Thomas Flyer 6-60
Car : Thomas Flyer 6-60
Year : 1907
Engine : 6 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :140×140 mm
Cylinder capacity : 12924 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 72
Maximum speed : 70 mph
Wheelbase : 11 ft 8 ins (3.55 m)
Suspension : front and back : semi-elliptic leaf- springs
The 6-60 owes its fame to its victory in the 1908 New York-Paris race. It remained in production until 1912. The engine developed 72 bhp, and in 1907 it cost $4,500. The New York-Paris race was created by the Paris newspaper Le Matin and announced immediately after the Peking-Paris rally. Six cars set off at the start, including a Thomas Flyer. The almost 21,000 miles (34,000 km) journey westwards was completed in 170 days by George Schuster driving the Thomas Flyer; this was three days faster than a German Protos. The enterprise cost Thomas Flyer $100,000.

Thomas (the name Flyer was added later) was initially founded by Erwin Ross Thomas as a bicycle company. In 1897 the company was building engines, in 1900 motorcycles, and in 1902 cars were produced. From twin-cylinder engines it went to 3, the 4, the finally 6 cylinders. The New York-Paris winner was a 6-cylinder car with shaft transmission. After 1909 the firm’s fortunes declined and it was bought by Eugene Meyer. Despite the introduction of new models, Meyer could not save the company.

White 30 HP
Car : White 30 HP
Year : 1908
Engine : twin-cylinder, steam
Bore and stroke :-
Cylinder capacity : -
Gears : 2 forward
Brake horse power : 30
Maximum speed : 50 mph
Wheelbase : 8 ft 8 ins (2.64 m)
Suspension : -
Although White started as a car manufacturer in 1901, it now makes trucks. Rollin H. White began in business making sewing-machines, but he soon became interested in cars, especially steam-cars (based on the French Serpollets).

From making a two-seater buggy (with a double-acting twin-cylinder engine situated at the back and with flash-boiler with superheater) the firm progressed to more sophisticated models equipped with condenser, which considerably reduced the consumption of water in the boiler.
Like almost every manufacturer of the time, Rollin White realized how much publicity could be gained through races, and he won a reputation for himself by the excellent performance of his cars.
The 1908 30 HP was one of White’s last steam-cars. It had a pressure regulator and a device for measuring the temperature of the superheated steam. White saw in time that steam propulsion would be replaced by gasoline-driven engines, and so in 1910 he turned to internal combustion engines.
His new cars were distinguished for their quality and the care taken in their construction. After the First World War, White struck out in a new direction again, concentrating exclusively on heavy goods vehicles.

Wills Sainte Claire
Car : Wills Sainte Claire
Year : 1922
Engine : 8 cylinders V
Bore and stroke :82.55×101.6 mm
Cylinder capacity : 4350 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 67
Maximum speed : 80 mph
Wheelbase : 10 ft 1 ins (3.07 m)
Suspension : front and back : semi-elliptic leaf- springs
There are two aspects of the Wills Sainte Claire Company which make it one of the most interesting and original ‘characters’ in the story of the American car industry. The first is the founder of the company and designer of the car, Chlide Harold Wills, who was the chief designer of the famous Ford Model T, and who collaborated with Ford up until 1919, when he set up on his own, using his own mechanical expertise. The second is the name of the firm which apart from recording the name of the founder, is taken from Lake Saint Clair near which the firm was based.

The Wills Sainte Claire was original above all in its engine (8 cylinders V), which was clearly inspired by the Hispano-Suiza, with overhead camshaft for each bank of cylinders, and cast-iron rather than metal alloy engine block, as in the Spanish-French engine. The car appeared rather later than scheduled, due to the meticulous attention to detail. It was priced at $3,000. In 1922 4,300 vehicles were made, but sales figures dropped rapidly in following years, due to the difficulties of ensuring an efficient maintenance service. In 1924 a single plate clutch and hydraulic brakes were added. A more simple 6-cylinder model was unsuccessful and the company ceased production in 1927.

Winton Tourer 17 B
Car : Winton Tourer 17 B
Year : 1911
Engine : 6 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :114.3×127 mm
Cylinder capacity : 7819 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 48
Maximum speed : 65
Wheelbase : 10 ft 10 ins (3.30 m)
Suspension : front and back : semi-elliptic leaf- springs
Winton, founded in Cleveland in 1980 as a bicycle firm, had already changed to the production of motor cars by 1987. Its founder, Alexander Winton, was a Scottish naval engineer. His first car had a single-cylinder engine and wooden chassis.
Winton understood the importance of races, and for the 1900 Gordon Bennett he built a car of almost 4000 cc, with single-cylinder engine (165.1×177.8), battery and coil ignition, 2-speed gears, and chain transmission. Winton himself drove in the race, but did not finish.

