturing Company of Back Burlington, , was founded in 1904 by Benjamin and William Jowett, cycle makers. In 1906 they made their first car. It was a car in miniature weighing only 6.5 cwt. It had a Water cooled horizontally opposed twin cylinder side valve 816 cc engine in a conventional chassis, with one exception in the use of tiller steering. Limited production started in 1910, with twelve car produced by 1913 when the 6/10 model costing £127, with conventional wheel steering. The 1915 model the ”8,' was rated at 6.4 hp, and cost £158. All were two seat tourers. Thirty-six of these models were produced before the war stopped production. The Perry Motor Company Limited, of Tyseley, Birmingham, was formed in 1912 and the first model they produced was the "8". It had a 878 c.c. Water-cooled, parallel twin cylinder engine. It had three speed gearbox and a worm drive rear axle. In 1914 it was priced at £147, and produced until 1915. The Humber company of , produced the Humberette model in 1913. Because it had an air cooled Vee twin engine of 998 cc, it was categorised as a cycle-car

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Humberette 1914 although the rest of the car apart from the tubular chassis form was of conventional Construction, with rack and pinion steering, transverse spring front suspension, with quarter elliptic springs at the rear. The three-speed and reverse gearbox, had an old fashioned change. Only available in a two-seat tourer form, on a wheel-base of 7 Ft. 5 in. and track of 3 Ft. 6 in. The wire wheels were non-detachable, but; it came complete with screen, hood, horn, and three lights. In 1914 a water cooled engine option was available at £135, £15 more than the air cooled version. Production ceased in 1915. In 1913 the Swift Motor Company of Coventry exhibited the first of their economy cars at the motor cycle show at Olympia, as it had a water cooled in-line twin cylinder engine of only 972 cc it was classed as a cycle-car, but ;like the Humberette was a miniature car. It was only produced until the outbreak of war in 1914 and cost £140. The Alldays Midget 8-10 h.p. tThe Alldays Midget 8-10 h.p. two Cylinder, was built by the old established firm of Alldays and Onions Ltd, of Birmingham. The 1056 c.c. water-cooled vertical twin- cylinder engine drove through a 3-speed and reverse gearbox and cone clutch to a worm type differential axle. A Boch magneto and a Zenith carburettor were fitted. It was classed as a cycle-car because of the two cylinder engine and cost £130 in 1914. The 1915 version of the car was considered to be a light car, because it had a four cylinder engine, even though its capacity at 1092 c.c. was similar to the previous model, as was most of the design. It weighed in at 7 cwt, with a 7 Ft. a 4 Ft. track and cost £185 in 1915. The Autocrat Light Car Co of Balsall Heath, Birmingham, was another company that offered both two and four cylinder economy cars to the market, in 1913, the 964 c.c. Eight, with a twin cylinder engine and the 8/10 four cylinder with a 1128 c.c. engine.n 1913, the 964 c.c. Eight, with a twin cylinder engine and the 8/10 four cylinder with a 1128 cc engine, The twin cost £110 and the four £157. In1914 the twin was given a 1104 c.c. longer engine making it a 9. It then cost £142. The four cylinder engine had a different for 1914 with a capacity of 1093 c.c. It was fitted with a Chapuis and Dornier engine, with a Zenith carburettor, a Carden propeller shaft and bevel drive live rear axle, and It weighed 8 cwt. Chater-Lea of Banner Lane, London, started in business as cycle component makers in 1890. Then as cycle and motor cycle makers by 1900. They produced their first cycle- car in 1907. The 1913 model, the 8/9, had a Chater-Lea water-cooled, Vee twin engine of 964 c.c. in a conventional chassis with shaft drive to a bevel geared rear axle. It weighed 7 3/4 cwt and its two versions cost £126 and £142. For 1914 the company offered a car with a 1092 c.c.water-cooled four cylinder engine. Listed as the 10, it weighed 8 3/4 cwt and cost £173. From 1915 and until 1922 this model had a 1315 c.c. engine. The Enfield Autolette was produced by the Enfield Autocar Co of Sparkbrook, Birmingham from 1913 in two-forms, the 8, with a 1056 c.c. vertical twin cylinder engine and the 9 in 1914, 10, in

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Enfield Autolette

1915 with a 1092 c.c. inline four cylinder engine. Both models used a similar chassis, sprung by four quarter-elliptic springs at the rear with torque rods locating the worm driven differential axle. The three speed and reverse gearbox was separate from the engine, most probably mounted in the centre of the car between the drive shafts. It was heavy for its type at 9 1/2 cwt, with a wheelbase of 7 Feet, 9 inches and a track of 4 Ft. The 8, cost £138 in 1914, and the 9, £158, rising to £185 for the 10, in 1915. A more expensive 10, was listed for 1916 and 17, with a larger capacity engine. There is so little information on the Jennings Light Car Company, that I am unable to even find their address. What I can find, is that they produced two versions of an economy car between 1914 and 1915. One the 8-10 or 9, had a 1084 c.c. vertical twin cylinder water-cooled engine supplied by Dorman. The other, the 10, available only in 1915 ,had a 1094 cc, four cylinder engine. Final drive was by torque tube and bevel drive, meaning that they where of a proper . The 9 weighed 8 1/4 cwt, with a wheelbase of 8 Ft. The 9, was priced at £157, and10, at £194. The first AC light car, produced in 1913 and fitted with a 1094 c.c. Fivet four-cylinder water-cooled engine, was designed by J. Weller to be light and fast. The car weighed 10 cwt and had a top speed of 45 m.p.h. It also had the unusual features of a 3- speed gearbox integral with the rear axle, and a disc brake on the propeller shaft. The AC 10 h.p. cost £175 in 1914, and was described in "The Autocar Handbook," of that date As; In every respect a motor car in miniature, for though small it is proportionately designed throughout on the lines of larger vehicles. Ltd, of Staines, Middlesex, produced the 11.1, a light car between 1913 and 1915. It had an engine of 1099 c.c. with four cylinders, water-cooled, and overhead inlet and side exhaust valves. It was of conventional layout with some unusual features. The body was of riveted monocoque construction, and the front suspension incorporated an anti-roll bar. It was priced at £135 in 1913, rising to £150 in 1914. About 200 were produced in 1916. In 1921 the price had risen to £495. Total production, including the larger capacity 11.9 was about six thousand examples in eight years.

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Morris Oxford 1914

The first of a long line of models was produced at Cowley, Oxford, by William Morris in 1912. It was one of a new form of multi cylinder engined light cars.He created the car by bringing together components from many manufacturers, assembling them into a complete car.This was not a unique idea, but; William Morris succeeded where other would fail by controlling the costs. After 1918 he bought up many of his suppliers and became a true manufacturer. A good description of the car is given in "The Light Car," by C.F.Caunter, first published in1958. So progressive and typical of the best type of small light car was the Morris-Oxford of this period, that a somewhat detailed description of it is warranted to indicate its importance in relation to later developments. The chassis frame was of pressed steel girder construction, mounted on semi elliptic springs at the front, and on three-quarter elliptic springs at the rear. The drive to the worm-rear rear axle was by an enclosed propeller shaft. Both hand and foot operated brakes were of the internal expanding type on the rear axle. The engine, multi-plate clutch and sliding pinion type of 3-speed and reverse gearbox were of ; The whole unit was supported within the chassis upon a simple three-point suspension. A light yet well designed and constructed two-seat body, hood and windscreen was blended with the bonnet and a rounded radiator. The steering was of worm-gear type, the column being well raked to provide a comfortable driving position. The detachable Sankey pressed steel wheels were fitted with 700 mm by 80 mm beaded-edge tyres and a spare wheel was included in the specification. One of the improved 1914 models included a dynamo-lighting system. The 1018 c.c. capacity four-cylinder monoblock water-cooled engine, with inlet and exhaust valves arranged in T-head form and a stiff crankshaft carried in three bearings, was of robust and straightforward design. Detachable cover plates enclosed the valve stems, springs and tappets; lubrication was effected by the flywheel dipping into a wet sump and dispensing the oil to various catch pits, whence in drained to moving parts. Ignition was by means of a Bosch high-tension magneto, and mixture was supplied by a White and Poppe carburettor.

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Singer Ten Advertisement

The Horstmann Car Company, of James Street West, Bath, was in formed 1913 by Sidney Horstmann, he was the son of a German clockmaker. From 1915 to 1929, they manufactured around 3,000 cars. Some of the cars had aluminium bodies and were raced with some success at . The 8.9 of 1913 had a 992 c.c. four cylinder, water- cooled engine produced by Horstmann . It had a three speed and reverse gearbox, with shaft drive to a bevel rear axle. One unusual feature on the car, was a foot operated starter mechanism that could be used from the driving seat. It was relatively light at 8 cwt. It cost £155 in 1915, up to £165 in 1916. In 1912 of Coventry, produced a heavy but; long lasting economy car, the Ten. Unusually I have found a detailed description of the car written in 1955 by Ernest F. Carter. The pre-First World War Singer was also well in the vanguard of light-car design, being particularly interesting because it was the first vehicle of its kind to be put upon the English market which showed that it was possible to build a well-designed small car on large car lines. In this respect it is not surprising that the Singer light car boasted but; few novel points of design save that the gearbox was combined with the back axle, which arrangement considerably simplified chassis design though increasing the unsprung weight. The engine, with its four cylinders, was perhaps, the only light-car four-cylinder engine in which the cylinders were cast in pairs; which method, though expensive to manufacture, had the great advantage of facilitating service work, to which end the valves were also placed on the same side of the engine and made interchangeable. A gear driven camshaft operated the valves, the whole of the distribution gear being contained outside the crank-chamber, which had external cast aluminium webs on each side forming trays between the engine and the chassis. The inlet and exhaust manifolds were both external, the Claudel carburettor was mounted on the opposite side of the engine to that upon which the valves were placed, a very long induction pipe curving right over the cylinder castings connecting it with the inlet manifold; the unusual length of the pipe being said by the makers to promote better atomisation of the fuel-shades of the 1906 Beeston-Humbers.

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Singer 10

A HT magneto with fixed ignition driven from the valve camshaft took care of the spark, and lubrication was by a direct-acting pump from the sump to a three-bearing crank-shaft as well as dip troughs under the big ends. Cooling circulation was on the thermo-siphon system with a grilled-tube radiator of pleasing design, the latter being assisted by a high- speed four-bladed fan belt driven from an extension of the camshaft. Drive was by way of a leather-faced internal cone clutch of which one member was integral with the large-diameter flywheel, and from immediately behind the clutch a large universal joint formed the front end of a long propeller-shaft which extended right back to the rear axle, where the gearbox was joined with another enclosed universal and telescopic joint, the latter allowing for the relative motion caused by the axle pivoting on the front pin of the half-elliptical rear springs. The back axle itself was particularly ingenious. It was neat and small though it contained the gearbox as well as the differential and right-angle drive. The whole assembly was lubricated easily through an oil filler on the back axle casing. The operation of the gears was also rather unusual, the gear lever being in the usual place and the selector mechanism mounted on a chassis cross- member level with the lever from the selector mechanism ,however, three long rods operated the gear-striking levers on the gearbox itself. A counter-shaft brake being difficult to arrange with such a design, both hand and foot-brakes worked on internal expanding shoes on the back axle. The chassis was of pressed steel with a 7 foot. 6 inches wheelbase and a 3 foot. 6 in. track, the engine being supported directly thereon without the interposition of a sub-frame. Springing was enhanced by the fitting as standard of shock-absorbers of the enclosed elastic type at the rear end of the rear springs, and a standard body built along handsome lines which were further emphasised by the fitting of domed one-piece mudguards and valances between running-boards and bodywork. A single folding windscreen, hood, and large luggage boot completed the standard Singer light car which sold at £215 in 1915; there being a "De Luxe" model with electric light instead of acetylene and oil lamps, together with a chain-driver dynamo, retailed at £225 or £280 in coupé version.

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Stellite Advertisement

Wolseley, produced a light car called the Stellite 8/10 at the Electric and Ordnance Accessories Company Ltd, Stellite Works, Cheston Road, Aston, Birmingham. It had a 1075 c.c.four cylinder, water-cooled, overhead valve engine and a SU Wolseley carburettor. Carden shaft and worm drive , with the gearbox in the rear axle. It weighed 8.5 cwt, with a wheelbase of 8 Feet, and track of 3 Feet, 10 in. It cost £158 in 1914 and 1915. The Standard 9.5 h.p. was manufactured by the of Coventry. Below is a detailed description of the car, written in 1955 by Ernest F. Carter. Another little car which made its appearance among the earliest of such cars put on the market was the 9.5 h.p. featuredStandard, which conformed mote or less to large car design; its chief featured being a four-cylinder engine, single-plate clutch, three-speed gearbox and overhead worm-driven back axle.The engine cylinders were of just over one litre cubic capacity, being cast monoblock with valves all on one side operated by a silent chain driven camshaft. Cooling was by thermo-syphon with ample cylinder jackets and large- diameter pipes connecting to a gilled tube radiator which was assisted in its function by a two-bladed belt-driven fan and a vaned flywheel enclosed within an undershield, which materially enhanced the draught through the radiator. Special attention was also given to the water-cooling underneath the valve-pockets and this, coupled with the extremely efficient cooling system, enable-led the motor-car to be driven up long hills and to stand for long periods in traffic with the engine running without the least fear of boiling-a thing which could not be said of scores of different makes then on the road. A "Zenith" carburettor was fitted to an inlet manifold cast integrally with the cylinders, and the HT exhaust manifold was bolted to the cylinder ports and was thus easy to detach; whilst one particularly interesting point of good design was concerned with a quickly detachable oil-tight cover- plate over the valves and tappets, the valve chest being in direct communication with the engine base-chamber so that oil splashed about in the latter was also distributed on to the valve stems and guides.

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Standard 9

Ignition was by HT magneto driven from the same chain which operated the valve camshaft from the front of end of the crankshaft, the chain being adjustable by means of a plate on the timing-gear case which carried the bearing of the magneto . Below the crank-chamber base was a sump from oil was drawn through a large filter by a camshaft-driven vane pump and forced direct to the main engine bearings as well as to two troughs cast in the base-chamber underneath each pair of cylinders; the oil being then strained back to the sump. A small visual dash-board indicator was provided which, when it showed danger meant that one had to heave-to, stop the engine, and replenish the sump! From the engine the drive was via a faced toggle-operated single-disc clutch, of which the faced disc was sandwiched between two steel ones by helical compression springs which ensure that there was no end-thrust on the engine crank-shaft when the clutch was "in". From the clutch to gearbox the drive was by way of a short shaft with a universal joint at each end, such a unit arrangement making for extreme ease of servicing and adjustment. Three speeds were available, the "top" being 4.6 to 1 and 15 to 1 "bottom", the former being direct through a dog clutch.An open propeller-shaft with substantial cross-pin type universals enclosed in spherical metal covers supplied with grease, carried the drive to a sturdy rear axle by way of an overhead worm and bevel differential; the rear wheel bearings catering for heavy side-thrusts as well as normal journal loads. The "Standard" was one of the few light cars of its day possessing a counter shaft brake which worked smoothly and rapidly, this feature being probably due to the rear of gearbox brake-shoes being Ferodo lined; as were the hand-brake operated internal expanding shoes in the rear wheel hub drums.The steering was rather uncommon, being of the worm and segment type, but; instead of the arm being placed in the vertical plane, the gearbox was turned on its side so that the arm was in a horizontal plane. Moreover, instead of the gear being connected with the offside stub-axle if was brought across the chassis to the nearside wheel, which connected with the former by the usual tie-rod. This arrangement had the advantage of partially eliminating steering errors due to the varying angularity of a short steering-rod direct from the gearbox to the offside front wheel under the action of the road spring. The very light driving-plate of the clutch gave a sweet engagement and easy gear changing, whilst the long and easy springing and carefully designed standard coachwork gave both driver and passenger plenty of leg-room. In fact,"Standards" early realised that, however small the chassis of a motor-car, the body must of necessity conform to the sizes of average human-beings-a point which seemed to have been overlooked in the majority of small cars of the period. With a wheelbase of 7 feet. 6 in., a track of 4 foot, and a tare weight of 12 cwt, together with hood, lamps screens, a good selection of tools and spare parts, the "Standard" 9-h.p. light car was good value at £195 plus a 5 per cent war advance in 1915. Page 10 Basic Motoring

Ariel Nine Advertisement

Chapter 2 Postwar Progress in Britain

The First World War had brought the British motor industry to a virtual standstill, as far as car production was concerned. It wasn’t until 1919 that production was resumed for some of the pre-war economy models, many not returning to the market at all, and some produced in a larger engine capacity form. Of the two cylinder economy cars on offer before the war, only the Jowett 8, was now available. The economy twin was not finished though, and new models began to replace those of 1914. First with a new twin was with the Eight in 1919, Wolseley began production of the Stelitte Seven in 1920, with three more in 1921,The BSA Ten, the Stoneleigh, and the revised Jowett, the Seven. The last of the new twin’s, the Ariel Nine arrived in 1922. Of the pre-war four cylinder cars, Lagonda with 11.1, Singer with the 10, Standard with the 9.5, and Wolseley with the Stelitte 10, resumed production in 1919, being joined by Deemster with their new Eight. It wasn’t until 1921 that the next models were introduced, they were the Rhode 9.5, and the short lived Bayliss Thomas 9/19 and In 1923 Swift introduced the Ten. In the early 1920s four British companies introduced quality economy light cars onto the British market place. They were in 1922, and Gwynne and in 1923 Humber with the 8, Austin with the 7, and Humber with the 9 in 1925. They all had four cylinder, water cooled engines of quite high efficiency, the Talbot and the Gwynne with overhead valves and Humber with the inlet over exhaust and Austin with the side valve arrangement. The difference between the Austin and the other four cylinder economy cars, was the price. The Austin Seven was in the price bracket of the economy twins, not the other four cylinders cars that were roughly twice the price of the twins, with them being economic to run but; expensive to purchase initially . Its initial price was lower than some of the twin cylinder cars, and in future years would be lower, leading to an overall price reduction in the market. This would have a profound effect on the economy car market and the demise of the low volume producers. By 1923 both Lagonda and Deemster had increased the engine capacity of their cars, taking them out of the economy bracket. By 1925 a long list of manufacturers had left the market, Rhode ceased producing the 9.5, Singer with the Ten, Standard with the 9.5, both the Stelitte Seven and Ten, and the Stoneleigh.

