Quiz Archive

What is it? # 141 (Update: 1927 Arab low chassis Super Sports)

UPDATE:"More and more the quiz is going into a new direction. That is to say, it is no longer 'who knows' (many of you know the answers), but 'who knows best'.
Quiz # 141 is a good example of that. Out of 16 entrants 15(!) were right in telling us which make of car is associated the engine photos. When you bear in mind that total production was less than the number of quiz-entrants, that is a remarkable result. Over the two years of existence Arab Motors 12 cars were built, of which only 2 survived (this one is in Austria, the other one seems to be in a UK, Museum. But where? UK Motor Museums expert Michael Ware received this question several times over the last few months but doesn't know...(who can help?)
Back to the Quiz - question 2 - the Type.
The Arab came in two Types. The 'Sports' and the 'Super Sports', our example being the latter. The cars were also known as "2 Litre" but that gives no differentiation between the S and SS. The SS was also known as the Low Chassis version of which only two were made. So 'Low Chassis' or 'Super Sports' is the better answer... Out of 15 remaining competitors no less then 8 (!) came up with either Low Chassis or Super Sports...
All of those 8 competitors sketched lively scenery about the two entrepeneurs Reid Railton and Parry Thomas. Both active in the landspeed record 'business'. The Arab factory closed after the sad death of Parry Thomas at Pendine beach, when he crashed "Babs" during a new record attempt.

So who is the winner in all this?

There was one man who didn't collect his knowlege from books - or worse from Google - but from experience. Honesty forces us to say that he was a few hours late, but the difference with others was just too big to deny this entry. Anyway, the one detail in his description which made us decide to keep him in was overlooked - or just not known - to all other competitors...
He wrote:".... The only deviation from standard on this car is the S.U. carburretor, the original was a Claudel-Hobson."
We asked the man if he possibly worked as an employee at Arab? And he answered:"No, but I owned that particular car. I restored it and built the body which is now on it!"

Congratulations to outright winner David Barker !!!

(photos Oldtimer Rehberger (D); click photo for the inlet side of the engine) .... David was not ready:"..this is Chassis No.6 and Engine No. 10.They were designed and built by Reid Railton in a small factory in Letchworth during 1924. When Railton's good friend Parry Thomas was killed at Pendine Railton shut the factory and built no more Arabs.This car was actually built at Thompson and Taylors at Brooklands and was originally registered in England with the registration number UW 2, and had a two seater coupe body by Arrow Coachbuilders. The engine is very interesting; for a start the valves are closed by leaf springs , not coils. There are four springs with twelve leaves each and they can pivot at the centre a little bit. The valves are much shorter than normal because of this, and are lighter, which was the idea of using leaf springs. The springs go across the head and the valves are at 90 degrees,giving a true hemispherical combustion chamber. The timing chain is 60 inches long and goes round the crankshaft , the dynamo and distributor driveon one side, and the oil and water pump drive on the other side, and of course the camshaft .It also goes round a sprocket tensioner which is adjustable by the lever on the front of the timing case. The crankshaft is massive and has only two main bearings! It looks just like a bigger version of the Riley Nine, but that is not surprising when you remember that Railton had a hand in the 'Brooklands' Riley. The connecting rods are usually said to be tubular, but they are not, they look like it but are not hollow , they are solid. I know because I had them all crack tested and the guy who did it was surprised also! I said the only deviation from standard was the S.U. carb, but the flywheel on that engine said 'Continental' on it and was far too heavy, and I don't think the clutch was original either. It was a very nice car and was as fast as a 30/98 Vauxhall under most conditions and was a lot nicer to drive! One other thing, all the lamps were black nickel plated originally, so I had them done like that, they looked very good! I hope they still do !" (2005 February / David Barker)
Earlier TEXT:"This is the engine bay of a technically highly sofisticated 2 litre OHC 4 cylinder sportscar. It must be one of the later specimen ever built and surviving as the year is 1927(or are we wrong in this?). The name of the marque is mysterious and could come from about any European country, yet it associates more with the Middle East. One man connected strongly with this small make of sportscar was very well known in the landspeed record world. We would like to hear which Make of car (1), the Type (2) who is the Man we are talking about(3)? Only the best answer will win the PreWarCar/Roadmap vest." Rules:

- only responses with nice and neatly numbered answers referring to our questions will be eligible - send your answer to \n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it BEFORE Monday, 31 January

- PLEASE mention in the subject line of your e-mail: # 141

- include, for in case you win: your shirt SIZE, being S,M,XL or XXL and the ADDRESS where we should send the shirt

- unless otherwise stated there is ONE winner

- please mention if you were an earlier winner (1,2 or J)

- THREE time winners automatically become Jury member, but of course there is no obligation in any way

Friday, 28 January 2005