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

Citroën

France, 1919 to date

(1) SA André Citroën, Paris, 1919 – 1968

(2) Citroën A, Paris, 1968 to date

André Citroën, a former chief engineer of Mors, started his own gear-making firm in 1913, a fact commemorated by the ‘herring-bone bevel’ emblem used on all Citroën cars. He put his knowledge of American mass-production methods to good effect in 1919, when, in association with Jules Salomon (already responsible for Le Zèbre and later to be behind the Rosengart), he evolved two Citroën designs. The bigger of these, a sleeve-valve 4-litre, was taken over by Gabriel Voisin, but the 1.3-litre 4-cylinder Citroën Type-A was put into production in a factory previously used by Mors. This was a straightforward sv machine with disc wheels, cone clutch, fully electrical equipment, left hand drive and central change for the 3-speed gearbox. By the end of 1919 it was selling for 7950fr in France and £500 in England. 10.000 Citroën cars were made in 1921.    

The need for expansion was soon to lead to the acquisition of Clément-Bayard. At this time, Citroën was developing the half-track system evolved by M. Kégresse, former manager of Tsar Nicholas II’s garage. This was mainly applied to commercial and military vehicles, but the smaller Kégresse versions were adaptations of Citroën’s private-car chassis, and among their exploits was the first successful crossing of the Sahara by Citroën motor car in 1922 – 1923. The 1922 Citroën range included an improved Citroën Type-B of 1½-litres, and the 856cc Citroën 5CV with cloverleaf bodywork, detachable head, quarter-elliptic springing all round, a foot transmission brake and coil ignition. Though neither a brisk goer nor a brisk stopper, it was indestructible and remained in production until 1925, in which year Noel Westwood used on to drive all round Australia in a Citroën. 15.000 Citroëns had been sold by 1924, when 250 cars a day were being turned out and Opel were marketing what amounted to a copy of the Citroën 5CV under the name of Laubfrosch. 1925 saw the advent of cheap all-steel saloon bodies made under Budd patents; this angular tout acier model sold in England for £325, or only £100 more than the standard tourer. Though a modernized derivative of the Citroën 5CV was to reappear in 1929 as the Sima-Standard, Citroën themselves concentrated in 1926 on the Citroën 12hp type, now enlarged to over 1½-litres, and given a flat radiator, 4-wheel brakes, and semi-elliptic springs. Cars were lso being assembled outside France. The British factory at Slough was opened in 1926, and was followed by others in Italy and Germany. In 1934 Gräf u. Stift of Vienna also built cars under Citroën licence. Of these only Slough survived the 1930s, British built Citroëns continuing to appear until 1965. 

The Citroën company was now firmly established with Peugeot and Renault as one of France’s ‘big three’. In 1928 the saloons became more streamlined – they were also cheaper, the Citroën 12/24hp costing £220. Production in 1929 was 100.000 vehicles; new for that season was the 2.4-litre 6 cylinder Citroën C6, a conventional sv machine with 3-speed box, coil ignition, servo brakes and gravity feed. The 4-cylinder Citroën C4 cars were enlarged to 1.6 litres and had a similar specification. These two basic Citroën types were continued to 1932, when the company offered a new 1½-litre Citroën Ten among with the bigger Citroën Four and Citroën Six. These cars had low-pressure tyres, box-section frames, ‘Floating Power’ engine mountings under Chrysler licence and synchromesh gearboxes. The Citroën Ten cost £198 and the bigger cars were available in long-wheelbase form with seven-seater coachwork. Under the sponsorship of the Yacco Oil company the 10hp Citroën ‘Petite Rosalie’ successfully undertook a herculean programme of long-distance record work, in the course of which 187.500 miles were covered at 58mph and 128 International Class and 43 World Records were acquired. These Citroën models formed part of the range until 1936, acquiring four forward speeds in 1934, but they were overshadowed by yet another Citroën revolution, the first Citroën 7CV traction avant which appeared in that year. This had front-wheel drive, an ohv wet-liner engine, unitary construction of chassis and body, and all-round torsionbar independent suspension. The 3-speed synchromesh gearbox had dashboard change and production engines had a capacity of 1.6-litres. This design formed the backbone of Citroën’s range until 1955, and was not withdrawn until July 1957, by which time 708.339 4-cylinder Citroën traction-avant cars had been built and the car’s appeal was largely founded on its now ‘traditional’ styling.

