Quiz Archive

About quiz #210. 1914 Newton Bennett.

Not a Lea Francis. Not a Lacoste & Battman. Not a Marlborough. Not an Auto Carrier (AC) and indeed not a Morris Oxford. To our surprise last week's Quiz #210 proved to be most popular while certainly not showing a very well known or mass produced car... No less than 19 (!) competitors came up with the right marque "Newton & Bennett" of Manchester. Applause for: Stephen Francis (AU), Jan Bruijn (NL), John Treloar (AU), Dr. Heinzgerd Schott (D), Gerard Lansink (NL), Mark Lewis (UK), Alistair Dray (NZ), Nick Bell (UK), John Kent (AU), John Hearne (NZ), Don Risen (USA), Frans Vrijaldehoven (NL), John Campbell (UK), Frazer Sloan (H) and Tim Moore. Plus jury members David Green(AU), Mark Dawber (NZ) and Lars-Göran Lindgren (S).
At this point the nightmare started with us... how to pinpoint a winner in this crowd of Newton Bennett afficionado's? Most correct competitors produced the right year as well. However most went wrong with the assumption that this Newton Bennett is a rebadged Valt or Ceirano 150 (S). British vintage car guru Michael Worthington-Williams was kind enough to tell us what was wrong and not. Thanks Mike! Our early car is British design "Made in Italy" (click photo). In the quiz question we told that a few lines on the history of the company would bring the decision. After careful checking and re-checking we found the very best answer came from Frans Vrijaldehoven: "N.B. 1913 -1915 John Newton Fabbrica Automobili, Turin. Though made in Italy, the "N.B." was designed by Englishmen, John Newton and R.O.Harper and sold mainly in Great Britain by Newton & Bennett of Manchester. Newton was the sole owner of the Turin factory, which had previously housed the makers of the "Valt"-car. The first "Newton Bennett" were essentially "Valt"'s with "N.B."-badges on their flat Fiat-like radiators. Production "N.B."'s had a 2.155 cc 12 hp long-stroke four cylinder engine. They were bodied in England. Unlike the "Valt"-derived cars, the N.B. had a vee-radiator reminiscent of the Prince Henry Vauxhall. Estimates of production vary between 500 and 1.000 cars. In November 1914 the name was changed to "Newton", but very few were made because of difficulties in obtaining components, particularly "Bosch"-magnetos. In 1915 the factory was bought by "Diatto". After WWI Newton & Bennett sold the "Ceirano" under the name "Newton"-Ceirano", while Harper designed the "Harper"-Runabout".

Congratulations Frans !
(photo Newton Bennett by Australian car historian Gavin Farmer; click main photo to see a letter showing the relation between NB and SCAT, provided by Nick Sloan.)

Saturday, 08 September 2007