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Jowett 7HP

The Rover Eight and the Ariel Nine only lasted another year. The BSA Ten, the Talbot 8/18 and the Humber Eight were last produced in 1926. Surprisingly, the Gwynne Eight, though expensive at over a hundred pounds more than the Austin Seven, survived until 1928. Jowett had replaced the pre-war Eight in 1921 with the Seven, that had been superseded by the 7/17 in 1926, and would remain in production until 1930. A Jowett twin would be available until 1952. Meanwhile the Austin Seven had been joined in the market in 1926 by the Riley Nine a quality economy car, and in 1927 by the Triumph Super Seven, the Nine, and the Singer Junior, and what would be its greatest rival in 1928, the Morris Minor. The last new economy car in the this period was the AJS Nine. These car produced in the later half of the 1920s, along with the evolving Austin Seven didn’t reflect the style of the Vintage Era, which was for cars produced in low volume at a relatively high cost, and were the forerunners of the mass produced economy car. When car production was resumed at the Jowett factory after the war, it was with the “8," with about one hundred and fifty examples produced before the company was reorganised as Ltd, moving to Springfield Works, Bradford Road, Idle, Bradford in 1920. In 1921the 7 hp model fitted with a 907 cc version of the horizontally opposed twin cylinder engine was first produced. The chassis less body initially cost £180, but by 1925 when this model was replaced, after producing approximately six thousand of this model. The price of a complete two seat was down to £125. The 7/17 model with the same engine with an output of 16.5 bhp was in production from 1926 to 1930. In 1930 the chassis price was down to £111, and a four seat saloon could be purchased for £158. About eleven thousand one hundred examples of the various 7/17 models were produced. Developed version’s of this engine were used by Jowett in many models until 1952. The following is a quote from "The Vintage Motor car," reflecting the snobbery in the Vintage movement in the 1950s. The basic Jowett design, which was to have such an unparalleled production run, was simple enough. The car was of unattractive appearance and slightly crude finish, but; made up for this by the refinement of the welL balanced engine, which was also a model of reliability. Indeed, it was claimed in 1926 that every Jowett made was still in service. As might have been expected from its somewhat provincial background, the steering and brakes were not of the best, and there is little to appeal to the connoisseur in these cars, which were, after all, of a strictly utilitarian nature.

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Rover Eight Advertisement

Rover used a former munitions factory at Tyseley, Birmingham, to produced a new ultralight car for the post war era the Eight. Jack Sangster had originally designed the car for his fathers company Ariel, but; it was taken up by Rover, who reputedly spent £400,000 tooling up for its production, a considerable sum in 1919. A total of seventeen thousand seven hundred were produced between 1919 and 1925, It had a 998 cc horizontally opposed, air cooled, side valve twin cylinder engined, later models having a 1135 cc engine, the engine output rising from 13 to 18 bhp. It had a simple channel-section chassis frame with leading quarter elliptic front springs, and cantilever quarter elliptic springs at the rear. The transmission consisted of a disc clutch, a three speed gearbox and a worm gear live rear axle. It had a cruising speed of 30 m.p.h. Priced at £230 in 1919, by 1925 the price was down to £139. The following is a quote from "The Vintage Motor car". The chassis was crude in the extreme, even for so cheap a car, and the standard disc-wheeled two-seat coachwork was distinctly Un-beautiful. For all this the car was low in cost and capable as a rule of nearly 50 m.p.g. due to its light weight, and sold well in spite of a somewhat dubious name for reliability — the early examples being prone to cast away cylinder-heads at high r.p.m. The engine though noisy, was very well balanced and lively enough to give the little car respectable acceleration and hill-climbing powers, though its maximum was only about 45 m.p.h. The Wolseley Stellite Seven was a refined car with a water cooled twin cylinder horizontally opposed engine of 984 cc. It was manufactured at the Stellite Works, Chester Road, Aston, Birmingham, by the Electric and Ordinance Accessories Co Ltd, a company owned by the Vickers conglomerate that had been passed to its Wolseley subsidiary in 1919. The Seven could cruise at 25 mph and average a fuel consumption of 45 mpg, it cost £255 in 1922. The BSA Ten was produced by the BSA Cycles branch of the BSA/Daimler combine at its Small Heath, Birmingham factory, from 1921 to 1925, making a possible total of between four to five thousand. It had a 1018 c.c. air-cooled, overhead valve, Vee twin engine producing 18 b.h.p. The engine was manufactured for BSA by Hotchkiss of Coventry who was later purchased by Morris Motor, one of their other customers. A maximum of 52 m.p.h. combined with a fuel consumption of 38 m.p.g. came at a price of £230. Note the electric starter on a 1020s economy car. Stoneleigh Motors Ltd, of Parkside, Coventry, was a subsidiary of Armstong Siddeley. It was set up to produce an ultralight car to compete in the market against the Rover Eight and the 5 cv Citroen. It was classed at the time as a cycle-car, as it had a fan cooled V twin cylinder engine of 998 cc, with overhead valve gear.

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Ariel Nine Advertisement

Apart from the unconventional seating arrangements with the driver seated in the centre and the two passenger seats behind, it was of conventional layout, although without a differential in the live back axle. It was produced in the hundred's between 1921 and 1924. Priced at £185 in 1923 it had fallen to £165 by 1924 when the seating had been changed to the usual two side by side arrangement. Ariel were famous for their , but; they made a couple of less than successful attempt to market cars.The Ariel Nine of 1923 was produced By Ariel Works Limited, part of Components Limited , of Bournbrook, Birmingham. The owners son,Jack Sangster had designed the car after rejoining the company from Rover. He had previously designed a similar car for the company, but; the design had been passed on to the and was marketed as the Rover Eight. Sangster joining Rover to help produce it. The Ariel Nine was similar to the Rover in many respect, down to having a horizontally opposed twin cylinder engine. The Ariel engine which was manufactured for them by Harper Bean, differed from the Rover by being water cooled, the Rover being Air cooled. The car weighed eleven cwt, only about seven hundred were produced between 1923 and 1925. F. W. Mead And T. W. Deakin began producing their Rhode 9.5 car from their Tyseley, Birmingham work in 1921. It was named in honour of Cecil Rhodes, founder of Rhodesia. It was fitted with their own overhead camshaft engine, it being of the sporty type although in the economy bracket. The price in 1912 was £275, but; was down to £189 by 1924. Between five and six hundred where produced annually. A top speed between 45 m.p.h and 50 m.p.h was possible with a fuel consumption of thirty-five to forty-five mile per gallon. Baylis Thomas was a part of Excelsior Motor Company, they where taken over by R. Walker and Sons in 1921, and production was moved to Kings Road, Tysely, Birmingham. In 1922 the company began producing cars using the Baylis Thomas name, while using the Excelsior name for motorcycles. Their first car was the 9/19, which had in house manufactured engine and gearbox. The company also produced various outer models, with larger capacity propriety engines. It had failed by 1929.

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Swift Ten

In 1919 under the new name of Swift of Coventry Ltd, Swift produced a 1120 c.c. four, based on the pre-war cycle-car. In 1923 they introduced the new Q. Type Ten, with a 1097 c.c. engine. This was superseded by the 1190 c.c. P type in 1926. Production of the Ten may have been Four and a half thousand. The following is a quote from "The Vintage Motor car". Swift of Coventry was a pioneer British make, and one of the oldest cycle- manufacturing firms in the country, who established fame in the light-car world very early on, with a de Dion-engined voiterette. Their small cars remained popular throughout the Edwardian period and were quite outstandingly successful in the numerous reliability trials with single and twin-cylinder cars; they even assayed racing and appeared in the 1905 Tourist Trophy race without ignominy. During the Vintage period their standard model was the Swift Ten, a small car which became exceedingly well liked and sold in large numbers, catering for the increasing middle-class market with great success.It was never a particularly cheap car, and the fittings and finish were generally of a quite high order. It was propelled by a very hard-wearing but; feeble four-cylinder engine of 1100 c.c.; the mechanical parts were of alarming size and the car was throughout far too heavily made to give it a chance of any performance. It did have a certain solid appeal, however, and production ceased in 1931 only on account of internal difficulties in the factory and not through lack of demand. Clement Talbot of Barby Road, North Kensington, London, part of the Sunbeam, Talbot, Darracq group, produced a British version of the French 1 litre Darracq in 1922. By the time production ceased in 1926, two thousand two hundred and twenty-four had been made. The extracts on the car in the previously mentioned book, The Vintage Motor Car, gives a good in-site into its characteristics. The 8/18 Talbot, which appeared early in 1922, was designed by Louis Coatalen and proved, as might have been expected, to have been an exceptional performance for a light car at that time.It was also a distinct departure for the Clement Talbot factory, which had previously built only fast and rather heavy touring car. despite its somewhat high price, it had an instant appeal on account of its speed, efficiency, and elegant appearance; and was hailed in the contemporary press as a pioneer of a new sort of economical motoring. Nor was the engine rough in any way, but; like all Coatalen's productions, of extreme smoothness and flexibility. The finish throughout was excellent, and the body light, comfortable, and of pleasing appearance.

Page 15 Basic Motoring

Gwynnes Eight

Gwynnes Engineering Company of Hammersmith Iron Works, Church Wharf, Chiswick, was formed from Gwynnes Ltd of Hammersmith and Adam, Grimaldi and Co, of Albert Works, Albert Embankment, London, Makers of the Albert motor car, in 1920. They began the production of the Gwynne Eight in 1923. The company went into receivership in that year, but; car production continued until 1928 with approximately 2250 examples of the Eight and the later 8/24 made. The following is a quote from "The Vintage Motor car". Gwynne's Engineering Company of Chiswick, who are still well known as makers of marine pumps, succeeded in producing during the Vintage period a remarkable and charming little car known as the Gwynne Eight. This appeared in 1923 and had a robust 950 c,c, overhead-valve engine of quite unusual liveliness in a conventional chassis, giving the car acceleration and a maximum speed (nearly 60 m.p.h.) really exceptional for its class.Although by no means comely in appearance or even very well finished, the performance of the car gave it a considerable popularity and it was very good value for money at its low price of £200 or so.It had the probably unique distinction of having been designed in Spain; but; it was certainly a thoroughly realistic approach to the problems of light car design.Perhaps fortunately, the Gwynne never grew up in the way of the contemporary small Humber's, and when production ceased in 1928 it was outclassed by the development of competitors with better brakes and fuller equipment.

Page 16 Basic Motoring

Humber 8

By 1919 Humber of Humber Road, Coventry, Warwickshire, was an established makers of quality cars. Of conventional but; advanced design, Between 1923 and 1926 the company produced two thousand four hundred of the Eight. The Eight had a 985 cc engine with inlet over exhaust valve gear. The following is a quote from "The Vintage Motor car". All Humber cars during the Vintage period were of the highest quality, and any light car bearing the name could be expected to be of the most extreme refinement; the little 8/18 model was an immediate success from its inception late in 1922. It had a coil-ignition engine of 985 c.c. which gave 20 b.h.p. at 3000 r.p.m. and was notable for its use of overhead inlet and side exhaust valves, an arrangement which was to be consistently used by Humber's until about 1931.Although costly to produce it was certainly justified by the efficiency and smooth running of the engine. The little Humber weighed about 12 cwt, and the rather low gear ratios prevented a startling performance, while fuel consumption was about 35 m.p.g. On the other hand the sound detail work and careful construction rendered it an exceedingly quit and pleasing car to drive. Humber's last light car was the Nine, an enlarged version of the 8, with a 1056 c.c. engine, the bore being increased to 58 m.m. the stroke being unchanged. The chassis had a longer wheelbase of 8 foot, 6 inches, the track was slightly wider and half elliptic springs replaced quarter elliptic at the front. Still with two wheel brakes until 1927. They Produced 3450 of the 9/20's and 1250 examples of the 9/28 model. After 1930 the company concentrated on its heavy car range. The following is a quote from "The Vintage Motor car". (The 9/20) was burdened with a full four-seater body of remarkable length and ungainly appearance; but it retained all the Humber quality and was capable of an unexpectedly lively performance. Front brakes were added in1927 and for a year or so the 9/20 was an unusually attractive economy car. But; in 1929 saloon coachwork had become all the fashion and it grew further into the 9/28 a car which typifies the sad change which had come over light-car design by having the extremely low top-gear ratio of 5.5 to 1. Its performance is accordingly rather laboured, despite the greater power output of the engine. The excellent Humber light car of 1922 had in fact grown up into a very ordinary small saloon car with little but; its quality to commend it, and production ceased in 1930.

Page 17 Basic Motoring

Austin 7 1922

The story of the creation of the Austin Seven can be found in many books and the web, so I will not repeat it here. It was something completely new in Britain, Not just a light car, but; a miniature of the cars of the day. The first Austin Seven, had a wheelbase of 6 foot, 3 inches, a track of 3 foot, 4 inches, and weighed 6.5 cwt, that was about half the weight of contemporary economy cars of all types, only matched by the cycle-cars of the day. It was also ahead of its contemporaries in having four-wheel brakes, The front being applied by the hand lever and the rear by the usual foot pedal. Initially the engine capacity was only 696 c.c. but; was soon increased to 747 c.c. The low price of £165 for a car with the specification of cars double the price, soon led to success, almost two thousand being produced in its first year. Production increased every year until 1935 to over twenty-seven thousand, only falling off slightly in the next couple of years, then dropping off sharply in 1939 the last year of production. The Austin Seven was the first of the mass produced economy car in Britain, and those that followed were in the same mould. The days of the hand built economy car was near its end. The following is a quote from "The Vintage Motor car". Unquestionably one of the immortal designs in motoring history is the Austin Seven, for upon its introduction in 1922 it rendered the cycle-car obsolete, set a high overall standard for the economy car, and made motoring possible for the first time to thousands of families. It is surely no exaggeration to say that it was as great an advance in its own sphere as were the 1901 Mercedes and the 1907 Rolls-Royce in theirs. For sixteen years in maintained an unassailable popularity, capturing the public imagination as few cars have done before or since, by a notable combination of durability and charm.The design was of classic simplicity, being essentially a scale-down and lightened large car. The side-valve two-bearing engine of 747 c.c. which produced 19.5 b.h.p. at 2500 r.p.m. was set in a light T-section frame which narrowed towards the front to carry the transverse suspension; rear suspension was by short but; steeply cambered quarter-ecliptics, and the suspension, more than any other part of the car, seems to owe something to the contemporary small . Brakes were fitted to all four wheels, an altogether unprecedented move on so small a chassis. Although frail in appearance all parts were in fact immensely strong, being made of the best materials; this is well confirmed by the large number of Sevens of all ages which still give faithful service. The coachwork was standardised from the first on an aluminium "Chummy" four-seater which was to remain the basic Vintage design, though a most charmingly upright saloon was available from 1926. The cars fame was world-wide, and it was built under licence in as the BMW, in as the Rosengart, and in the USA as the “Bantam”.

