Star

GB, 1898 – 1932

Star/ Starling/ Stuart

(1) Star Motor Co, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1898 – 1902

(2) Star Engineering Co, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1902 – 1909

(3) Star Cycle Co, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1905 – 1909

(4) Star Engineering Co Ltd, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1909 – 1928

(5) Star Motor Co Ltd, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1928 – 1932

Edward Lisle Sr’s Star Motor Co, an offshoot of the Star Cycle Co, produced its first Star car in 1898, and offered the Star car for sale in the following year. The Star car was a Benz-based machine, with a single-cylinder, water-cooled 3½hp engine, belt primary drive and chain final drive. It was an improvement in that water circulation on the Star car was assisted by a pump. In 1900 there followed a 2-cylinder Star car with 3 forward speeds, still on Benz lines. 1901 brougth De Dion-engined single-cylinder Star cars, and 1902 an 8hp twin of Panhard type in addition. Other, larger Star cars of Panhard ancestry joined the 8hp, up to a 20hp four Star car. By 1904, although a De Dion-powered single and Panhard-type twin were still there, the bigger machines were of Mercédès pattern, these Star cars came with honeycomb radiators, mechanically-operated inlet valves and pressed-steel frames. All veteran Star cars up to 1914 were extremely well-made, well-furnished, conventional, rather expensive cars lacking in technical originality, showing a line of development appearance in the 1907 range. The best-known Star car of the veteran period was the excellent 15hp Star car of 1909, a shaft-driven 2.8-litre four which had become the 3-litre 15.9hp by 1914. A great variety of other Star cars, basically similar models were turned out, not only by Star but also by the Star Cycle Co. The latter, run by Edward Lisle Jr, had made motor tricycles and bicycles, and produced the Starling car in 1905. It had 2 forward speeds and a De Dion single-cylinder engine, but was otherwise of Panhard type, with armoured wood frame and chain drive. One year later the Star car company supplemented it with the more modern Stuart car, which had 2-cylinders, 3-speeds and shaft drive. This name was dropped in 1908, all models being called Starlings, but these too, disappeared in 1909 when Star cars cheaper line was entrusted to the new Brion Motor Co, a more indepented concern that was still run by Edward Lisle Jr. So popular was the Star car that its makers were among the six largest in the country before 1914.

The 15.9hp Star car was continued after World War 1, together with another sv four Star car of pre-war origin, the 20hp Star car of 3.8-litres. A modern light Star car of fashionable type, the 11.9hp, arrived in 1921. This Star car used a 1.795cc sv engine with a detachable head, made in unit with a 3-speed gearbox which had central change. By 1924, the 11.9 Star car had grown up into the 2-litre 12/25hp Star car. It shared cylinder dimensions with the 18hp Star car, which was a new 3-litre six. The 12/25 Star car could be had as a very fine fast touring car with overhead valves and 54bhp, in which form the Star car was called 12/40hp. Thereafter, the Star car range reverted to its pre-war complexity. By 1927, there were three sv Star car models and two additional and more up-to-date Star cars with overhead valves. The 14/40hp Star car, new in 1926, was a solid 2-litre, ohv machine which in spite of having only 4-cylinders and 3 forward speeds, this Star car was a notably smooth and flexible car, thanks to a 5-bearing crankshaft. The ohv 20/60hp Star car, a 2½-litre six with the same bore and stroke as the 14/40 and a 7-bearing crankshaft, was the most luxurious Star car. A light six, the popular ohv 18/50hp, joined the Star car range in 1928, the year of the Star car company’s acquisition by Guy, and replaced the 14/40 Star car for 1929. By this time, the sv Star cars had gone, leaving the two sixes. As the 18hp Star Comet and the 21hp Star Planet, these Star cars were revised with handsome bodies and very full, luxurious equipment, including one-shot chassis lubrication, thermostatically-controlled radiator shutters and a built-in jacking system. Two other engines, of 14hp (2-litres) and 24hp (3.6-litres) were also obtainable in Star cars for 1932, as alternative Comet and Planet power units. These Star car were the last new Star cars, for they were too expensive to make, and the times favoured the mass-produced economy car. Production of Star cars ended in March 1932, but the unsold stock was sold by McKenzie and Denley of Birmingham, and the Star car was quoted in the Buyer’s Guide lists until 1935.

US, 1903 – 1904

(1) Star Automobile Co, Cleveland, Ohio

(2) H.S. Moore, Cleveland, Ohio

This Star car was driven by a single-cylinder, watercooled engine of 1.9-litres, mounted beneath the front seat, with false bonnet and coil radiator in front. A champion planetary transmission and double chain drive was used on this Star car. Both two- and five-seater Star cars were made, the latter with rear entrance.

