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The earliest Ariel road vehicles were motor quadricycles and tricycles. By 1902 the first Ariel car was being offered; a 10hp twin with automatic inlet valves. From about 1904 until World War 1, Ariel Motors concentrated on large, solid, conventional, 4-cylinder machines based on a variety of Continental makes, mainly Mercédès. The latter were known as Ariel-Simplex. Some big Ariel sixes were also built. In about 1909, a few Ariels were fitted with Alford & Adler front-wheel brakes. A 1.3-litre Ariel light car was announced in 1915, but the war(WW1) killed it.
After the war, the Ariel company’s efforts were devoted principally to motorcycles,, but in 1923 they tried to cash in on the small-car boom with the Ariel Nine. This was a simple three-seater powered by an air-cooled flat-twin engine of a little less than 1-litre capacity. The Ariel Nine for sale was noisy and vibrated badly, but an improvement was offered in 1924 in the shape of a 1.100cc 4-cylinder watercooled engine of 10hp.
Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN
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