Page 18 Basic Motoring

Triumph Super Seven

The of Priory Street, Coventry, produced its first car in 1923. The Super Seven, their third model, was designed by Arthur Sykes, Late of Lea Francis, and Stanley Edge who had assisted Herbert Austin in designing the Seven, and was targeted at the quality economy slot previously filled by Humber and Talbot. It had a 832 c.c. side- valve engine and the design though conventional for the period, reflected the latest trends, including hydraulic brakes on all four wheels. Four seat saloon bodies were by then the most popular. With a top speed of 53 m.p.h. it could cruise at 40 m.p.h. and return fuel consumption rates of 35 to 40 m.p.g. About ten and a half thousand were produced by 1930. The following is a quote from "The Vintage Motor car".The Clyno Engineering Company of Wolverhampton started life in a modest way with the manufacture of motor- cycles and it was not until 1922 that they entered the light-car market with a very cheap 10.8-h.p. four-cylinder light car of slightly more than usual crudeness. Unlike many other optimistic constructors whose cars were produced in a spasmodic and haphazard manner, the Clyno Company sensibly laid down an efficient production line from the first. They were thus able to keep up with the enormous demand for their cars, which enjoyed a quite astonishing and well-merited popularity for a few years. They were certainly one of the commonest sights on the roads in their heyday. No Clyno was of much technical interest; all models had side-valve four-cylinder engines by Coventry-Simplex with three-speed gearboxes, and no attempt was made to give them any but; the most ordinary behaviour and speed. No special versions appeared in competition, though they made the obligatory attempts at the light-car trials of their time. The Clyno was simply made, and quite pleasant to drive, for it had light steering and excellent brakes. But; any in direct competition with the Morris " Cowley" had to maintain a high standard in more respects than these, and the car soon failed. Production ceased in 1929, but; not before the firm had made a final attempt at a £100 car, a conception which had been worrying designers for some time ( and which was finally achieved by Morris Minor in 1932); but; the Clyno Nine was not sufficiently good, even at £112. 10s., to restore the marque to popularity.The Nine had a 951 c.c. side-valve engine, initially priced at £160 for a saloon and £145 for the four-seat tourer, finally dropping to £112 .Only about three hundred were produced before the company failed. Clyno had produced about forty-thousand cars in seven years, but; this proved insufficient to survive in an increasingly competitive light car market.

Page 19 Basic Motoring

Morris Minor

Singer of Coventry had ceased production of the "10," economy car in 1924 by then a very dated design. The Junior its successor launched in September 1926 for the model year 1927, was by comparison an up to date design, with a 848 c.c. four-cylinder overhead camshaft engine. Although some aspects of its design like the cone clutch and only having two wheel brakes were old fashioned and not updated until 1928. The car was continually updated with modern features like hydraulic shock absorbers and Triplex glass. With a top speed of 56 m.p.h. and a fuel consumption of 42 m.p.g. and a price of £135 in 1930 it was a fine economy car, with approximately forty-thousand produced. Singer continued to fit overhead camshaft engines in its cars until the 1950s, when most others used side-valve designs. In 1927 William Morris the owner of purchased the defunct Wolseley Motor Company, renaming it 1927 Ltd. Wolseley had been producing cars with overhead camshaft engines since the First World War, and Morris had Wolseley produce an engine for his new economy car at their Ward End, Birmingham, factory. It was a four- cylinder, water-cooled of 847 c.c. with an overhead camshaft using the armature of the Dynamo mounted vertically at the front of the engine as part of the drive. It had an out put of 20 b.h.p. The rest of the car was conventional with a three-speed gear-box, a spiral bevel live rear axle, cable operated four wheel brakes and semi-elliptic springs on both axles. The minor was aimed at the section of the market dominated by the Austin Seven, and was priced accordingly, with tourer at £125 and a fabric bodied saloon at £135. Over thirty-nine thousand were made in a four year period. The Minor and its O.H.C engine was to form the basis of the first MG Midget. The unusual camshaft drive was to lead to electrical problems, as the dynamo's position limited its size and oil leaks caused it to fail, problems that were not satisfactorily solved. In 1931 an alternative side-valve engined model was available and produced along side the original Minor.

Page 20 Basic Motoring

AJS Nine

In 1929 A.J.Stevens & Co Ltd of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, known as AJS, were motorcycle manufacturers of some standing. They also had a body building branch that had been producing bodies for the Clyne Nine. With its demise and a turn down in motorcycle sales, the company had a lot of spare capacity. To fill that gap they turned to Arthur G. Booth the designer of the Clyno Nine to design a similar sized car for them to produce. The result was the AJS Nine. It had a 1018c.c. four cylinder side-valve engine supplied by . The chassis was produced by John Thompson Motor Pressings of Bilston, Staffordshire, With a body produced by AJS. All was assembled at a AJS works in Wolverhampton. It was available with a fabric saloon body at £230, a coach built saloon body at £240 and a coach built two-seater with a dickey seat for £210. Apart from the fabric body which was by then losing favour, the specification was good which included a safety glass windscreen and vacuum powered windscreen wipers. About three thousand three hundred were produced before they became a casualty of the Economy car price war. Production was continued for a time by Willy-Overland-Crossley but; only a few more were made. Swift of Coventry, had a history of making economy cars, starting with the Swift Cycle-car in 1913, then the Q type Ten from 1923 to 1926. In 1930 they introduced the 8 h.p.Cadet. Fitted with a 847 c.c. side-valve water-cooled four cylinder engine supplied by Coventry Climax. The rest of the specification reflected that of the economy cars of the time, with a three-speed and reverse gearbox, a spiral bevel live rear axle and mechanical operated four wheel brakes, semi-elliptic spring all round, on a channel section chassis frame. Unfortunately the tourer priced at £149 and the Fabric bodied saloon at £165 could not compete with the cheaper Austin and Morris cars, and only about two hundred and fifty were produced the company went into liquidation.

Page 21 Basic Motoring

Peugeot Type 161 Quadrilette

Chapter 3 The European Ultralights

In continental Europe a few manufacturers took up the challenge of producing a relatively low cost light car. Frères had started automobile production in 1899. Louis Renault being the designer of the family team. One of his design innovations was the substitutions of a propeller shaft and live rear axle replacing the chain driven axle in all previous designs of front engined cars. The cars first produced by the company had very small capacity engines, but; by 1909 they were producing cars with engines capacities up to 7.4 litres. They also produced the Type AX 7/8 CV model with a 1060cc twin cylinder engine, an early example of a ultralight economy car. The Peugeot “Bebe” of 1913, Made in France and designed by Ettore Bugatti. Fitted with a 856 cc water cooled inline four engine, producing 10 bhp at 2,000 rpm, it had high tension magneto ignition, a 2-speed gearbox, weighing 6 3/4 cwt and a maximum speed of 35 mph. A Bugatti design feature was the reversed quarter elliptic rear springs. The cylinder block, head and crankcase was cast in one piece, and the engine had two camshafts one each side of the engine due to the “T” configuration. Another unusual feature was the transmission that consisted of two concentric propeller shafts each driving a bevel gear in the back axle and used to provide to two gear ratios. Costing £160, reducing to £125 in 1915, the “Babe” was made until 1916, by which time 3,095 examples had been produced. In postwar France, Peugeot began producing the Type 161 Quadrilette in 1921 as a successor to the Babe, With a 669cc, four cylinder water-cooled engine with the gear box integral with the rear axle, and very low all up weight of 350Kg, putting it in the cycle-car tax bracket. The body was so narrow that the only passenger had in the early models to sit behind the driver. The revised Type 171 first produced in 1923 had a 720cc engine and a wider normal two seat body. A total of over twelve thousand were produced by 1924. Andre Citroen came to automobile manufacturing via heavy engineering and munitions manufacturing. His company had built engines for Sizair and Naudin in 1905 and he became associated with the Mors Automobile company in 1908; but it wasn’t until the end of the First World War that he decided to become an automobile manufacturer in his right. Utilising his redundant munitions factory at Quai de Javal, Paris, and state of the art mass production technics. Starting in 1919 his first two models the 10Hp Type A, and the 10HP Type B2, of 1921 were light cars, the third model the 5HP Type C2 was an ultralight car.

Page 22 Basic Motoring

Tatra T11Chassis

Designed by Jules Saloman and Edmond Moyot, the 5CV, first produced in 1922 had a maximum speed of 38 mph, and 80,00 were sold by 1926. Fitted with a water-cooled by thermal-siphon, side valve four in line engine, of 856 cc, with coil ignition, a three speed and reverse gearbox, a spiral bevel final drive and with quarter-elliptic springs all round attached to a channel section chassis frame. Michelin disc wheels were standard, with low pressure tyres. The weight of the car was 952 pounds and it was priced in in 1922 at £195. Renault next produced an under 1 litre car the Type KJ in 1923. It had a 950cc four cylinder engine and was conventional in most respects, except that the radiator was located behind the engine as on almost all Renault up until the 1930s. It was updated in 1925 to become the Type NN. The Type NN had a maximum of 56 Kph which was representative of the small engined cars of the period. was born in Austria when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. By 1906 he worked for Nesseldorfer a car manufacturer in Moravia, After the break up of the empire Moravia became part of the new state of the Czechoslovak republic. He left Nesseldorfer to join Steyr in Austria in 1917. He returned to Nesseldorfer in 1921, Nesseldorfer changed its name to Tatra 1923. He designed many ground breaking cars for Tatra as diverse as the type 11 of 1923 to the rear-engined type 77 of 1937, until imprisonment by the communists in 1945. His contribution to automobile progress began in 1905, when he restored the fortunes of the "Nesseldorf" company, he did this by introducing advanced designs. While working at "Steyr", he had been creating the design of a small car in his own time. His design had been rejected by the "Steyr" management, but he was able to develop and produce this design on his return to Nesseldorf. Designated the Tatra T11 it was the first of his designs Utilising a backbone chassis, a fan cooled horizontally opposed engine and a jointless independent rear axle. The engine in this design was an overhead valve 1056cc twin, mounted in unit with the gearbox on the front of the chassis. The jointless rear axle used by Tatra consisted of a final drive unit attached to the rear of the tubular backbone chassis that had the drive shaft enclosed within it, the front beam axle being attached to the engine. The final drive unit had two crown wheels and pinions each driving a shaft to a rear wheel. The crown wheels could rotate around its pinion allowing its shaft to swing. This may seem over complicated but is still in use on Tatra truck today. It was necessary to do something like this to provide a reliable flexible drive arrangement as flexible drive joints at that time were not up to the job.

Page 23 Basic Motoring

Opel 4PS/12 Laubfrosch

The flexible coupling commonly in use at the time was the fabric coupling it had a limited degree of deflection and working life and was not suitable for use with swing axles.This was the first of a line of design to a similar pattern that were produced until 1948. The T11 was produced from 1923 to 1927, and replaced by the T12 with a similar specification. The T12 was produced from 1926 to 1936. in Germany began producing the 4PS/12 Laubfrosch in 1924. The first German car produced using mass production methods. A conventional little car originally with a water-cooled four-cylinder engine of 951cc for the first year of production, increased to 1018cc for remaining seven years of it production life, by then almost one hundred and twenty-thousand had been made. The Italian combine , as well as manufacturing locomotive and aero engines, had been producing automobiles since 1899, mainly producing luxury cars and had been very successful in Grand prix racing. They first produced a light car in 1919 the 901 and joined the ranks of ultralight car producers with the 509, in 1925 the first in a long line of Fiat very small cars. The 509 and its 509A development; had a similar specification to most of the above mentioned cars except that the 990cc engine had overhead camshaft valve gear. The 509 was exported all over the world and ninety-two thousand were made before production ceased in 1929. In 1928 DKW of , Germany, made the first in a line of inline vertical twin cylinder two-stroke cars the P15. It differed from all the later twins in having rear wheel drive. The P15 had only two seats which was common for economy cars of the period, as the 584 cc engine only produced 15 bhp. Its layout and construction was conventional for the period with a live rear axle, a beam front axle, transverse leaf springs , a steel chassis frame with a wood panelled body. About 2000 P15 and the related PS600 sports model were produced between 1928 and 1930. Its significance is that, a two-stroke twin cylinder car in one form or another, would be in production in some part of Germany from 1928 to 1990.

Page 24 Basic Motoring

Austin 7 Ruby Chapter 4 The nineteen Thirties

By 1930 the sub one litre engined cars were capable of carrying a two seat saloon body at acceptable if low traffic speeds and were soon to be available with four-seater versions, making them a convenient low cost form of transport. Renault, Citroen and Opel had either stopped producing their small engined cars or increasing the engine size and Peugeot would soon stop producing the latest version of the Quadrilette the 719 cc engined 190, that was in production from 1928 to 1931. Things were different in Britain where the sub one litre engined cars continued to flourish, all except the Jowett, with a four cylinder water-cooled engine. All had the engine mounted in the front of a channel section chassis frame with a beam axle at the front and the drive to a live axle at the rear. Jowett continued to evolve their offerings with the 7HP in 1930, again with the 907cc, twin-cylinder engine, the only remaining example of the once popular type in Britain that was followed by the 8HP in 1937 with a slightly larger 946cc engine; production of the twin ending in 1940. The Austin Seven continued to go from strength to strength with over one- hundred and twenty-three thousand examples of all versions produced by the end of 1930. In 1935 again evolution not revolution was followed, with succeeding versions from open tourers such as the two seat Opal, Austin’s only £100 car, to four-seat saloons such as the Austin Ruby at £120, produced to meet the purchasers needs, in production until 1939 with about twenty-thousand Sevens produced each year throughout the decade . The Triumph Super Seven remained in production until 1932 with about seventeen thousand examples produced; but was the last of under one litre Triumphs to be produced. As related above the Singer Junior was continuously developed until 1935; while retaining the overhead camshaft engine. After 1932, All the other small engined cars produced in Britain and as mentioned below, in Italy, had side-valve engines, this was due to Morris ceasing production of their overhead camshaft engines Minor in that year after producing thirty- nine thousand examples. They had first began production of its eventual replacement in 1931. This model based on the Minor and also name Minor was fitted with an 847cc side- valve engine and was initially offered for sale in two-seat open tourer form at £100. Later models with more expensive bodies, hydraulic brakes, hydraulic dampers and a four speed gearbox proved a better seller.

Page 25 Basic Motoring

Ford Model Y advertisement

Swift had a last attempt at a small car in 1930 with the Cadet. It had an 847cc engine supplied by Coventry-Climax, a proprietary engine manufacturer that later became famous for Grand Prix and engines. With a fabric covered body, an outdated specification and a price of £185, much higher that the mass produced cars available it was not a success and Swift went in liquidation in 1931. Another of the cars introduced in 1931 was the Fiat 508 Balilla, again fitted with a side-valve engine, this time of 995 cc, with hydraulic brakes and a cruciform chassis the only distinguishing features, it remained in production until 1937 and was made under licence by in France and NSU in Germany. Across the other side of the world in Nissan produced their first car the Type 10 using the Datsun name. Nissan had been producing cars since 1914. The Datsun Type 10 had 747cc four cylinder engine and was said to resemble the Austin Seven. Developed versions of the Type 10 were produced until the Second World War. One of the big motoring event of 1932 in Britain, was the introduction of the . Ford’s answer to the Austin Seven and the Morris Minor, a new direction for the company that had up until then only sold first American then British built cars originally designed for the American market. The Model Y design was an evolved version of the model T chassis, with the same layout of transverse 1/2 elliptic springs front and rear, but with less than half the engine capacity of, previous models and the rest of the American designed car reduced in proportion. Being a simple well developed car, made using all the latest mass production methods, at a good price it was an immediate success. With a simple and reliable water-cooled, side-valve 933 cc inline four cylinder engine, cable operated four wheel brakes, a simple channel steel chassis and a stylish all steel body, it represented current conservative design philosophy. In October 1935 Ford reduced the price of the Model Y from £110 to £100 making it the firsT £100 Saloon car to be produced in Great Britain. The model Y was assembled in plants through out Europe. By the time the ultimate version of the Model Y concept went out of production three hundred and eighty-eight thousand had been produced, By then the Popular of 1959, was an anachronism.