US, 1908

Star Automobile Co, Chicago, Ill.

Star runabouts were offered in three models, selling for $500, $600 and $700 respectively. The smallest Star car was an open two-seater, and shaft drive was employed on all Star cars.

US, 1908

Model Automobile Co, Peru, Ind.

The short-lived Star car from Peru was offered in conventional 2- and 4-cylinder forms. The twin was chain-driven, while the big, expensive four Star car ($4.000) had shaft drive.

US, 1922 – 1928

Durant Motor Co of New Jersey, Elizabeth, N.J.; Lansing, Mich; Oakland, Calif.

William Crapo Durant’s Star Four was one of the most serious attempts to take away some of the Model T Ford’s market, for the cheapest practical car. Unlike the Ford, the Star car was an assembled machine.The Star car had a 2.2-litre, 4-cylinder engine by Continental, and was conventional in design in every way except the gearbox, which was separate; a feature common to all the vehicles in Durant’s empire, but very unusual in American mass-produced cars by the early 1920s. The touring Star car cost only $443 in 1923, which helped Star to be the seventh biggest seller in America that year. The Star car was sold outside the United States as the Rugby. In 1926, a 2.8-litre six Star car was introduced. Front wheel brakes appeared in 1927 but a year later the Star car make disappeared in the collapse of the Durant interests. By this time, 250 Star cars a day were being turned out. Only the Four was still called the Star car for the 1928 model year, as the Six was now known as the Durant Model 55.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN, GMN, MJWW, TRN

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Aston Martin

GB, 1922 to date

(1) Bamford and Martin Ltd, London, W.8, 1922 – 1925

(2) Aston Martin Motors Ltd, Feltham, Middlesex, 1926 – 1929

(3) Aston Martin Ltd, Feltham, Middlesex, 1929 – 1957

(4) Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd, Newport Pagnell, Bucks, 1958 to date

The Aston Martin’s reputation has always far transcended its small-scale production. The first prototype was evolved by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford in 1914, the Aston part of the name deriving from the Aston Clinton hill-climb. It used a 1.4-litre side-valve Coventry-Simplex engine in an Isotta-Fraschini voiturette chassis, and was followed by a second Aston Martin prototype in 1919. Aston Martin production started in 1922 with a larger 1½-litre side-valve engine in a chassis with 4-speed gearbox and semi-elliptic springs all round. A complete Aston Martin car for sale cost £850, and about 60 were made up to 1925. Successes included 2nd place in the 1922 200-Mile Race at Brooklands, and the collection of a number of world records in the same year. Front-wheel brakes were standard from 1923, and several overhead-camshaft engines were evolved for racing, initially of single-cam type, but later in 16-valve (1922) and 8-valve (1924) twin-cam forms, the former developing 54bhp. These Aston Martin cars were generally less successful than the production side-valves. The Aston Martin company exhibited at Olympia in 1925, but was wound up a few weeks later.

A comeback was staged in 1926, the new Aston Martin machine being an ohc 1½-litre designed by A.C. Bertelli. This was tested in an Enfield-Allday racing chassis and went into production at Feltham in 1927 in 50bhp form, with 4-speed separate  gearbox, dash-mounted steering box, and David Brown worm final drive. Bodies were the work of Bertelli’s brother Enrico, and early Aston Martin sports models weighed only 2.128lb complete. A 63bhp dry-sump competition engine was made in 1928, and two dozen Aston Martin cars had been delivered by 1929. The dry-sump engine was standardized in 1930 and the Aston Martin 1½-litre model had a long and distinguished competition history: 6th in the ‘Double-12’ at Brooklands in 1931, the award of the Biennial Cup at Le Mans in 1932, 5th at Le Mans in 1933 and 3rd in 1935, in which year a class win was recorded in the Mille Miglia. In 1938, two years later the Aston Martin 1½-litre had gone out of production, Polledry took 2nd place in the Bol d’Or 24-Hour Race, and a similar car was actually 5th as late as 1951.