The single-cylinder was followed by a twin-cylinder engine. 4-cylinder engines made their appearance in standard cars in 1904, and 6-cylinders in 1908. The engine in the Tourer 17 B was in three blocks of 2 cylinders, and had side valves, dual ignition (with high-tension magneto and coil), forced water cooling, and honeycomb radiator. It developed 48 bhp, and the brakes acted only on the back wheels.
It had a folding canvas top, and two occasional back seats. It also came with a compressed air system which, apart from helping to start the engine, served to inflate the tires. The company continued to produce the same models. It realized too late that times had changed, and in 1924 began producing diesel marine engines.

Woods Mobilette
Car : Woods Mobilette
Year : 1914
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :65.3×88.9 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1190 cc
Gears : 2 forward
Brake horse power : 12
Maximum speed : 35 mph
Wheelbase : 8 ft 0 ins (2.43 m)
Suspension : front: semi-elliptic leaf- springs; back: elliptic leaf- springs
Woods Mobilette was one of the many firms to prosper in Detroit with the production

of light cyclecars. At on time these vehicles were quite popular because of cheap running

costs and easy handling. The Woods company boasted that its car was the size of a kitchen

table.
After starting life in Chicago, in 1914, it moved to Harvey, Illinois, where a proper

production-line was set up. The 1914 model, priced at $380, was less than 3 feet (1 m)

across, which explains why the two seats were placed in tandem. The two-speed transmission

was of the epicyclic type, with selection lever positioned centrally. The brakes acted on the

rear wheels. It could travel at around 35 mph. The extras included top and windshield ($15)

and acetylene headlights. The rear of the vehicle could be removed to created a surface

suitable for carrying a load.
After 1915 its production resembled more that of higher cylinder capacity cars

(longer wheelbase, 3 forward speed transmission, but still not a standard top), while the

price remained $380. The power of the engine was increased to 22 bhp.
Lights
Even the terminology saw a development here going from ‘lanterns’ to ‘beacons’ and

finally to ‘headlights’. They first appeared on coaches around 1859; the years 1905-1910 saw

acetylene lamps, and in 1912 (Cadillac) headlights as we know them. Other cars very soon

adopted these.
Wheels
The first car wheels were wooden, reinforced with metal and with detachable rims.

Then the metal ‘artillery’ type was developed, and subsequently those metal discs, and light

alloys, Solid tires were replaced by pneumatic rubber tires.

Car : Aston-Martin
Year : 1925
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :66.5×107 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1486 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 35
Maximum speed : 80 mph
Wheelbase : 8 ft 7 ins (2.66 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi- elliptic leaf- springs
Martin developed an engine with the same cylinder capacity especially for Zborowski, but with 16 valves (4 per cylinder). It was in a car of this type that Zborowski took part in the Strasbourg G.P. in 1922.
.

With the death of Zborowski on the track at Monza in 1924, Aston-Martin entered a new crisis. On this occasion it was saved by another foreigner, an Italian, Augusto Cesare Bertelli, who struck lucky on the race-track. In the early 1930s it was taken over by R. G. Sutherland. The fifth owner was David Brown, and his arrival (1947) recorded by the addition of his initials to the firm’s name. In 1976 a Canadian-American consortium bought the company. The models reproduced here, though similar both in looks and mechanically, are historically important in that they were the first the company built, in the full sense of the word, in its early pioneering days. After 1927 it used 4-cylinder engines with overhead valves and removable heads

Austin 4 HP
Austin Seven Baby
Car : Austin Seven Baby
Year : 1924
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :56×76.2 mm
Cylinder capacity : 750 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 10.5
Maximum speed : 52 mph
Wheelbase : 6 ft 3 ins (1.90 m)
Suspension : front: semi- elliptic leaf- springs; back: ¼elliptic leaf- springs

Car : Austin 4 HP
Year : 1911
Engine : Single cylinder
Bore and stroke :105×127 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1100 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 7
Maximum speed : 32 mph
Wheelbase : 6 ft 0 ins (1.82 m)
Suspension : front: semi- elliptic leaf- springs; back: elliptic leaf- springs
Herbert Austin founded the company that bears his name in 1906, after being director-general of Wolseley. The firm started with a sturdy and reliable model that was very simple in its general conception. The 15 HP came into production in 1908. It was typical of the early period, and as often happened at that time, various parts, eapecially the gearbox and ignition, were quickly modified. Thus, by 1922 a small, truly popular car had evolved. In the meantime, Herbert Austin had been knighted for his contribution to the war effort. The Great War had in fact been both favorable and unfavorable to Austin: on the one hand a war machine had had to be built; on the other, factories had sprung up and prospered everywhere in the building of it. At the end of the war this was an embarrassment. The administrative board’s refusal to subsidise the equipment necessary for production of the Seven induced Sir Herbert Austin to work on his small car plan not in the official workshops, but at home, in the evenings, with the help of a designer. Although the Seven could thus have been built by another firm, under a different name as it turned out, the car, when it appeared, bore the name of the Birmingham firm.
Some 300,000 were produced. With the Baby, Austin was in effect doing what Peugeot had already done with the Bébé and Quadrilette, and Citroën with the 5 HP Type C. The Seven was also known as the Chummy–the ‘sociable’ 4-seater. Between 1921 and 1929 Austin made 100,000 Sevens, and roughly twice as many again in the next ten years.
First produced in 1922, in 1924 the engine of the Seven was enlarged (from 54×76.2 mm, 696 cc). In 1922 the standard Tourer version cost £165. This obviously lucky name (seven) crops up four times in Austin’s history: first in 1908 by events probably dictated by strong commercial pressures.
Between 1909 and 1911 there was another, single cylinder, 7 HP, though this time built by the Swift Motor Co. Ltd under Austin’s name (this car appeared in the Swift catalogue). It had a water-cooled, single-cylinder 1087 cc engine. In 1952, the name Seven was given to another series of low cylinder capacity cars, which remained in production for seven years–proof that this too had been spot-on in meeting market demand. Finally the first Austin Minis, announced in 1959, were called Austin Sevens.