Page 26 Basic Motoring

Morris Eight

Morris needed an answer to the Ford and the result was the Morris Eight. A new model with a new 918cc engine, again with side-valves. The unit consisting of the engine and three speed gearbox was mounted on the chassis by four rubber mounts, this being one of the continuing innovations alone with smaller diameter wheels and the all steel bodies for the saloon models that was part of the evolution of these otherwise conventional cars. The Eight proved up to the challenge and more than two hundred thousand had been made by 1938 and its replacement. The same cannot be said of the Singer 9HP IFS. The IFS standing for independent front suspension, part of a new braced chassis that had coil springs at the front but was conventional at the rear with a live axle and cart springs. Other innovations were an optional Floudrive coupling in the transmission for an extra £10; but with a basic price of £180 was no competition to the Ford and Morris offerings and only lasted one year. For the next couple of years Singer used a different new but cart sprung chassis, the last of the 972cc engined cars the Super Nine was produced in 1937. The price of this model was £159 and could attain 60 miles per hour and an over all fuel consumption of 33 miles per gallon and was representative of its contemporaries. Another new car with independent front suspension first produced in 1936 the , that became popularly known as the Topolino was a major success, Designed by Dante Giacosa and Franco Fessia, It was a two-seater and had a 569 cc side valve engine, but the chassis with independent front suspension using a transverse leaf spring and wishbones and neat packaging was a big advance, with the engine located over the front wheels and radiator behind it over the four speed synchromesh gearbox, also excellent hydraulic brakes. With fuel consumption around 50 mpg and a maximum speed of 55 mph, but with handling good enough to allow average speeds of 40 mph. Between 1936 when first introduced until the end of production in 1948, 122,000 were made of this original version. It was also made in France by Simca and in Germany by NSU. In July 1937 Austin announced a new model to be produced along side the Seven Ruby, the Big 7, an updated Seven Ruby, with a 900 cc version of the Seven engine and a lengthened chassis frame. This was produced in 1938 and 1939, the Ruby being discontinued at the end of the 1937. The Big 7 was replaced by the Austin 8, in 1939, this also had a 900 cc side- valve engine but it was completely new design as was the rest of the car. The chassis was conventional nineteen thirties British, with beam axles, 1/2 elliptic springs, a ladder frame and mechanical brakes.The Morris Eight series E was the latest version on the Eight. The major change was the new body with flowing lines and the introduction of a four speed gearbox. Both the Morris Eight series E and the Austin Eight were only in production for 1939 before car production ceased for the duration of the war; but were to return to production in the second half of the nineteen forties.

Page 27 Basic Motoring

The Ganz

Chapter 5 Alternative Advances

Throughout the decade most mainstream manufacturers were content to stick to the formula of a combination of the System Panhard and the evolution of the farm cart, the four cylinder water-cooled side-valve engine and a transmission comprising stepped gears and shafts to a live rear axle. Some engineers mostly in mainland Europe were not content with this and strived to improve the comfort drivability and safety of the small car. They saw that an alternative to the formula mentioned above was the only way forward and devised various different designs to achieve their aims. An outspoken advocate of change was the German motor journalist Joseph Ganz who published his ideas for a small light preferable a streamlined saloon, in the journal Motor Kritik, this began in the early nineteen twenties. It is therefore not surprising that the great advances in ultralight cars should take place in Germany and central Europe. He was particularly inspired the rear engined Rumbler Troptenwagen, the Tatra T11 and a very small German car the Hanomag 2/10 PS Kommissbrot. The Kommissbrot was more of a although it would have been thought of as a cycle car at that time it was practical vehicle and over fifteen thousand were produced. It was a lightweight compact two-seat car with all round . The downside was that had a single cylinder engine and chain final drive, it was the concept that was of interest. What was needed were designs that would result in a lighter more compact platform with an improved form of suspension. Ganz worked with Ardie a German motorcycle manufacturer in 1930 to produce an experimental two seat car with a backbone mid engines frame with independent front suspension by a transverse leaf spring and lower wishbone, chain final drive and swing axles. Then in1931 Ganz worked with Adler a German car manufacturer to produce another similar prototype. Neither car reached production but demonstrated the concept; but led to other manufacturers. In 1929 Colonel Frank Searle the managing director of the Rover Co Ltd of England decided that the company needed a small car to widen its range. He set Maurice Wilks and Robert Boyle, both to become key figures at Rover, to design and produce a prototype of a small rear engined car at his home Braunston Hall near Rugby in a similar way that Herbert Austin had done with the Austin Seven earlier in the decade.

Page 28 Basic Motoring

Standard Superior

The outcome of their work the Rover 7 HP or Scarab was unlike any previous Rover design with a Rover Patented engine, transmission and rear suspension layout. The rear mounted O.H.V fan-cooled 60 degree "V" twin engine was of 839 cc. The ladder frame chassis was of advanced design with coil spring sliding front suspension and coil spring swing axles at the rear with a pivoting support member giving zero roll stiffness. The four-seat tourer body was a simple affair of wood framing clad with steel sheet of compact dimensions, the car being designed down to a price of £85. Unfortunately the engine proved to be rough, noisy and prone to overheating. With the departure of Colonel Frank Searle from Rover in 1931 the Scarab didn't go into production as it was considered too radical and at the same time too Spartan by the Rover management. As with the Austin and Morris £100 cars available a few years later a certain level of refinement was required to be successful. The first prototype of the Tatra Type V570 designed by Erich Ledwinka, the son of Tatra's chief engineer Hans Ledwinka was produced in 1931. Although this prototype had a body of conventional form, the inspiration for the rear engined Tatra came from the idea of taking full advantage of the streamlined forms proposed by the aerodynamicist Paul Jarey. By locating the engine in the long tail, a low hood or bonnet line could be achieved. It had a platform chassis and the air-cooled flat twin engine of 845cc; gearbox and final drive was located at its rear. Tatra produced a second Type V570 prototype in 1933, with an aerodynamic body , the project was not continued as the Tatra board decided that the streamlined rear engined concept was to be reserved for limited production high cost cars. In 1933 In Germany Standard Fahrzeugfabrik began manufacturing the . The first of cars based on the designs of Josf Ganz to go in production. It had 396cc horizontal parallel twin two-stroke water-cooled engine located on the backbone chassis just ahead of the rear swing axles which it drove. It cost RM1590, or £78 at the 1935 exchange rate. At the motor show in 1933 in Berlin Carl F. W. Borgward presented the new car "Goliath Hansa 400". It was fitted with 2 cylinder ILO engine of 396 cc that produced 12 HP. In the end of 1933 it was joined by the Hansa 500, which was equipped with a 2 cylinder ILO engine of 494 cc that produced 14 HP. The maximum speed’s, were 40 and 44 mph respectively. In 1934 a saloon was also produced.

Page 29 Basic Motoring

Volkswagen Prototype

The purchase prices lay according to version between 1650 and 1720 Reichsmark. Towards the end of 1933, Dr. Everhard Bungartz, director of the newly established company Bungartz & Co., contacted because he wanted to develop and build a small car according to his patents. Technically the new Bungartz Butz model was very similar to the Standard Superior, introduced one year earlier. It featured a tubular chassis, a mid-mounted engine, and independent wheel suspension with swing-axles at the rear. The Bungartz Butz was available in two basic versions: the Butz Cabrio- and the Butz Touren-Wagen. Both versions were two-seaters. The Butz had a plywood body covered in artificial leather and fitted with metal wings. Unfortunately, only a few copies could be sold from the year 1933 to 1934. None of the mid or rear engines models mentioned above achieved more than limited production, the mid engine layout occupied too much of the space available; but would find favour with sports and racing cars in the future. There was one under one litre rear engined cars that was developed and reached production, the Porsche designed Volkswagen, with an engine of 995cc. Only a few hundred cars with this engine were produced before the requirement for military vehicles took precedence. From 1942 a 1131cc engine was substituted it being recognised that the car was to heavy for the smaller engine, and the larger engine was retained for car production that recommenced in 1949. It was not until the next decade that the compact small capacity rear engined car would come into it own. An alternative to moving the engine to the rear of the car to reduce the impact of the transmission was to move the transmission to the front to join the engine, this was the approach taken by DKW. The DKW FA was the first in a long line of DKW small cars that would influence many other makers designs for the next sixty years. The difference between the P15 mentioned in chapter three and the FA of 1931 was the drive train, the FA having front wheel drive. The FA 's transmission layout, was as common practice at the time on front wheel drive cars, with the with final drive at the front, with the gearbox behind with the engine located at the rear.

Page 30 Basic Motoring

DKW F5 Meisterklasse

The difference from other designs was the transverse engine/gearbox installation. The 490cc engine produced a modest 15 bhp giving it a maximum speed of 47mph (75 kph). The suspension was as innovative as the transmission being independent using twin transverse leaf springs front and rear of the ladder type chassis. The DKW front wheel drive series of cars were produced throughout the nineteen thirties in a range of models with the names Reichklasse, Meisterklasse and Meisterklasse Luxus in various combinations. They began producing the F-2 Reichklasse, with a fabric covered wooden body in 1932 . The engine as fitted to the FA was now increased to 584 cc, producing 18bhp, and from 1933 the engine had been redesigned to incorporate the idea's of Adolf Schnrle to improve the porting. Approximately 17,000 were produced by 1934. In 1934 They introduced a revised model the F 4. The engine was now increased to 692cc, the spur gear primary drive to the gearbox was replaced by a chain. The F 5 Meisterklasse with a 692cc engine and the F 5 Reichklasse with a 584cc engine, now with a dead rear axle, were produced between 1935 and 1936 with 60,000 produced. The F 7 with the same two models was made from 1937 to 1938, with 80,00 produced. The final model of the 1930s was the F 8 Reichklasse, with a 589cc engine was made from 1939 to 1942 with 50,000 produced. In 1934 Jawa was a Czech motorcycle manufacturer, that began car production with the Jawa 700. It was similar in design if not bases on the current DKW and was produced from 1934 to 1936. Jawa also made the 600 Minor , similar in design to the 700. Adler of Frankfurt on Main, Germany, started by making in 1880, later typewriters and commenced car production in 1900. The first of their front wheel drive cars, the Trumpf, was designed by the company technical director of the time, Rohr. This was in 1932. As well as front wheel drive, the car had other advanced features, The body was electrically welded to the box section chassis, making it a near monocoque. All independent suspension using torsion bars and rack and pinion steering. The layout of the power train was similar to Tracta and Alvis cars, with the final drive at the front, with the four-speed gearbox next and then the engine. This resulted in a long bonnet, which fortunately was still fashionable at the time. Tracta joints were used in the outboard end of the transmission. The Trumpf-Junior, a smaller version of the Trumpf, also designed by Rohr, with a 995 cc engine and was produced from 1934 using the same engine, gearbox, final-drive layout as the Trumpf, in a chassis independently sprung on all wheels, using torsion bars at the rear, with rack and pinion steering.

Page 31 Basic Motoring

Dixi 3-15ps

The rest of the specification was normal for the time, a water-cooled inline four, side-valve engine and cable operated Bendix drum brakes. Although fairly unconventional for its time, the car was a success. Almost one hundred and three thousand Trumpt-Juniors had been made by 1941 when all Adler car production ceased. There was a third way forward to improve comfort and drivability while retaining the front engine rear wheel drive configuration. That was instead of having a flexible ladder frame cart springs and beam axles; use a stiff backbone or unitary chassis with independent suspension at both front and rear. BMW in Germany and Steyr in Austria did that for their light cars. BMW bought the in 1928, they had been producing the Dixi 3/15ps a licensed copy of the Austin Seven since 1927. In 1930 a version with a controversial form of independent front suspension retaining the transverse leaf spring, was produced until 1932.This was superseded by the 3/20 with a backbone chassis and a 788cc over head valve, pressure lubricated engine that was otherwise similar to the Austin engine and independent rear suspension. A few thousand of these were produced. The 3/20 was a much heavier car than the 3/15ps, the former weighing 660 Kg and the latter 388 kg. From 1934 to 1936 BMW produced another small engined car the 309, that had a twin tube chassis frame, independent front suspension by wishbones and an upper transverse leaf spring and a live rear axle with half elliptic springs, a configuration that would prove very successful for their later sports cars. It an 849 cc engine four cylinder version of sixes, and six thousand were made. The Steyr 50 was in most respects a very advance design with unitary chassis/body, all round independent suspension and moderately streamlined shape; but the 978 cc horizontally opposed water- cooled four cylinder engine had side-valves limiting the power output and the performance. At £235 on the British market it was expensive. With the onset of war in Europe in 1939, as the military had no use for economy cars production came to a stop as factories all over the world were converted to arms manufacturing, not to be resumed until well into the next decade.

Page 32 Basic Motoring

Morris Minor MM

Chapter 6 European Divisions Throughout the nineteen forties automobile manufacturing had been suspended throughout the world except for the United States or for military use, neither of which had any interest in small economy cars; some manufacturers and their designers had been thinking of creating designs for the future and in some cases producing prototypes, others had designs that were ready but had not entered production due to war. They knew that the potential market was great for almost any type of car, as the majority of cars is service were worn out and it was essential to resume production as soon as possible to capitalise on this fact. Unfortunately shortage of materials, damaged factories and political changes created difficulties. Europe had been split into two economic zones; an Eastern zone and a Western zone and Germany had been divided, one half in the eastern economic zone becoming the DDR and the other half in the western economic zone becoming the Federal Republic. All the factories of the group of companies which include DKW and the BMW factory at Eisenach were located in eastern Germany and were taken into state ownership. The British manufacturers were the first get back in production although there was limited iron and steel and supply was allocated by government to maximise export potential. Many of their factories had been damaged or destroyed; but there were large new factories that had been used producing war material now available and were turned into car producing plants. What they lacked were modern designs so they began by producing pre-war models that were dated when first produced in 1945, Austin with the Eight in production until 1947, Morris with the series E in production until 1948 and Ford with the Anglia an re-bodied Model Y in production until 1953. The Wolseley Eight an up market version of the Morris series E had been ready for production in 1939; but it was not produced until 1946. It had an overhead valve version of the series E engine that produced an extra 4 brake horse power and was an indication of the way forward. Only just over five thousand were produced in its two year production life, it being a dead end. The first new small car from the British motor industry was the Morris Minor, it was designed towards the end of the end of the Second World War, in the Cowley works of Morris Motors and was the work of Alex Issigonis. He had been developing his ideas on independent suspension and unitary chassis-body construction, which was not then in general use, and when he was allowed to design a completely new car he incorporated his idea's in to it. The Minor front suspension was of the wishbone type, using a lever type shock absorber operating arm as the top link, a pair of steel pressings as a lower link with a torsion bar attached to their inner end. Torsion bars had been chosen as the layout used gave lots of room for a proposed flat four engine that didn't make it to the final design. A forged upright connected these links and had the steering arm and the stub axle attached. Page 33 Basic Motoring

Austin A35

An unusual method was used for steering pivots in the form of screw trunnions top and bottom, similar to a nut and bolt arrangement. The final component a steel tie rod that linked the bottom of the upright forward to the chassis, versions of the latter component were used in various Issigonis designs. The Minor was in production by 1948 and due to its front suspension, rack and pinion steering which was another departure from current practice, and a forward weight distribution it's handling was a great step forward. The engine, gearbox, transmission and rear axle fitted in the final design were those used in the Morris Eight series E, and were of pre war design, this turned a potentially great car into merely a good car. It was not until after the Morris and Austin merger that an engine of modern design was fitted to the Minor Series 2 in 1953. With a modern design of engine fitted, the Minor remained in production until 1972 and almost one and a half million examples were produced. Austin after not marketing a very small car since the demise of the Eight in 1947 began producing the A30 in 1951 a completely new design. When Austin designed the new 803 cc engine for their A30 model, no one could foresee that one of its many version would still be in production in 1999 and around twelve million examples made before it was finally discontinued. Designated the A, the smallest in a series of new engines introduced by the company after the war, the A30 was a miniature and cramped version of the family saloons of the time, complete with four doors and a boot, a two door and an estate version came later. The specification of the car was also similar to it's larger contemporaries, with coil spring i.f.s. and a live rear axle with half elliptic springs. A first for Austin, it had a unitary chassis. The A30 was replaced by the A35 an updated version with a 948 cc engine in 1956 that was made until 1959. The Standard Motor Company in England reintroduced a small car into their range with the Eight, in 1953. The Eight, was an all new car of conventional design. The chassis/body unit was of unitary construction with four doors, and at first a none-opening boot. With coil spring IFS and a live axle with half-elliptic springs, an 803 OHV water-cooled four-cylinder engine that gave it a top speed barely past 60 M.P.H. In 1954 the Eight was joined by the Ten, the same basic car fitted with a 948 cc engined version and an opening boot lid. An up graded version of the Ten, the Pennant, joined them in 1957. But by 1961 all the small Standard models had been discontinued, after three hundred and fifty-thousand examples of all types had been made.

