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

Chrysler

US, 1923 to date

Chrysler Corporation, Detroit, Mich.

Walter P. Chrysler, formerly of Buick and Willys, acquired Maxwell-Chalmers in 1923, and the first car to bear his name, the 6-cylinder ‘Chrysler 70’ of 1924, was something of a sensation with its 4-wheel contracting hydraulic brakes and 70mph performance. At $1645 for a Chrysler sedan, 43.000 were sold in 1925. The 1926 Chrysler range was widened to include a 3-litre 4-cylinder ‘Chrysler 58’ to replace the Maxwell and the expensive 4.7-litre 6-cylinder Chrysler Imperial, selling for $3095. The 6-cylinder roadsters offered an excellent road performance for a modest price, as was shown by their 3rd and 4th places at Le Mans in 1928, behind a Bentley and a Stutz. The 1929 Chrysler models had internal-expanding brakes and their body styling and ribbon-type radiator shells were widely imitated in Europe over the next few years.
Meanwhile Chrysler had laid the foundations for a motor empire to rival General Motors and Ford by taking over Dodge and launchin two new makes, the Plymouth Four in the lowest price sector, and the De Soto Six in a slightly higher bracket – all this in 1928. Chrysler sold 98.000 cars in 1929. The 1931 Chrysler cars featured the long, low look inspired by the Cord of 1929; 4-speed gearboxes were offered for  a short while and for the first time a brace of straight-8s featured in the Chrysler range – the medium-priced Chrysler CD, and the 6.3-litre Chrysler CG-type Imperial for the carriage trade, often with bodies by Le Baron. 1932 saw fully flexible rubber engine mountings (‘Floating Power’), automatic clutches and free wheels. Synchromesh followed a year later. Automatic overdrive was available in 1934 on Chrysler, and regular equipment by 1936. The Chrysler line for 1934 was spearheaded by the revolutionary CD-type 8-cylinder Chrysler Airflow, with welded unitary construction of chassis and body, all seats within the wheelbase, headlamps mounted flush in the wings, a full aerodynamic shape and concealed luggage accommodation. At $1345 it was a commercial failure, though it was continued till 1937. Chrysler hurriedly brought out the more conventionally styled Chrysler Airstream line in 1935, and for the next twenty years the Chrysler company’s styling policy was cautious, though technical progress is represented by the adoption of independent front suspension and hypoid rear axles (for sale in 1937), steering-column gear-change (for sale in 1939) and optional fluid drive from 1939 onward.
The 1942 Chrysler cars for sale, generally competitive with GM’s Buick, embraced two 4.1-litre sixes and three 5.3-litre eights, all side-valve, with prices from $1295 for the Chrysler Windsor to $3965 for the Chrysler Crown Imperial limousine on the 12ft 1½in wheelbase.  

Early post-war design followed the 1942 Chrysler models closely, apart from some interesting ‘Town and Country’ bodies, basically standard sedans and convertibles with wooden exterior trim in station-wagon style. In 1951, however, Chrysler broke new ground with a 5.4-litre overhead valve oversquare V8 with hemispherical heads, a fully automatic transmission and the option of hydraulic power-assisted steering. This was at the time America’s most powerful car and Chrysler engines were fitted and raced by Allard and Cunningham. Caliper disc brakes were optional, but were dropped after a few years, while another individual feature of Chrysler Corporation products was the push-button layout of controls for the automatic transmission, found on Chrysler cars made between 1956 and 1965. Chrysler’s lag in styling was painfully apparent in 1954, when the Chrysler group lay a bad third behind GM and Ford, and 1955 not only saw the retirement of the old side-valve six in favour of a 4.9-litre 188bhp V8, but also new, lower ‘Flight Sweep’ lines which put the Chrysler cars well back in the running. A new range of ‘Chrysler 300’ coupés and convertibles gave Chrysler a ‘personal car’ competitive with Ford’s Thunderbird and the 6¼-litre V8s used in the 1957 Chrysler cars developed more bhp than any of their rivals. Alternator ignition and unitary construction of chassis and body were adopted in 1960, while Chrysler, who had had a gas-turbine car running experimentally in 1954, built a series of fifty vehicles using Plymouth running gear in 1964 which were supplied to selected customers for evaluation.
The 1960s also saw the corporation extend its motor-car interests into Europe by the acquisition of majority interests in Simca of France and the Rootes Group of Great Britain. Another overseas venture was Chrysler Australia Ltd of Adelaide. Chrysler’s V8 engine was also used by Facel Vega in France, and by Bristol and Jensen in Britain. Chyrsler’s 1968 cars were all V8s in the $3300 - $4600 price class, with 6.3-litre or 7.2-litre engines. Automatic transmission was standard on the more expensive Chrysler New Yorkers and the 350bhp Chrysler 300 coupé. There were no major changes in subsequent years, though the general derating of American power units was reflected by the standardization of 5.9-litre, 6.6-litre and 7.2-litre V8 in 1972 and 1973, with outputs ranging from 175bhp to 245bhp. Between 1955 and 1967 a handful of special-bodied Chryslers, Dodges and Plymouths with Ghia coachwork were sold under the Dual-Ghia name.

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