Bean 14 HP
Car : Bean 14 HP
Year : 1926
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :75×135 mm
Cylinder capacity : 2385 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 32
Maximum speed : 50 mph
Wheelbase : 9 ft 2½ ins (2.80 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi- elliptic leaf- springs
Bean only had a short life as a car company (from the end of the First World War to 1931), but its origins date back to 1826, when A. Harper Sons and Bean Ltd started doing hot forging and foundry work. The first modern Bean vehicle dates from 1919. It had a 11.9 bhp engine with side valves, designed and built in modest numbers by Perry, of which Bean had bought the manufacturing rights.

The 14 HP, first produced in 1924, had an engine with detachable head and three main bearings, and could do 50 mph. In 1925 the standard production model was equipped with brakes on all four wheels. Bean also collaborated with Fiat England, supplying it with bodywork for imported Fiat 501 chassis.
Rather than relying on traditional races, the company concentrated more on rallies to advertise its cars. Its most successful venture was in 1927 when Francis Birtles crossed Australia in a 14 HP. The drive began in London, and also took in India and Indo-China, which caused considerable difficulties and stress for both cars and driver. The solidity of Bean cars can quite justifiably be attributed to the work of one of the founders in 1826. The only Bean sports car was the 1929 Hatfield Bean 14/70 HP.

Belsize 10/12 HP
Car : Belsize 10/12 HP
Year : 1912
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :69×130 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1945 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 12
Maximum speed : 34 mph
Wheelbase : 8 ft 0 ins (2.43 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi- elliptic leaf- springs
The 10/12 HP was one of the last successful cars built by this Manchester-based company dating from 1897. In 1924, after a turbulent life typical of the period, Belsize went bankrupt.

Another typical aspect of the company’s history was its development from a bicycle concern, through manufacturing under licence from a foreign firm (in this case the French Hurtu), to being a fully-fledged car-manufacturing company. It is worth noting also that Hurtu in turn developed its cars from the German firm Benz.
In 1903 Marshall and Company became the Belsize Motor and Engineering Company, and it straight away tried to change its production. However, it could not give up foreign engines that quickly, and it improved and developed those that it used from the Paris Société Buchet. Almost immediately after becoming independent, Belsize was offering single-, twin-, 3-, 4-, and 6-cylinder cars. This variety of engines shows again how Belsize faithfully reflected the uncertainly of the market. Mass-produced small cylinder capacity cars became the order of the day, however, and those firms that could not cope with the new market requirements ceased production.

Bentley 4 1/2 litre
Car : Bentley 4 1/2 litre
Year : 1929
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :100×140 mm
Cylinder capacity : 4396 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 100
Maximum speed : 92 mph
Wheelbase : 10 ft 10 ins (3.30 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi- elliptic leaf- springs

Car : Bentley 3 litre
Year : 1921
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :80×149 mm
Cylinder capacity : 2996 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 70
Maximum speed : 80 mph
Wheelbase : 9 ft 9½ ins (2.98 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi- elliptic leaf- springs
This is without question one of the most prestigious English makes of car, not only by virture of its quality and racing results, but also of the character of the founder and chief designer of the firm, Walter Owen Bentley himself. A contemporary of Ettore Bugatti, Bentley was an expert mechanic, having attended a mechanical engineering course with the Great Northern Railway. During his formative years he was first attracted to trains, and then motorbikes. He finally discovered his true vocation when he and his brother took over an agency of French cars (D.F.P. and La Licorne) in England.

Born in London in 1888. Bentley joined the Navy in the war, and met F. T. Burgess, the designer of the Humber. The first, authentic Bentleys were mechanical jewels, but their designer-maker had no real factory and was dependent on various suppliers, and his name became associated not only with high quality, but also with late delivers.
He was one of the first people to believe in races as a form of advertising, and in fact his cars raced with considerable success. Suffice it to mention the five victories at Le Mans, in the 24 Hours–four of those victories consecutive (1927-1930). The first Bentley, a 3-litre, was delivered to its owner in 1921. It had a five-year guarantee. The 3-litre stayed in production until 1939, and 1,630 were built in all. Despite the high cylinder capacity, the engine had 4 cylinders and 4 valves (2 inlet, 2 exhaust), with overhead camshaft, and magneto ignition. It only acquired front wheel brakes in 1924, which was the year that Duff and Clement won for the first time at Le Mans.