Page 34 Basic Motoring

Standard Eight

There was another division in European ultralight car manufacturing; that was in design philosophy, the British sticking to the outdated System Panhard while throughout mainland Europe other more advanced layouts were used for all the completely new designs that got into production, only Fiat repackaging the 500 mentioned above, until their first up to date design was produced in 1955. Three French manufacturers foresaw the need for an economy car when peace eventually came, Renault, Citroen and Panhard. Louis Renault was a pioneer of motoring who constructed his first car in a garden shed in 1898 at his parent’s home at Billancourt, near Paris. His company that he rules in an autocratic manner prospered becoming one of the great carmaker in France. During the Second World War when France was occupied by German forces, his factories were under German direction and he produced trucks for the German forces. His main preoccupation at that time was not freedom or France, but the preservation of his factories ready to resume producing cars when the war was over. To that end in 1941 he had his staff with Edmond Serre as head of project design a new car and produce a prototype. Fernand Picard, Serre's deputy, played the leading roll in design of the car.The car that emerged was unlike any previous Renault model but externally bore a passing resemblance to the Volkswagen prototype that had been revealed to the world before the war. But the car had a specification completely different to the Volkswagen with the exception of rear engine location. The 4cv differed in many ways from the Volkswagen, first it had a unitary chassis, and it had a water-cooled inline four-cylinder overhead valve engine of 760cc. Wishbones were used for the independent front suspension with coil springs used all round and rack and pinion steering. The performance was modest with a maximum speed of 57mph (92kph). Later prototypes also had their own distinctive body that would become well known in time. Louis Renault had made many enemies during his years of autocratic rule and having been seen to cooperate with the German invaders only compounded his crimes to his enemies. At the end of the war he did not live to see his new car go into production, because his countrymen imprisoned him. Dying in mysterious circumstances, his assets and his factories were seized by the state. Citroen had started work on the 2CV in 1938 and had 300 prototypes running in France before the country was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War. It took until 1948 before the car was first shown to the public at the Paris Show. Page 35 Basic Motoring

Renault 4CV

Citroens aim was to provide rural France with a car that would replace the horse and trap, as Henry Ford had done for America with his model T thirty years before. To carry up to four people at speeds up to 40MPH along French country roads in a car that needed a minimum of maintenance at minimum cost, required an exceptional design and the 2CV was that. Every part of it was new from the power train to the basic almost crude body. Initially the air-cooled flat twin engine was of only 375cc producing 9bhp. It was at the front of a platform chassis, with the drive going to the front wheels with at first, simple universal joints at both ends of the drive shafts. This didn't matter at first due to the low performance and the need to keep the cost down. The drawings also show the unique suspension devised to deal with those country roads. Long travel leading arms at the front, were linked to long travel trailing arm at the rear by rods that operated on coil springs located at the side of the chassis. Suspension movement at the front was transmitted to the spring and then to the rear by the linkage, leading to a smother ride. To make the car as usable for it's designed purpose, the body was very simple with most components removable to provide access and space as required. The 2CV at first glance could be taken for a crude car but looks are deceiving and where it mattered everything was produced to a high standard, with hydraulic brakes, inboard at the front and rack and pinion steering. The engine was increased to 424cc in 1954 and later 602cc, but performance wasn't what the 2CV had been designed for, it was as a work horse. Total production was 3,872,583 of 2CV's alone by 1990, not counting the models derived from it. The "Dyna" was the Panhard version of the Gregiore designed "Aluminium Francais-Gregiore". J. A. Gregiore sold drawings of the A. F. G. to Henry J. Kaiser in the United States, and to Hartnett in , but neither took it any further and submitted prototypes to Simca and Panhard in France. The Dyna Panhard, was based on the A.F.C, but Panhard made many changes to the design while retaining the principle features of the Gregiore design. First produced in 1946, with a 610cc engine that produced 25bhp, weighed 1052 pounds and could reach 60mph. In 1950 the engine size was increased to 750cc producing 33bhp and a top speed has risen to 71mph despite a weight increase of 220lb. By 1954 an 850cc engine was standardised on all models. Also that year the original Gregiore devised chassis that had been made for Panhard by Facel Mettalon was replaced in a new model, the Dyna 54, but it was still constructed of aluminium, as was the body. The Dyna 54 was a six-seat car and could reach 80 mph, on 42bhp. In 1957 the aluminium construction was replaced by steel with an increase in weight of 440lb.The Dyna 54 was replaced by the PL17 in 1959, the most prolific model, with one hundred and thirty-thousand examples produced by 1964. The last of the breed the 24CT, which was the last Panhard car produced was a 2+2 coupe made from 1963 until 1967. Citroen had taken over the company in 1957 and from 1967 Panhard only produced armoured cars. Despite it's advanced layout the Dyna had not been properly developed and was expensive to produce never reaching mass popularity. Page 35 Basic Motoring

Citroen 2 CV

SAAB was and is a Swedish aircraft manufacturer. In the early nineteen forties they felt that with only one customer, the Swedish government they were very vulnerable. Their solution was to diversify, to manufacture cars. Before the Second World War Sweden only had one motor manufacturer Volvo and most cars were imported. Until the flow of imports stopped due to the war, DKW cars were becoming increasingly popular in Sweden, so SAAB decided to design and produce a car similar in principle to the DKW but incorporating the latest design thinking. The first car the "92," designed by two Swedish engineers Gunnar Ljungstrom designed the car while Sixten Sason designed the body. Having limited manufacturing capabilities Ljungstrom opted for a twin-cylinder two-stroke engine, located in front of the front wheels, transversely with the gearbox in line and the final drive behind, using the minimum space inside the wheelbase, which could then be utilised for passenger space. (This was the layout used in the , produced by IFA in the DDR for thirty plus years.) The car had a low drag unitary chassis/body, rack and pinion steering and all independent suspension with torsion bar springs. Just over twenty- thousand SAAB 92’s had been produced in six years when discontinued in 1956 after the introduction of the in 1955. Jawa in had been working in secret throughout the German occupation on a new model, but with the advent of peace came a new communist government, state direction of industry dictated that that the new car would be called the Aero Minor and be produced in a Skoda plant. It had the 615 cc, twin cylinder two-stroke engine mounted longitudinally at the front of a backbone chassis driving the front wheels. Independent suspension front and rear, was by transverse leaf springs. In production from 1946 to 1952, over fourteen thousand were produced. The DKW plant at Eisenach in Upper , Germany, was now in a new state the DDR, also a communist state and the factory was nationalised. Production of the F 8 was restarted in 1948 as the IFA and continued until 1955. The AWZ P70 "Zwickau" was a car made in by VEB Automobilwerke Zwickau (AWZ) between 1955 and 1958. After 1958 AWZ was united with the former Horch factory to the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau and called Sachsenring P70. It succeeded the IFA F 8 using the same 684 cc two cylinder, two-stroke engine but with a completely new glass fibre body. An estate version was introduced in 1956 followed by a coupé in 1957. It was replaced by the Trabant P50 in 1959 after about 36,000 had been made. The total output of AWZ P70 was 36,151 cars.

Page 37 Basic Motoring

Saab 92 Automobile production in The German Federal Republic took until 1950 to resume and included a number of very light cars. The pre-war management of Auto Union set up in business in , West Germany after the war, at first making spare parts for the remaining DKW cars produced before the war. But by 1950, began producing new a DKW car in the form of the F-89 New Meisterklasse. It was made in Düsseldorf also in West German. Based on the pre-war F-8 but with the 684cc engine moved ahead of the front wheels in a new chassis and clothed by the body designed for the F 9. This was in production from 1950, by 1954 when production of the F 89 ceased 59,475 had been made. Goliath-Werke Borgward began producing the Goliath GT700 in 1950. It had a 688cc water-cooled, two-stroke, inline twin cylinder engine, mounted transversely as in the DKW F89. It was located at the front with the drive to the front wheels. About 1952 the fuel system was changed to Bosch fuel injection. Thirty-six thousand were produced. From 1955 an 886cc version the GT900 was produced, both twins were discontinued in 1957. The small Gutbrod Superior model was produced from 1950 to 1954 using the company's own, front-mounted twin-cylinder two-stroke engines initially of 593cc. In April 1953 the engine size was increased to 663 cc for more expensive 'Luxus 700' versions of the car, while the standard model continued to be offered with the original smaller engine. Claimed power output was 20 hp (15 kW) for the base version, while for the larger engine 26 hp (19 kW) or 30 hp (22 kW) was claimed according to whether fuel feed came via a carburettor or a form of Bosch fuel injection. 7726 cars were produced before the factory was forced to close. Motoren Werke GmbH of Bremen, Germany, began production of the Lloyd LP 300 in 1950, it had a twin cylinder two-stroke engine of 293cc. located at the front of a tubular backbone chassis, driving the front wheels, suspension front and rear was by twin transverse leaf springs and the steering was rack and pinion. The body was of wood and fabric. There were also LK estate and LC coupe versions. 18087 were made before it was replaced by the LP400, with a 386cc engine In 1953 now with a steel body. A total of 109,878 examples of the LP,LK and LC versions of the 400 were produced between 1953 and 1957. In was joined by the LP,LK and LS 600 models in 1955 with a 596cc engine, and then in 1957 the 596cc Alexander model . The company became bankrupt in 1961 with 176,524 of the larger engined models produced. ’s first economy car the FSO Syrena 100 later 101/102/103 was designed and manufactured by the Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych (FSO) in , from 1955-66. They had a twin- cylinder, water-cooled, two-stroke engine of 746cc, mounted longitudinally at the front driving the front wheels. 177,234 were made by FSO and during its remarkably long production run it underwent only minor modifications.

Page 38 Basic Motoring

Lloyd 600

In 1955 Fiat in Italy began producing their latest ultralight car. Giacosa and his team had designed a replacement for the Topolino the last version of the 500C had been discontinued the previous year 1954. The 600 was a totally new car, and for Fiat a new layout with the engine at the rear as well as unitary construction. When the 600 were introduced in 1955, rear engine cars had been produced for well over a decade and their advantages and disadvantages by then well known. Giacosa used the advantages to produce a four-seat car, although with limited luggage space, that had a reasonable performance from an engine of only 633cc, due to its low weight of eleven and one half hundredweight and also compact dimensions. Capable of almost 60 MPH and returning a fuel consumption of 45 to 55 miles per gallon and the ability to cruise at 50 MPH. He overcame the stability problems associated with other rear engined design's by identifying that the problem was not the weight distribution of the cars, but the simple swing axle rear suspension used in those designs. His answer was to use a semi-trailing arm type of rear suspension that eliminated the large change in the camber of the rear wheels that was inherent with the simple swing axle suspension system.The ultralight people carrier may seem to be a concept of the twenty-first century, that is not so. Within a year of the launch of the 600 a six-seat version was in production, the Multipla. By replacing the transverse leaf spring used in the front suspension by upper links and coil springs, the mechanic components of the 600 utilised in a forward control unitary body with zero crumple zone and only a small increase in wheelbase to accommodate three rows of seats. Over seventy-six thousand of this first version of the Multipla produced by 1963. The 600 was replaced by the 600D in 1960.The engine size was increased to 767cc, with a maximum speed up to 70 MPH. Production ceased in Turin in 1970, but carried on in the Seat factory in Barcelona. Before then the 600 had been produced by NSU/Fiat in Germany, by Fiat Concord in Argentina and by the Zastava company in Yugoslavia as the Zastava 750 and later as the 850 with a larger engine that was made until 1985. Over two and a half million were eventually produced.

Page 39 Basic Motoring

Fiat 600

Chapter 7 The European Two-stroke Three’s

The use of the two-stroke twin-cylinder engine from 400cc to 600 cc was well established in Germany in the 1930s. DKW was part of the Auto Union group of companies and the DKW and factories was at that time in the town of Zwickau in the German State of Saxony. The DKW management decided to produce a new model with a larger two-stroke engine and to use the knowledge they had acquired developing the smaller engines they decide to use a three-cylinder configuration, the result was the DKW F-9 with a 900cc water-cooled two-stroke three-cylinder engine, The engine was mounted longitudinally ahead of the front axle, with the front wheel final drive between it and the gearbox behind, in the same layout as used by Audi to this day. it was at the preproduction stage in 1939, but before production could commence it was shelved due to the demands of war material production and was first produced after the end of the Second World War. The Auto Union factories in the town of Zwickau was now in East Germany, The DDR part of the Soviet Block. The work on the F-9 was put to good use in 1950 when the first cars were produced at the Audi factory to those designs as the IFA 9. Production was later moved to the ex-BMW plant at Eisenach also in the DDR. Over forty-thousand were produced before production ceased in 1956. The 311/312 in production from 1955 to 1966, was based on the F-9 underpinning with a 900cc later a 992 cc engine and a stylish new body and was made at the ex-BMW factory at Eisenach and over a quarter of a million were made. The final Wartburg models the 353 and Knight with the 993 cc engine were produced from 1966 to 1988 and one and a quarter million were produced. After losing all their factories in East Germany, The Auto Union management had re- established themselves in West Germany and by 1950 had begun car production. In 1953 they produced the F-91 Sonderklasse, based on the design of the F 9 with a 896 cc engine, It was produced until 1959 in various body forms as the F 93, F 94 and the Monza Sports car. This was developed into the DKW with a 980 cc engine. The DKW Junior was produced between 1959 to 1965 was completely new smaller car with a 741 cc engine using the same layout . A larger version of the Junior the F 12 had a 890 cc engine and was produced from 1963. In the twelve years of producing two-stroke triples DKW had made over six-hundred thousand under one litre cars. From 1965 their output would have larger four-stroke engines and would be named Audi.

Page 40 Basic Motoring

IFA F-9

In the early 1950s the Saab management decided that an updated model was required if they were make headway in international markets. A new chassis with coil spring IFS and a torsion beam rear axle again with coil springs was designed. To go with the new chassis and body they wanted a new engine so designed the first Saab three cylinder 750cc two- stroke engine being similar in concept to the F-9, but was a totally original design in every detail. The result was the Saab 93 produced from 1955 to 1960. The second Saab Three the 95 had a 841cc engine also an estate body and was made from 1959 to 1968. The last two-stroke engined model the was restyled 93 with the 841 cc engine and was in production from 1960 to 1968. Between 1956 and 1968 Saab made over six hundred thousand three cylinder cars. The last of the European three cylinder two-stoke engined cars was the Polish produced FSO Syrena 104. The original Syrena had been produced with twin-cylinder since 1960 and in 1966 an updated model that had a three- cylinder two-stroke engine with a capacity of 843 cc that was also later produced by FSM in Warsaw. Between then they produced over half a million Syrena by 1983. By then the two-stroke triple had been adopted by the Japanese motor industry.

Page 41 Basic Motoring

Hino Contessa

Chapter 8 The Emerging Japanese Manufacturers

The occupying forces in Japan first allowed limited production of automobiles in 1947. That year Datsun began producing their DA model, it had a 722 cc four cylinder side-valve water-cooled engine and was based on a pre-war truck design with a saloon body. This was replaced by the similar DS series of models in 1949 with were made until 1952 . The Type 110 had a very similar specification with beam axles and cart springs and a 860 cc version of the engine used in the DS models, it was produced from 1955 to 1957. The Datsun Type 210 of 1957 had 988 cc overhead valve four-cylinder engine that is said to incorporate features derived for the British Austin engine that Datsun had been producing under licence. As the Datsun 1000 it was exported to the United States. first post war design the SA was completely new with a 995 cc four-cylinder side- valve engine. It was the backbone chassis with wishbone and coils front suspension and a swing axle with transverse leaf spring at the rear that were the advanced features. Only two hundred and fifteen were produced between 1947 and 1952. Unfortunately only the engine and not the advanced features were carried over to succeeding models the SC/SD produced between 1949 and 1951 and the SF between 1951 and 1953 were built on an existing truck chassis. The last model to us the SA engine was the first of the Corona models, produced from 1957 to 1960. A New company Hino who are well know for their large trucks today, began manufacturing a licensed version of the CV in1953 continuing until 1961. In that year Hino began manufacturing a car of their own rear engined design the Contessa with an 893 cc engine that was in principle similar to the Renault. Hino was taken over by Toyota in 1966. The , or keijidōsha ( "light automobile"), is a Japanese category of small vehicles, first introduced in 1949. It wasn't until 1955 when all classes of engine up to 360cc could be utilised that practical small cars were produced. The first of these was the 1955 Suzuki Suzulight SF series of cars that closely followed the specification of the . They had a 360cc two-stroke, air-cooled twin-cylinder engine, but very few of this early model were produced. Full production only starting in 1962, and continued until 1967. The first car bearing the name the 360, was introduced in 1958. It had a twin cylinder two- stroke engine of 360cc located at the rear. Only six hundred and four were produced that year, but the rate of production had reached over twenty-two thousand in 1961.