Finance was always a problem; there was a brief marketing link with Frazer Nash in 1931 and in 1933 the Aston Martin firm came under the direction of R.G. Sutherland, who retained control until after World War 2. In 1932 the Aston Martin 1½-litre acquired bevel drive and a unit gearbox of Moss make, being sold in 55bhp touring and 70 bhp sports versions, while the handsome Aston Martin MkII of 1934-1936, though it now weighed 2.576lb, was capable of 85mph and sold for £610. Aston Martin’s best sales year was 1933 with 105 cars delivered. The 80bhp Aston Martin Ulster model of 1935 could exceed 100mph. An Aston Martin 2-litre model, still with ohc was prepared for the cancelled 1936 Le Mans race and replaced the 1½-litre the following season, with wet-sump lubrication, synchromesh gearbox and Girling brakes at £575; a dry-sump Aston Martin Speed Model version was still available for £200 more. Prices were slashed to £495 in 1939, in which year the Aston Martin Speed Model was sold with aerodynamic bodywork and the Cross rotary-valve engine was tried, but not adopted. There were also wartime experiments with the Atom saloon with tubular chassis-body structure and Cotal gearbox, but the first post-war Aston Martin for sale, a Claude Hill design, featured a short-stroke pushrod 2-litre engine, independent front suspension, a hypoid back axle, hydraulic brakes and, for the first time, coil ignition. One of these Aston Martin cars won at Spa in 1948, but very few were made, even after the acquisition of the company by David Brown group in 1947.

In 1949 the 2.6-litre twin ohc 6-cylinder engine designed by W.O. Bentley for Lagonda (also part of the David Brown empire) was installed in an aerodynamic Aston Martin coupé using a space-frame with square-section tubes. It ran at Le Mans, reaching production status in 1950 as the Aston Martin DB2 available in 107bhp and 123bhp Aston Martin Vantage forms at a price of £1.915. These cars did well at Le Mans in 1950 and 1951, as well as winning their class in the 1951 Mille Miglia; they led to some out-and-out sports-racing machines, the Aston Martin DB3 (for sale in 1952), with Eberhorst-designed structure and 5-speed gearbox, and the 2.9-litre Aston Martin DB3S (for sale in 1953), which developed  210bhp and reverted to four forward speeds. Three wins in the Goodwood 9-Hour Sports-Car Race, and place at Sebring and 5th in the Mille Miglia in 1953, and twosuccessive 2nd places at Le Mans (1955 and 1956) made the David Brown Astons a powerful force in international racing. The touring Aston Martin DB2 acquired rather occasional rear seats in 1954 and a 140bhp 2.9-litre engine in 1955.

1956 saw the first of two unsuccessful forays into Formula I (the second was in 1959), and the début of the Aston Martin DBR series of sports-racers with space frames and De Dion rear axles, the first Aston Martins to have disc brakes. These were raced in 2.5-, 2.9-, and 3.7-litre forms and scored three successive wins in the Nürburgring 1000-Kilometre race, a win at Spa in 1957, a 1-2-3 victory in the 1958 T.T., and finished 1st and 2nd at Le Mans in 1959. Also in 1959 Aston Martin became the first and only British makers to win the Sports Car Constructors’ Championship. The MkIII version of the Aston Martin DB2/4 (for sale in 1957) had front disc brakes, and could be had with overdrive or automatic gearbox – factory options which are found on all later Aston Martins. Manufacture was transferred to the former Tickford body works (which had made the N.P. car in the 1920s) at Newport Pagnell in 1958. 1959 saw a detuned 240bhp version of the 3.7-litre DBR engine installed in the Aston Martin DB4, an Italian-styled sports saloon with platform frame, trailing-link and coil rear suspension and all-round disc brakes. A 302bhp short-chassis GT version capable of 170mph followed in 1960. A 255bhp Vantage engine was an option on the standard chassis in 1962, and the 4-litre Aston Martin DB5 for sale in 1964  had alternator ignition, a diaphragm clutch and the new transmission option of five forward speeds. The 5-speed box was standard in the 282bhp Aston Martin DB6 which sold in 1966 for £5.084. A 325bhp Vantage version was also available. An additional 1967 Aston Martin model had coupé bodywork by Superleggera Touring of Italy – a return to two-seaters after a lapse of several years. In December 1966 it was announced that the Aston Martin company was developing a 5-litre V8 racing engine to be installed in a Lola chassis. New for 1968 was the Aston Martin DBS coupé with four headlamps and De Dion rear axle, and in 1970 Mk2 versions of the Aston Martin DB6 had power steering as standard and fuel injection as a regular option. A new Aston Martin DBS was powered by Aston Martin’s V8, a 4ohc 5.4-litre unit developing 375bhp; transmission options were a 5-speed ZF gearbox or Chrysler Torqueflite automatic. In 1972 Ogle produced their Karen-styled version of this car with 22 rear lamps, Sundym glass and headlamp washers. Aston Martin changed hands in April of that year, and the 6-cylinder cars were discontinued.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com