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Subaru 360

This model later with a larger engine was in production for fourteen years. The R360 first produced in 1960 was their first car. It was also in the Kei car category, with a rear mounted 360cc Vee twin engine driving the rear wheels and was in production until 1966. Mazda’s next Kia model was the P360 Carol of 1962. It was a much more sophisticated than the R360 with a monocoque body/chassis and a rear mounted four-cylinder water-cooled overhead valve engine and four-wheel independent suspension by torsion bars. Over two-hundred and sixty-thousand had been made before Mazda temporarily stopped producing Kia cars in 1970.The Mitsubishi 500 type A10, in production from1960 to 1962, was Mitsubishi’s first car since 1921. It was a small two door saloon with a 493cc, air-cooled, inline twin-cylinder four stroke engine located at the rear. With independent suspension all round and a maximum speed of 56 mph. This was replaced by the Colt 600 fitted with a 594cc engine otherwise with the same specification, which was in production from 1962 to 1965. Their model range was widened in1963 with the introduction of the Colt 1000 that had a four-cylinder engine of 977 cc, this was followed by the Colt 800 with 843 cc three-cylinder engine in 1965. Also in 1962 Mitsubishi introduced the Minica 360 that had an air-cooled two-stroke twin-cylinder engine of 359cc, located at the front, driving a live rear axle. The two-stroke Minica's was produced until 1972. Toyota made the first of the Publica model in 1961 for the Japanese market. With a twin cylinder, horizontally opposed, air cooled engine of 697 cc, producing 28 bhp, in a front engine/rear wheel drive chassis. An updated model with a 790cc engine was produced in 1966. Another Toyota twin was the Sports 800 of 1965. It was fitted with a 790cc engine producing 45 bhp. Over three thousand were made by 1969. The origins of the Publica can be traced to the "national car" concept of the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry, which was announced in 1955. The concept stipulated for a vehicle fulfilling several requirements, like maximum speed over 100 km/h (62 mph), weight below 400 kg, fuel consumption not exceeding 30 km/L at the average speed of 60 km/h on a level road, but also notably the requirement that the car would not break down or require significant repairs for at least 100,000 kilometres. This established a "" target that was larger than what has become known as the "light car" or the kia car. Hatsudoki Seizo Co Ltd founded in 1907 changed its name in 1951 to The Motor Co., Ltd. In 1963 they began manufacturing the Daihatsu Compagno. With a front located four cylinder engine of 800 cc or 1000 cc mounted in a ladder frame with torsion bar wishbone suspension at the front and semi-elliptical leaf springs for the live rear axle. 120,000 were produced between 1963 and 1970.

Page 43 Basic Motoring

Daihatsu Compagno

Suzuki also produced another model in 1964 to compliment the Suzulight SF, the Front 800. It was a front wheel drive saloon with a unitary body/chassis fitted with a 785 cc three-cylinder two-stroke engine that produced 41 hp, a four speed synchromesh gearbox and independent suspension front and rear. Only three-thousand had been made when production stopped in 1969 to concentrate on Kei car production. In 1963 Mazda began producing the Familia, a conventional front engined rear wheel drive car, initially with a 782 cc four-cylinder engine as the 800 model, later the 1000 model had a 897 cc engine Front suspension was by double-wishbones and coil springs with a live axle and half-elliptic springs at the rear.

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BMW 700

Chapter 9 European Variety

The later nineteen fifties and the nineteen sixties was a high point for the European economy car with variety and diversity of design not seen before or since. The only universal design feature was independent front suspension; but that came in various configurations, double wishbone, swing axles, Mcpherson strut, Dubonnet and other combinations. Chassis layout and form was also diverse with all forms except mid engined used, also ladder frames, backbone frames to unitary construction. Some manufacturers produced a variety of design at the same time. One such company was Hans Glas GmbH, of Dingolfing, German, they produced a range of miniature twins under the name of Goggomobile, from 1955 to1966, and after the factory was taken over by BMW production continued until 1969. They had an air-cooled, twin-cylinder, two-stroke, rear mounted engine driving the rear wheels via swing axle. The first model the T250 had a 245cc engine producing13.6hp. In1957 the T400 with a 392cc engine producing 18.5bhp, was added to the range. 54,000 saloon's and were produced. Hans Glas GmbH also produced a couple of front engine and a live axle rear wheel drive models with a horizontally opposed overhead valve twin cylinder engine of 584 cc in the T600 and the related T700 with a 688 cc engine. Eighty-seven thousand were made between 1957 and 1965. I have mentioned other German manufacturers of the period such as DKW and Lloyd in previous chapters but there were more. BMW had been making the Isetta micro car since 1955. In 1957 they introduced a compact four-seat, four wheeled ultralight economy car based on the Isetta. A 582cc version of their well known air-cooled flat twin engine that was located at the rear of the car. The BMW 600 shared with the Isetta the distinction of having a door at the very front of the car. Almost thirty-five thousand BMW 600s were produced by the time it was superseded by the BMW 700 in 1959. The 700 was a development of the design of the 600. The engine size was increased to 697cc, but the biggest change was the fitting of a new body designed by Michelotti. Production continued until 1965 and a total of 188,121 examples of all type were produced. An unusual feature of these cars, was the Dubonnet independent front suspension system used on the cars, probably the last time it was used in any design. NSU Motorenwerke AG of Neckarsulm in the German Federal Republic, were well known for their bicycles and motorcycles that had made cars to their own designs early in the century, they had also produced Fiat designs under licence.

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NSU 1000

The first NSU designed car to go into production since 1928 the Prinz was a ultralight car with a 583cc transverse inline air-cooled twin cylinder engine producing 20BHP. An unusual feature of the engine was the Ultramax eccentric strap drive for the overhead camshaft. The unitary construction chassis was independently sprung with wishbones at the front and swing axles at the rear all with coil springs. The Prinz was produced from 1958 until 1962 and almost ninety-five thousand were made. A pretty little coupe version the Sports Prinz was produced from 1959 to 1967. The engine was tuned to produce 30BHP and it had a top speed of 76MPH. The French manufacturers were as divided as the Germans over weather the all at front or all at the rear layout was the best with Panhard as described above and Citroen sticking to the former and Renault and Simca to the latter; although Renault was about to change. Simca first introduced the only rear engined car they made the 1000 in 1961. The chassis design of the 1000 was similar to the rear engined Fiat of the period and was fitted with a heavy engine already in use in the Simca Aronde. It was in production until 1978 with a couple of increases in engine size. One point six million saloons and estate cars were produced. In 1961 Citroen introduced the Ami 6. The 2 CV platform was fitted with a 602 cc 22 bhp engine and an odd four door body. It was produced until 1971 and over a million examples were produced. A revised version the AMI 8 was introduced in 1969 and produced until 1978. The of 1956 was mechanically similar to the 4CV but with a 845cc engine. The elegant body/chassis unit was all new and larger than the 4CV. The model was in production for twelve years and over two million examples were produced. Renault abandoned their rear engined only small car policy when they introduced the R3 and R4 in 1961. The engine/transmission layout of the 4CV, with the gearbox ahead of the inline engine, was located in the front of a practical unitary chassis, with the necessary changes to the drive shafts and transmission joints. The long forgotten R3 had a 603cc engine and the R4 a 747cc or 845cc engine. Over eight million R4s were made by 1992 when production ceased. The fourth and last mass produced rear engine Renault model was the R8 of 1962. This was the year after the first front wheel drive Renault the R4 was introduced. The R8 had a box like body shape, and mechanically was very similar to the Dauphine but with a 956c.c. engine, also disc brakes were fitted alL round. One point three million R8s were produced by 1971 when Renault ceased making rear engined saloons.

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Renault R4L

The Vespa 400 was the Italian Piaggio companies only ultralight car. It was a two seat rear engined car with a 393 cc two-stroke air-cooled twin cylinder engine giving it a maximum speed of 55 MPH. Thirty-four thousand were made in the Piaggio factory in France from 1957 until 1961. Giacosa's next rear engine car for Fiat was the Nuova 500 of 1957, with a similar layout to the 600, but with a two-cylinder air-cooled engine instead of the water- cooled inline four-cylinder unit. Being a two/plus/two-seat car, it was the true replacement for the "Topolino", at the bottom of the Fiat range. With a wheelbase fractionally over six feet and a length under nine feet, it was also a lightweight weighing less than five hundred kilos. The 479cc engines in the early production cars so under powered with only 13 BHP that they recalled it and an up rated engine that produced 16.5 BHP was fitted. The final 500F version, of 1965 had a 499cc engine producing 18 BHP, sufficient to get to 70 MPH and a fuel consumption of 55 MPG. In 1960 Fiat introduced the "Gardinera," a 499cc with a similar inline twin cylinder engine as the "500," but with cylinder horizontal. The engine was located under the floor at the rear of the car. With a slight increase in wheelbase and the weight increased to five hundred and seventy kilos, it was now a four seat car with a luggage area over the engine. In parallel with the Fiat models, the "500," platforms clothed in prettier bodies by at their Desio factory. Named the Bianchina, a convertible, a four seat saloon, an estate car and a version on the Gardinera platform was produced. A version of the Nuova 500 was made by Styr-Puch in Austria in 1957, with their own flat-twin air-cooled engine and swing axle drive and suspension. The Styr 650TR of 1965 to 1969, was the hottest 500 model made and a competent rally car. Fiat introduced a roomier four-seat two-door saloon in 1964, to run alongside the "600". The 850, it had an 843cc engine and a 27 centimetre increase in the wheelbase, but the specification was the same as the "600". An 850T version of the "Multipla" was also available the following year. Fiat also produced coupe and spyder versions using the "850," platform with an engine that produced 47 BHP at 6200 RPM, later 52 BHP from a 903cc engine. A total of over a half of a million of these had been produced by 1972. Spyder production had ceased by 1973. Many special versions produced by the legion of specialist coach builders at work in Italy at the time. The 850 saloon and coupe models were also produced by Seat in Spain.

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DAF 600

There was an interesting newcomer to the to the light car world from Holland in1959, in the form of the DAF600. Its air cooled flat twin engine mounted at the front was not unusual for the time, but the drive to the rear wheels was. It consisted of a variable ratio belt drive controlled by the depression in the engines inlet manifold, this ensured an optimum engine performance. Starting in 1961 the DAF went through various models with the twin cylinder engine, rising from an initial 600 cc to 750 cc in the 33 to 844 cc in the 44. From 1967 until 1972 a version with a Renault four cylinder engine of 1108 cc the 55 was also produced, well over half a million of these unique cars were produced by 1973 when the type was discontinued. The later models where badged as Volvo’s. New models weren’t so numerous in as this was planned economy with the respective government deciding what would be produced. The next model from VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke, the Trabant P50, was in 1957 and it would stay in production until 1989 in almost original form with over three million produced. An 595cc air- cooled version of their two-stroke twin cylinder engine driving the front wheels was mounted in a type of steel unitary chassis frame. This was clothed in plastic body panels in a similar manner to the present day Smart cars. The panels were produced from waste products from other industries, waste from the cotton industry and Phenol from the dye industry. Front and rear suspension was by transverse leaf springs and wishbones and steering by rack and pinion. Only minor changes were made for the later P60 (600) 1962 to 1964 and the P601 of 1964 until the twin-cylinder engine was replaced in 1989. By 1960 a rear-engined car was in production in the Ukraine. The Zaporozhets ZAZ965 was a two-door saloon car with a 748cc, later a 887cc air-cooled Vee four engine in a unitary chassis and independent suspension with torsion bars at the front and coil springs at the rear. It was replaced by the ZAZ966 with a new body form and a 1196cc engine in 1967. A later version the ZAZ968 was produced until 1990. A rear engined Skoda designed car finally reached production in 1964. This was just as the rear engined car vogue was coming to an end. The 1000MB was a totally new car with a monocoque chassis/body unit a first for Skoda. They had explored front wheel drive as well as rear engine layouts in prototypes of various sizes with engines of various configurations before settling for an inline water-cooled four of 998cc. This was located behind the rear axle, driving the rear wheels through swing axles in the manner of the Renault cars. The 1000MB were roomy four-seat cars considering the engine size. Built to be durable rather than beautiful, as was the way in Eastern Europe at the time. It proved a good workhorse in that region and was considered in Britain what would be called " Cheap and cheerful” But that didn't diminish from its true value. One and a half million 1000MB's and versions of it were produced by the time production ceased in 1977.

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Ford 105e

The British motor industry mostly seemed determined to stay with the familiar layout of new models with the only concessions to progress the almost universal adoption of a unitary chassis, and overhead valve engines. The Austin A40 Farina Mark1 of 1958 was of this pattern, with an 948 cc version of the familiar A series engine. The Countryman bodied version was possible one of the earliest . Almost one hundred and seventy-thousand had be made by 1961. The new 105e and Prefect 107e models first produced in 1959 followed this pattern, the Anglia was all new with a state of the art four cylinder water-cooled 997 cc overhead-valve engine, the Prefect had the new engine in an old 100e chassis replacing the larger side-valve engine. The 105e was made until 1967 with over a million produced. In the same year Standard Triumph were unable to produce any new models at that time with a unitary chassis as used previously so decided to employ a pressed steel backbone chassis frame and a separate body constructed by bolting together seven separate pressings. This allowed the Michelotti designed body to have a one piece lift up front for their Herald model,. As well as allowing the Herald to be produced in more than the then usual range of body forms, it also enabled it to be the basis for a range of models including the Spitfire sports car. They retained the front engine rear wheel drive configuration but a with swing axle final drive; using the same engine as the Standard Ten which it replaced. A hundred thousand of this original Herald model were made between 1959 and 1964. BMC the British Motor Corporation were already producing two one litre engined models, the Morris Minor the Austin A35 soon to be replaced by the Austin A40; but decided that they should have a smaller more economical cars in their range of models. Design work started in March 1957. A front wheel drive version of the Morris Minor was built but not developed, in 1951/2. With a transverse engine with the gearbox inline and equal length drive shafts with an intermediate jack shaft to extend one of the shafts. It wasn't developed for production. Alex Issigonis who had designed the Minor, returned to the front wheel drive layout for this new design the Mini. The aim was to produce a very compact car with maximum space utilisation. To achieve this Issigonis decided to fit the engine transversely in the car an 850 cc version of the A series as fitted in the Minor and the A40, with the gearbox located in the engine sump. With the final drive unit gear driven from the gearbox it could be located centrally. This allowed equal length drive shafts to be used, without the need for an added jack shaft. The component that made the design acceptable to Alex Issigonis was the Birfield-Rzeppa constant velocity joints made by Hardy Spicer and were fitted at the outer end of the drive shafts.

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BMC Mini

Early Mini's had flexible rubber drive couplings at the inboard end of the drive shafts. Later manual gearbox models had offset sphere type joints. While Auto-box and Cooper S models had universal joints and sliding joint shafts. Other features of the Mini design where rubber springs and ten-inch wheels. Prototypes where running on the road in October 1957 and production started in 1959. It was first marketed as the Austin Seven and the Morris Mini-Minor and it wasn't until 1962 that the name was changed to Mini, after popular usage. A Mini Cooper version of the mark 1 model with a 997cc engine later of 998 cc was introduced in1961 and was produced until 1967, top speed was increased from 70 mph of the 850 cc engined cars to 85 mph for the Cooper version. Britain’s other ultralight economy car of the decade was the Imp of 1963. In that year Hillman introduced Britain's first and only mass-produced model with a rear engined layout. The Imp was produced by the Roots Group to give them a share of the booming ultralight car sector of the market. The was a collection of motor manufacturing companies owned by the Rootes brothers. The Rootes brothers were successful motor agents that had graduated to motor manufacture. The cars they had been produced up until the introduction of the Imp were middle and large sized cars of conservative design and Rootes existing models had evolved over a long period of time and the group had little experience of developing new models. As early as 1955 work had been started on small car concept, designed by Michael Parkes an ex Farrari development engineer and an other engineer Tim Fry, but it was two small being almost a micro car. By the end of the nineteen fifties a larger and more refined design was taking shape. They stayed with their original idea of a rear-engined car. The final design had trailing arm rear suspension and the unusual feature of a swing axle type of independent front suspension. Finding a suitable engine of a refined design proved a problem, until it was decided to mass produce an adaptation of the Coventry Climax FWMA engine design. The FW series of engines in various sizes had been used with great success in Lotus, Cooper and other racing and sports cars including the Lotus Elite. The Imp engine was a die cast aluminium water- cooled inline four with a single overhead camshaft with a capacity of 875c.c.that produced 39bhp. The car was not fully developed before production commenced at a new factory at Linwood in Scotland, with a new labour force. The resulting deficiencies in the cars produced gave the car a bad start that it never recovered from. Although in production until1976, only four hundred and forty-thousand of all versions were produced.

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Hillman Imp

Just to show that not all British engineers were convinced by all these new to Britain concepts, The Reliant Motor Company began producing its Rebel model in 1964 their answer to the Mini. It had a front engined ladder frame chassis with rear wheel drive by live axle and a glass fibre body, the 598cc engine later of 701 cc engine fitted in the later Rebel 700 was the same as used in their three wheeled cars. While in production until 1972 only two and half thousand were made.

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Honda N600

Chapter 10 Japan Into The Seventies

The roads in Japan outside the cities were very bad in the 1950s and 60s with speeds of 50 to 60 Kilometres per hour being the norm, it wasn’t until the five year road building programme beginning in 1971 that greater speed were possible. Honda introduced their first front wheel drive car in 1966 the N360. It was fitted with a transversely mounted air cooled O.H.C four stroke parallel twin cylinder engine. Honda had extensive experience of this type of engine in their motorcycles. Other versions were the N400, N500, and N600, made from 1967 to 1973, that had engine sizes to match the name. Over 1.1 million examples had been produced by 1971 when the "N" series cars were replaced. In 1970 Honda began producing the Z range of two seat miniature coupe's based on the N range mechanicals, from the Honda Z360 Kia cars to the Z600 which was for sale in markets other than Japan. Production ceased in 1972 with over forty-thousand made. As well as the Z models Honda made the Life model from 1971 to 1974, larger and with a water cooled engine it was more refined than the Z models. Daihatsu began production of a model in the Kia car category in 1966 the Fellow. With a water-cooled two-stroke twin-cylinder engine of 356cc producing 23hp. It had a front engine, rear wheel drive layout. It was in production until 1970. Daihatsu's replacement for the Fellow, was the Fellow Max. First produced in 1970, it had a 360cc two-stroke twin- cylinder engine, located at the front and driving the front wheels. Subaru replaced the 360 with the R2 in 1969, still with an air-cooled two-stroke engine of 356cc. This was replaced with a water-cooled version in 1971 and production ceased in 1972. In 1967 Suzuki replaced the Suzilight with the Fronte 360 LC10, it had a rear mounted lightweight tree- cylinder air-cooled two-stroke engine the produced 25 hp that gave it a maximum speed of 110 km/h. Mazda resumed Kei car production with the Chantez in 1972. It had a water- cooled two-stroke engine at the front driving the rear wheels. Kia car sales had increased steadily, reaching a peak of 750,000 in 1970. Throughout the 1970s the government kept reducing the benefits offered to Kia vehicles, which combined with ever stricter emissions standards to lower sales drastically through the first half of the decade. Honda and Mazda withdrew from the manufacturing of passenger Kia cars in 1974 and 1976 respectively, then sales steadily declined, reaching a low water mark of 150,000 passenger cars in 1975, eighty percent less than 1970 sales. Many were beginning to doubt the continued existence of the Kia car, New standards were announced on 26 August 1975, increasing the overall length and width restrictions by 200 mm and 100 mm respectively. Page 52 Basic Motoring

1972 Mitsubishi Minica

Engine size was increased to 550 cc, taking effect from January 1, 1976. To take advantage in changing regulations, Daihatsu substituted a 547cc single overhead camshaft four-stroke engine for the two-stroke engine in 1976 again a twin cylinder unit. This was carried over to a new body shell in 1977, the name be changed to the Max Cuore. Production ceased in 1980. The Subaru Rex replaced the R2 in 1972 and was in production until 1992. During that time the rear mounted 258cc two-stoke engine was replaced with a four-stroke until that was later increased to 490cc then finally to 540cc. A Mitsubishi Minica with a single overhead camshaft, four-stroke engine the F 4, was introduced in 1972 and was in production until 1989 as with the Subaru, the engine capacity was increased as regulation's allowed. In 1976 Suzuki introduced two new Kia cars the Cervo SS20 a two seat rear engined model and the Front 7-S a four seat also with a rear engined both with a three-cylinder inline two-stroke engine, The Front initially with a 443 cc version later sharing the 539 cc version with the Cervo. Export versions of the Cervo as the SC100 were fitted with a four- cylinder water-cooled overhead camshaft engine of 797 cc or 970 cc. The Front 7-S was produced until 1979 and a later version of the Cervo the SS40 until 1990. Suzuki introduced the first in the line of Fronte/Alto models the SS30/40 in 1979 and produced it until 1984, it had the T5B 539cc three-cylinder engine at first that was replaced by a 543 cc single overhead camshaft three-cylinder four-stroke engine in 1980. The engine was transversely mounted at the front driving the front wheels that were sprung by coils struts the rear axle being dead beam located and sprung by leaf springs. Export versions of the Alto had 796 cc version of the same engine and was also in production in India by Maruti as the 800 model. Interest in the one litre engined car in Japan was at a low ebb in the late sixties and seventies with only three new models during that period The produced between1966 to 1969, it being the first front wheel drive Subaru models also the first with a horizontally opposed water-cooled four-cylinder engines in this case with a capacity of 977 cubic centimetres. The Datsun Sunny B10 also known as the Datsun 1000 had a front engine rear wheel drive layout with a 988 cc four-cylinder inline water-cooled overhead valve engine. I am unable to determine the chassis type; but it had independent front suspension by wishbones and a transverse leaf spring, the live rear axle was hung on leaf springs. It was in production for only four years from 1966 to 1970. The Daihatsu Charade was a new front wheel drive model with a new three-cylinder belt driven overhead camshaft engine the Daihatsu C series engine of 843 cc or 993 cc. Japanese Car of the Year in 1979 and was made with successive revisions from 1977 to 1993. It was assembled from kits in many countries around the world. Page 53 Basic Motoring

Daihatsu Charade

During the period covered in this chapter the two stroke engine had given way to the four stroke engine in all models and seen the emergence of the three cylinder four stroke configuration not seen since the beginning of the century, an engine type that would become dominant in the ultralight car in the future. The trend towards the front wheel drive layout was well underway and would dominate in the future.

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Trabant 601

Chapter 11 Europe in the 1970”s

From the beginning of the nineteen-seventies cars with exclusively engines up to one litre were few in number as manufacturers attempted to maximise their model range with a range of engine sizes while keeping the number of actual models down, fitting engines from one litre up to 1.7 litres diesels, therefore making many of them heavier and outside the range of the ultralight car. An extreme case being the Citroen Visa with an engine size range of 652 cc to1.7 litres. As models mentioned previously grew in size or had larger engines options added I have dropped them from this narrative as I don’t consider them true ultralight economy cars. There were still cars with modest engine capacities being produced in Europe; but fewer new models compared to previous times. The Citroen Ami 6 and 2CV both with a 602 cc engine the former only made until 1971 and the latter with many years of production ahead of it, and another the Renault 4 with twenty more years of production ahead of it. Fiat was still making 600D, 850 and the 500L, the final version of that outstanding little car, all would be replaced by 1975. In eastern Europe production of the was well underway and would continue until1989. New versions of the Wartburg with a new body the 353 and later the Knight were produced from 1966 to 1988 and was the final example of the European two stroke triple engined cars. In Britain the Mark 2 version of the Mini was introduced in 1967 and had the option of 998 cc engine and came with the Hydrolastic springing system linking the front and rear wheels hydraulically. A Mark 2 Mini Cooper now with disc brakes was also produced from 1967 to 1969. Over two million Mark 1 and 2 were made in the first ten years of production to1969. A re- styled Mini the Clubman was produced from1969 to 1982 with the option of the one litre engine or one of 1098 cc. As well as models already in production at the end of the 1960s there were also some new models. Hillman began making the Husky an estate version of the Imp in 1967, it was only made for three year while continuing with an updated Imp the Super Imp which was made until 1976. In the same year Citroen began making the Dyane which had the 2CV chassis with a 603 cc engine and a more refined body although still fairly basic, even so they sold almost one and a half million by1984. Renault introduced the front wheel drive 6, in 1968, it utilise the R4 platform and the 845 cc engine until 1970 after then a1108 cc version was also available. The 6 was in production until 1980 in France ; but was made in Spain and Argentina until 1986.

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Citroen Dyane

Fiat was the most prolific European producer of new models at the end of the nineteen sixties and in the nineteen seventies. The Fiat subsidiary Autobianchi introduced their A112 model that used a smaller version of the platform in 1969 and it was made until 1986 . Over 1.2 million A112”s were produced in the Autobianchi Milan factory. This was the first Fiat front wheel drive small car using a transversely mounted engine derived from the 850 model in sizes from 903 cc to 1050cc. The Fiat 127 derived from A112 arrived in 1971 and was only available with 903 cc engine until 1977, in later years larger engine option were also available. It proved a very popular car and as well as Italy in was made in Spain by SEAT, in Poland by FSM as the 127p and also in Brazil. Fiat had not given up on the rear engined car and in 1972 introduced their 126 model as a replacement for the 500. It had an all new body shell and used components from the latest 500 including the 592 cc engine, this was increased to 652 cc in 1977. It was made in Italy until 1980 and in Poland as the 126p by FSM from 1973 to 1987 with almost two million produced. SEAT began producing their 133 model in 1974 and continued in production until 1982, it was effectively an 850 with a new body shell and had ether the 843 cc or 903 cc Fiat derived four cylinder engine. To summarise, in the late sixties and the beginning of seventies European manufacturers produced a varied range of small cars, with two, three and for cylinder engines some located at the rear driving the rear wheels but an increasing proportion with the engine at the front driving the front wheels, Fiat were producing new models of both types well into the nineteen seventies. The front engines rear wheel drive small car had almost disappeared with only the low production Reliant Kitten on offer. The Kitten model with an 848 cc engine, made between 1975 and 1982 did little better than the previous Reliant small cars with just over four thousand made, it being the last of an old concept as far as the economy cars were concerned.

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Autobianchi A112

Chapter 12 The World in the Eighties

By the beginning of the nineteen eighties there was no longer two separate small economy car markets; European and East Asian, the latter being effectively the Japanese sphere of influence; but a world wide small car market that would increasingly be dominated by the Japanese manufacturers who had been exporting kits of cars for local assembly and complete cars in significant numbers since the middle of the nineteen sixties, mostly to , Thailand, Australia, the United States and India, with well over a million units by the nineteen seventies. Exports to Europe and the United States was limited by quotes and extra tariffs, despite that, Daihatsu, Datsun and Honda exported their small cars to Britain in the late nineteen sixties end seventies but as Nissan and Honda’s cars became larger it was left Daihatsu with the Domino and the Charade and Suzuki with the SC100, Alto and Swift SA310 to carry on. There were only four new ultralight economy cars produced in Europe in the nineteen eighties and two of them the introduced in 1980 and the Seat Marbella in 1986, derived from it could be seen as utility cars in the style of the Citroen 2CV and Renault R4 being of value in the country as well as in the city. The Fiat Panda was available with engines of 652 cc air-cooled twin derived from the 126, to water-cooled fours derived from the 127 from 764cc to 999 cc, driving the front wheels. The Marbella was only produced until 1988; but the Panda was in production until 2003 with four and a half million made. FSM Fiat in Poland began making the last in the line of rear engined models evolved from the 1950s 500 the126bis in 1987. It had 704 cc water cooled twin cylinder engine and was made until1991. One common feature of the European ultralight or economy cars with the exception of the couple of remaining two- stroke engined models still in production in Eastern Germany, was the use of overhead valves in their four stroke engines all of which were initially designed in the nineteen forties and fifties. The Minitre the other model in Europe was the exception. This was because Innocenti had replaced the British designed engine in their version of the Mini that they had been making in Italy since 1974 with a unit sourced from Daihatsu, with sizes ranging from 547 cc to 993 cc. All were overhead camshaft four-stroke units of two or three cylinder configurations. The Minitre was produced from 1982 to 1993.

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Daihatsu L55 Mira

This takes us to the ultralight cars from Japan all of which had overhead camshaft engines in the same period. The smaller Japanese ultralight cars the Kei cars were still restricted to a capacity of 550cc at this time and increasing restrictions on emissions limiting power output, manufacturers had to produce more efficient and sophisticated engines to keep the type viable. The Daihatsu L55 series Mira/ Cuore/ Domino was produced from1980, replacing the Max Cuore, again with the twin cylinder 547cc engine. A larger 617cc engined version the L60 Cuore was produced along side the L55 from 1982 for export. Both were produced until 1985 when the L70 series was introduced, it had a longer wheelbase and the latest version of 547 cc engine. Export versions mostly had a 847 cc three, in was made until 1990. The 1984 Mitsubishi Minica/Econo was now a front wheel drive car, it had a 546 cc single overhead camshaft three cylinder engine and was revised in 1989. Suzuki introduced the Cervo Coupe in 1984 based on the Alta, again with a 543cc single overhead camshaft three cylinder engine. After a gap of eleven years Honda again produced a Kei car the Today, in production from 1985 to 1998. Initially with a twin cylinder engine derived from an overhead camshafts motorcycle unit, After 1990 a three cylinder unit of 647 cc later 656 cc was fitted taking advantage of the 1990 change in the Kei car regulations allowing engines up to 660 cc to be used. Suzuki introduced a revised Fronte in 1984 again in two versions, the Kei version for Japan with the same 543 cc engine and the export version with a 796 cc unit with the Alto name, this model was also produced in China and India as the Maruti 800 and Pakistan as the Mehran 800 and remain in production until 2013. Revised models were introduced in 1986 and 1988 with revised rear suspension, disk brakes and in some versions a double overhead camshaft engine. The Fronte name was dropped in 1989 and the Alta name used for all models. The Carol Mk 1 was produced by Suzuki for Mazda in 1989, Autozam was a name some Mazda cars were sold under. It used the Alta platform and had a 547 cc engine, It was updated in 1994. In the one litre sector Daihatsu was still making the Charade throughout the nineteen eighties as did FAW Tianjin in China from 1986, and it was joined by models from Suzuki, Nissan and Subaru. The first of the Nissan Micra/March k10 model was first produced in 1982 initially until 1989 with only a 1 litre engine available a four cylinder unit. Over two million where produced in the eleven years.

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Nissan Micra/March K10

The Suzuki SA310 was a front wheel drive car and had a 993 cc three cylinder overhead camshaft engine. It was assembled in seven countries around the world and sold with many names such as Suzuki Swift, Cultus, Khyber Forsa, Holden Barina in Australia, Chevrolet Sprint/Sprint Metro, Pontiac Firefly in Canada, Geminett in Japan and was in production from 1983 to 1988 in its first version. The was a front engined front wheel drive later four wheel drive hatchback Both were fitted with the Subaru EF10 of 997cc, single overhead camshaft, water-cooled, three-cylinder units. This version of the Justy was produced from 1984 to 1994.

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Fiat Cinquecento

Chapter 13 European Decline

By the beginning of the nineteen nineties the under one litre European ultralight economy car was almost extinct as manufacturers increasingly introduced cars in the supermini sector, the eastern European two stroke twins had faded away at the end of the eighties and the venerable Citroen 2CV having outlived all its related models was gone by nineteen ninety, the Renault R4 another long lived model only lasted a couple more years being the last of the small for a quarter of a century. It was left to Fiat who had taken over the FSM factory in Tychy, Poland, to make in addition to the Italian built Panda the only new ultralight economy car in Europe for most of the nineteen nineties, the Cinquecento in 1991, a front engined front wheel drive car that had the engine options of the overhead valve two cylinder unit from the 126 installed longitudinally and a 899 cc overhead valve four cylinder unit in the now conventional transverse power unit layout. The Cinquecento was replaced by the Fiat Seicento in1998 again with the 899 cc overhead valve four cylinder unit and the 1.1 litre overhead cam Fiat FIRE unit. It was produced until 2010 with over a million made in the first six years.The last of a long line of various BMC/Rover Mini models from the basic economy car to versions with ever increasing engine size designed to capitalise on its excellent handling and fancy body changes and names to appeal to those who were prepared to pay extra for extra glamour was produced in small numbers until 2000 bringing the total for all versions up to over five million. The only significant innovation in ultralight economy cars in Europe was the introduction of the Smart Fortwo, a two seat mid engined car in 1998 It was modern rendering of the mid engined ultralight economy car concept as advocated by Joseph Ganz in the 1930s,. The Fortwo produced in Hambach, France, by the Smart division of Daimler AG, had a very high length to hight ratio being 1.5 metres high and only 2.5 metres long giving it a very squat appearance. The three cylinder turbocharged engine in sizes from 599cc to 799c and six speed gearbox was located transversely ahead of the de-Dion rear axle. The unitary chassis was in the form of a cage clothed with plastic panels similar to the manner of the Trabant. One point five million units were produced by 2013. By comparison the Asian ultralight car was going from strength to strength with frequent new or revised models. The list is so long that I can only make sense of it by relating it in date order. There were three new or revised models in 1990, Suzuki introduced the SS20 Cervo Mode, it was a three door hatchback with a 660cc three or four cylinder turbo charged engine, later available in unblown form.

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Smart ForTwo In1993 Maruti in India produced a version called the Zen that was sold in Europe as the . Mitsubishi introduced the Toppo, a tall version of the Minica, an increasingly used devise to get more volume into the Kia car package. This version was produced until 2004. The L200 was the third in the Mira line and had for the Japanese market engines up to 660cc some of them turbocharged. Versions sold in the rest of the world had a 847cc three cylinder engine and were marketed as the Daihatsu Cuore. 1991 saw one new model, in South Korea Daewoo produced the Tico based on the 1988 Suzuki Alto. It had 796cc three cylinder engine. It was produced there until 1997, but production had started in Warsaw Poland and Asaka Uzbekistan in 1996 and would commence in making it truly a world car. In1992 Subaru produced in Yokohama Japan the Vivio a hatchback in the Kia car mould replacing the Rex. With a range of 658cc four cylinder engines available from single overhead camshaft to turbocharged and double overhead camshafts and a range of transmissions from three or five speeds, automatic and CTV gear boxes. Daihatsu introduced the Opti Mk 1 hatchback based on the Mira L200 platform and made this version until 1998. Suzuki first produced the Wagon R in Indonesia in 1993, a tall Kia car with a 660cc engine. It was also sold as the Mazda AZ Wagon. Later versions of the Wagon R would be produced around the world and five million produced by 2010. The seventh version of the Mitsubishi Minica was introduced in 1993 with a new body and a range of advanced engines, this was made until 1998. The 1994 the fourth generation Daihatsu Mira L500 with a 660cc engines in Japan produced in Japan and Pakistan, the L501 Coare outside and Charade Centro in Australia, with a 847cc three in the rest of the world. The Malaysian company produced its first model the Kencil also called the Nippa in the Uk and the Daihatsu Ceria in Indonesia in 1994. It was developed from the third generation Mira. It was available with a 659cc or 847cc engine, both Daihatsu three’s. Over seven hundred thousand had been produced by 2009 and its replacement. In 1995 Suzuki introduced the fourth edition of the Alto and Daihatsu introduced the Move L600. It was Daihatsu’s take on the tall Kia car with a 658cc engine for Japan and a 847cc engine for export. In the same year Perodua introduced the Kenari, based on the Move it had a 989cc DOHC three cylinder engine and was made until 2009. In 1997 Honda replaced the Today with their answer to the Wagon R, a new tall model using the name Life and the components of the latest Today and was only produced for eighteen months due to changes in regulations.

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Suzuki Wagon R

Also in the same year a relatively new but important maker first introduced a ultralight economy car Hyundai with the Atos. Marketed using various names around the world such as Hyundai Amica / Atoz in the UK, Hyundai Atoz in Indonesia, Hyundai Santro Xing in India, Atos in Mexico Inokom Atos and Inokom Atos Prima in and Kia Visto in South Korea. It was assembled South Korea, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt and Pakistan to service these markets. A conventional five door hatchback with a four cylinder 999cc engine, it proved popular and wasn’t replaced until 2007 and remained in production much later in some markets. Also in 1997 Suzuki introduced the Wagon R. Wide, this wasn’t a Kia car and a one litre and 1.2 litre engine was available.The Subaru replaced the Vivio with a tall Kia car the Pleo in 1998 that remained in production until 2010. It was available with various specifications of 658cc four cylinder engines. 1998 was a busy year, Daihatsu introduced two new model, a version of the Opti and a new Mira the L700. The L700 model was available in four wheel drive as well as front wheel drive as had all previous Mira’s and many of the other Kia cars on the market. By this time a top spec’ Kia car was a very complex machine. A new enlarged version of the was introduced with improved safety features, this version was made until 2003. Suzuki introduced the fifth generation of the Alto which was produced in Japan from 1998 to 2004. It was sold as Changian Zen, and Chevrolet Alto with a one litre engine, in various markets. Daewoo replaced the Tico with the Matiz in 1998. The Matiz was a re- engineered Tico with a new Italian designed body. The eight generation of the Mitsubishi Minica was enlarge to take advantage of new Kia car regulations, it was in production until 2011. A second generation the L900 was introduced in 1999, Daihatsu also introduced the Mira Gino a retro styled car based on the fifth generation Mira and was produced until 2004. As many of the models referred to in this text have been two seat cars with a one litre engine I don’t think it is going too far to include a model introduced by Honda in 1999. The Insight could be seen as another step forward in the technically advanced small Japanese car, the addition of the hybrid system being just another step. Unfortunately the technology has been diverted to the large car sector since the demise of the first Insight in 2006 and has not been pursued in the ultralight car sector since.

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Daihatsu Move

Chapter 14 The Twenty First Century

As the major European auto manufacturers mostly withdrew from the ultralight economy car market there emerged a range of vehicles produced to conform to the European union directive of 1992 on the motorised quadricycle, that in specification and performance resemble the very small cars of the nineteen fifties and sixties such as for example the German Lloyd and Goggomobile and the first and second Fiat 500s. Usually with two and sometimes four seats coupe bodies with engines around 500cc. Produced by Legier, Microcar, Aixam, in France and by Grecav in Italy and others, front wheel drive is universal, often with two cylinder diesel engines. With speeds up to 60mph and fuel consumption at 70 mpg their performance compares favourably with their predecessors but as with those older cars safety standards are not what we have come to expect from modern cars detracting from their desirability. Some manufacturers of motorised quadricylces have produced electric versions of their cars. This takes us to the other emerging branch of ultralight cars or more correctly re-emerging as the was the original ultralight or town car. The long but sparse history of the electric car begins well over a hundred years ago, the peak of its popularity was about 1900. Being clean and easy to drive the electric car had a short period in fashion for use in British and American ultralight’s being considered suitable for women to drive. The first car designed by the creator of the Volkswagen Ferdinand Porsche was an electric car the Lohner Porsche Chaise, this was in Vienna. The very low speed and short range of the car of only thirty- two miles was not considered sufficient so that in his next car he replaced the batteries with a and a generator to power the wheel mounted electric motors. Batteries are the weak link in the electric car and it the development of advanced batteries that has led to it being considered again as a viable form of ultralight transport. Their have been many prototype electric ultralight car usually based on existing ultralight car but only in the decades I will come to later has this led to production cars. Also their have been electric ultralight cars produced but only in small numbers one being the British Enfield 8000 with about a hundred made between 1969 and 1971 who’s high price and limited rang killed it. Other recent models have been the Norwegian designed Think, some of which have been produced from 1995 in , the USA and but by March 2011 production had stopped due to financial problems. The Indian made Revai known as the G-Wiz in the UK, in production from 2001to 2012, has made some impact on the British mainly London market and is classed as a heavy motorised quadricycle in the UK and it shares with the others of the class very low safety standards.

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Aixam Coupe

By the beginning of the new century the Kia cars of Japan and their larger engined export versions had grown into very sophisticated machines, mostly with three cylinder double overhead-camshaft, multi-point injected engines, some available turbocharged. Front engines were universal with transmission options of two or four wheel drive, manual five speed, automatic or CVT gearboxes. In 2000 Suzuki introduced the MR Wagon a Tall Kia car, to the Japanese maker, it was sold as the Nissan Moco and this version was produced until 2006. Mitsubishi also produced a similar model in that year the EK again for the Japanese market that is still in production in 2014 after a couple of updates. From 2005 it was also sold as the Nissan Oti. Three new models were produced in 2002, The Honda Thats, that was a tall Kia car based on the Life platform that was produced until 2006, the third generation of the Daihatsu Move the L150l/L260 and Suzuki introduced the Lapin a five door hatchback that was also marketed as the Mazda Spiano. In 2003 a third generation and Honda Life began production and Subaru introduced an all new R2 model an up to date Kia car that was made until 2010. Daihatsu added another tall Kia car to its range the Tanto, which had normal doors on one side and a large sliding door on the other. An updated version was still in production in 2014. In 2005 Subaru introduced the R1 a shortened two door version of the R2 that was produced until 2010. Daihatsu introduced the five door four seat hatchback Kia car the Esse which was at that time the cheapest new car available in Japan and was made until 2011. 2006 was a good year for new models, Subaru introduced the Stella a tall five door Kia car based on the R2, Daihatsu introduced two updated models the Mira L275/285and the Move L175/185 and the short lived Sonica Kia car only produced for four years. Suzuki reintroduced the Cervo name with the HG 215, an Alta based well appointed Kia car. Honda introduced the Zest a Kia car based on the fifth generation Life model. The above were all the reworking of existing models and concepts but the Mitsubishi I was something completely new. A long wheelbase four door Kia car, like the Smart Fortwo It was modern rendering of the mid engined ultralight economy car concept as advocated by Joseph Ganz in the 1930s, only this time with a unitary chassis and eliminated the failings of the swing axle by also using a De-Dion axle and final drive. As first conceived it was not a sales success and in the eight years it was produced less than ninety-thousand were sold. As I will relate later the concept would prove ideal for electric cars.

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Suzuki Palette

Suzuki introduced two new models in 2008, the fourth in the line of Wagon R’s with an updated body and another tall Kia car this time with sliding rear doors the Palette, which was also sold as the Nissan Roox and Mazda Flair Wagon. Honda began producing the fifth generation of the Life. In 2009 Suzuki introduced the seventh version of the Alto and Daihatsu introduced the Tanto exe another tall Kia car that was also sold as the Subaru Lucra from 2010. Bringing the list as up to date as I can, in 2012 Suzuki introduced the latest the fifth generation of the Kia Wagon R and Honda replaced the R2 with a new model the N-one fitted with Honda’s latest engine and transmission. Models that had been superseded in Japan were being produced all over Asia by local companies for local consumption and in some cases export, for example In India in 2000 production began of the Maruti Alto, based on the fifth generation Alto, with the 796 cc Suzuki F8D engine, becoming India’s best selling hatchback, In 2001 Perodua produced the Kalisa which was based on the L700 Mira and in 2007 the Viva based on the seventh generation Mira, with engines from 659 cc to 989 cc. The failed carmaker Daewoo was taken over by in 2002 and car produced after were rebadged as Chevrolet’s, the second generation Matiz appeared in 2005 with many revisions, it was sold as the Spark in some markets and was produced until 2009 in South Korea; but was still made in the many assembly plants else were after that date. It was replaced by a supermini sized model that is sold as the Spark. The Chinese company Chery began the production of their QQ model in 2003 with claims from General Motors that is it was a reverse engineered copy of their Matiz. It was renamed the QQ3 in 2006 and has been assembled through out the world in Russia, Iraq. Indonesia and Iran as well as production in China. An all new model was first produced by Maruti Suzuki in India in 2008 the Maruti A Star, fitted with the 998 cc three- cylinder K10B engine that was developed especially for the new car. It has been sold around the world under various names such as Nisan Pixo, Chaungu-Suzuki Alto, Suzuki Celerio and Suzuki Alto. Where the A Star was at the sophisticated end of the ultralight economy spectrum the other new Indian car first produced that year the Tata Nano, was at the other end looking back to the simple machines of nineteen fifties, being very similar in size and weight to the original Fiat Nuova 500. Like the 500 it has a twin cylinder engine rear mounted but now with a single overhead camshaft and multi point injected and a four speed , with a maximum speed of 105 km/h it is said to be the cheapest car in the world today. Astra Daihatsu a part of the Toyota group of companies in Indonesia designed a new city car to fit in with a low price initiative of the government, using a simplified version of an existing engine in a five door hatchback. On sale from 2012 as the Toyota Agya or Daihatsu Agya in Indonesia and in the as the Toyota Wigo. Page 66 Basic Motoring

Maruti A-Star

At the beginning of the new century there were only three ultralight economy cars in production in Europe, the Smart Fortwo and Fiat’s Seicento or 600 and Panda models. The Panda was soon to be replaced by a new larger model of the same name with a range of larger engine available in effect becoming a supermini. The first new ultralight economy cars of the decade were the result of a joint venture by the PSA Peugeot Citroen and Toyota, who established a new factory at Koln in the Czech Republic to produce a city car. Utilising Japanese ultralight economy cars technology in the form of the Daihatsu/Toyota 1KR-FE engine a state of the art one litre unit. The 1KR-FE is a Daihatsu three cylinder design with double overhead camshafts with variable valve timing operating four valves per cylinder and multi point fuel injection with electronic engine management meeting the latest European emission standards.The result was the Peugeot 107, Citroen C1, and Toyota Aygo models badge engineered versions of the same design of front wheel drive three door hatchback first introduced in 2005. The 998 cc 1KR-FE produced 68 PS and a lower powered 1.4 litre diesel engined version was also available. After being updated in 2009 and 2012 they were replaced in 2014 by a new model who’s major change is a restyled body and trim and in the case of the Peugeot a revised name now being the Peugeot 108. Another change is the inevitable option of a1.2 litre engine, the diesel option having been dropped. It was a long wait until the next new ultralight economy car was produced in Europe 2011, but well worth the wait and again in came in three’s. The VW Up, the Seat Miil and the Skoda Citygo are again badge engineered versions of the same design produced in plant at Bratislavia in utilising Volkswagen Groups new small family platform and a new three cylinder one litre engine to create a conventional front wheel drive three door hatchback. Production of the Up began in Brazil in 2013. Renault and the Smart division of Daimler AG had been working on a completely different approach to creating a four seat city car by adopting the rear engined rear wheel drive layout of the Smart Fortwo in a normally proportioned platform combined with an all new Renault engine the three cylinder one litre SCe 70 unit mounted transversely in the manner of the NSU Prinz of the 1950s. Said to share 70% of common components the and the Smart Forfour were first produced in 2014 at Novo Mesto, Slovenia.

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Volkswagen Up

Chapter 15 A Summary

An engines configuration is a compromise between cost of manufacture, weight and refinement and for the first fifty years of the car ultralight economy cars usually had a twin cylinder engines at the cheaper end of thee range and four cylinder engines at the more expensive end with some exceptions; but from the nineteen forties there emerged the two stroke triple. First produced in Germany and then in Sweden and later by Suzuki in Japan who after producing two stroke twins began producing two stoke triples. At the beginning of the twentieth century there was a short lived fashion for the four stroke inline three cylinder engine; but I cannot find any evidence of an engine of that configuration until Daihatsu began producing their CB10 engine as fitted in the 1977 Charade. Suzuki converted from the two stroke triple to the four stroke triple in 1981 with their F5A 543 cc engine and the F8B 796 cc engine both being fitted in the Alta. The changed was necessitated by their inability to meet emission standards with the two stroke engine then in production. Daihatsu went on to extending their range of triples with the 550 cc EB in 1985, the 850 cc ED in 1986, the 660 cc EF in 1990 and the 989 cc EJ in 1998, the Toyota 1KR-Fe is also a Daihatsu design. As Daihatsu and Suzuki designs dominate the ultralight car sector and are the bases for Maruti, Perodua and the early Daewoo models as well as supplying engines for other makes, with the new Volkswagen and Renault models also using the same layout of engine, the inline four stroke three cylinder engine is almost universal in this sector. I mentioned the early history of the electric city car in a previous chapter and their lack of success in the market place. Due to concerns about pollution in cities the electric car has had a revival in the twenty-first century with models produced by small specialists and increasingly by major manufacturers. There are electric city cars but they could not be considered ultralight and due to the very high initial cost of the electric car they cannot be considered economic in comparison to city cars with an internal combustion engine, as the following examples show. The Volkswagen Up weigh’s 929 Kg and the eUp weigh’s 1139 kg, the Volkswagen Up costs £8,010 in the Uk and the eUp costs £19,270. The same comparisons for the Smart and the Smart Ed are 795 kg and 970 kg and cost wise £9,220 and £15,395, and for the Aixam Coupe in relation to the Mega City electric is 400 kg and 645 kg and 12,440 Euros and 17,708 Euros. They therefore are only a footnote in this narrative. Page 67 Basic Motoring

Chery QQ3

If it wasn’t for the regulation defining the European motorised quadricycle’s and Japanese Kia cars I’m sure the manufacturers would as they replaced existing models produce larger, heavier replacements with larger capacity engines, it’s the way of the industry; but there is no restrictions on the other larger city cars and inevitably this is what happens when they are replaced, with well known model names moving into the bottom of the supermini sector like the Fiat Panda and the Chevrolet Spark, fortunately there are other to replace them such as the models and the new Renault Twingo. In the second decade of the twenty first century the ultralight economy car is flourishing wether its goes under the name of motorised quadricycle, Kia car, City car, A segment or small subcompact. in production all over the world, although not now made in the affluent parts of western Europe as in the past that is except France; but in eastern Europe, Asia southeast and continental and south America, providing reliable cost effective transportation to millions of people.

Page 68 Basic Motoring Ultralight Economy Cars in Production in 2014 Manufacturer Model Class Country of Production Ligier IXO JS Line range Motorised Quad France Microcar M.GO Motorised Quad France Aixam Coupe Motorised Quad France Grecav Sonique Motorised Quad Italy Tata Nano Mini car India Daihatsu Mira Kia Japan Daihatsu Move Kia Japan Kia Japan Daihatsu Tanto exe Kia Japan Suzuki Alto Kia Japan Suzuki Wagon R Kia Japan Suzuki MR Wagon Kia Japan/India Mitsubishi eK Kia Japan Mitsubishi Toppo Kia Japan Honda Life Kia Japan Honda N-ONE Kia Japan Subaru Lucra Kia Japan Karimun Wagon R City Indonesia Pax Suzuki Wagon R City Pakistan Maruti Wagon R City India Maruti A Star/Alta City India Smart Fortwo City France Chery QQ3 City China and many others Toyota Agya City Indonesia Citroen C1 City Czech Republic Peugeot 108 City Czech Republic Toyota Aygo City Czech Republic Volkswagen Up City Slovakia/Brazil Seat Miil City Slovakia Skoda Citigo City Slovakia Renault Twingo City Slovenia

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