A 3.8-litre fwd V8 was shown at the 1934 Paris Salon, but early the following year André Citroën found himself in serious financial difficulties and was forced to sell out to the Michelin interests. Meanwhile an alternative 1.9-litre engine had been applied to the Citroën traction avant and by mid-1935 three additional types were available: the Citroën 11 légère (Sports 12 or light 15) which shared a hull with the 7CV, and the Citroën 11 normale (Big 15), made in two wheelbase lengths, 10ft 1½in and 10ft 9in, the latter for seven-seaters. In 1936 Francois Lecot drove a Citroën 7CV 400.000 kilometers in 12 months. The 1937 fwd Citroëns had rack-and-pinion steering, rear-wheel drive cars were still made with the 11CV engine and (for a short while) the option of a diesel power unit. The 1939 range ws rounded out with a 2.9-litre 15CV 6-cylinder fwd car on regular lines, which sold in England for £328 and just before World War 2 downdraught carburetors were standardized. 1939 models of Georges Irat, Rosengart, and smaller Chenard-Walckers used 11CV mechanical components as a basis for their cars, to be followed in 1947 by D.B.

After the war the Citroën 7CV was dropped, but production of the other fwd models was resumed, cars for the French market being supplied only in matt black. In 1949, however, the fruits of ten years of experimentation were seen in another evolutionary Citroën, the Boulanger-designed Citroën 2CV. Like its bigger sisters, it had fwd and unitary construction, but it also had interlinked coil suspension, a 4-speed all-synchromesh and all-indirect gearbox with geared-up top and quick detachable bonnet, doors and front wings for easy maintenance. Power came from a 375cc 9bhp ohv flat-twin and the corrugated grey finish attracted unkind comparisons with garden sheds. Supply, however, never caught up with demand: Citroën production jumped from 48.177 in 1950 to 78.199 in 1951 as the Citroën 2CV got into its stride. 1955 cars had 425cc, 12bhp, and centrifugal clutches, and in 1958 came tous terrains model with twin engines and 4-wheel drive. The Slough factory offered the Bijou variants in 1960 with a fiberglass coupé body, but at £695 it was hardly competitive. By July, 1966, 2.574.642 2CVs had been sold.

The full-sized Citroën cars of 1953 came with built-out boots and heaters as standard equipment, and a year later the Citroën Six was available with self-levelling hydropneumatic suspension. This led to the Citroën DS19 introduced at the 1955 shows, on which the only old features were the fwd and the long-stroke 4-cylinder engine, now up-rated to 65bhp. The self-levelling suspension was joined by power assistance for the brakes (disc front and rum rear), steering and gear-change. There were 4 forward speeds, the roof section was of reinforced plastic, and the single-spoke steering wheel found on Humbers of half a century before was revived. It was expensive (£1726 in England) and complicated, and a year later a simplified Citroën ID19 version retained the advanced springing but eliminated the power assistance. It was £140 less than the DS in France and Citroën sales rose to 206.138 cars. 1954 had seen the first association between the company and Panhard, which was to lead to a full integration within the next decade, while Cooper in England used Citroën gearboxes on their racing cars from 1956 onward. A Citroën won the 1959 Monte Carlo Rally.

A development of the 2CV was the Citroën Ami-6 flat-twin of 1961, a curious-looking little 4-door saloon which took some time to find acceptance. In 1965 short-stroke engines were at long last adopted for the more expensive 4-cylinder cars, though it was not until 1967 that the basic 1934-1935 unit was dropped from the ID. The most expensive 1967 Citroën model was the 2.2-litre 108bhp Citroën DS21; it acquired a swiveling 4-headlamp installation in 1968 and could be had wih fuel injection in 1971. The Citroën Dyane of 1968 filled a gap in the range: it was a more refined 2CV available either with the latter’s uprated 435cc unit or with the 602cc Ami motor. An open jeep-type version, the Citroën Méhari, arrived a year later. But meanwhile during 1968 Citroën had acquired Italian affiliations, first entering into an agreement with Maserati and then negotiating (against General de Gaulle’s wishes) with Fiat. As a result the Italian giant acquired a 15 per cent stake in the Citroën company and their new French ally undertook the distribution of Autobianchi products in France. In 1969 there was an experimental batch of 500 M35 coupés using 49bhp Wankel engines in Ami-type structures, but a year later came the result of the Maserati alliance, in the shape of the Citroën SM sports coupé, powered by a 2.7-litre 4ohc V6 engine developing 170bhp. This, of course, drove the front wheels via a 5-speed all-synchromesh gearbox; other features were power steering and disc brakes, and a 6-headlamp layout. With a price of 51.800 francs and a top speed of 137mph it was the fastest and most expensive Citroën ever, and it helped boost the marque’s flagging reputation in rallies. Their only major performance (a near miss in the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon apart) had been a 1-2-3 victory in the 1969 Moroccan event, but the Citroën SM won again in Morocco in 1971.

For 1971 another gap was bridged with an answer to Peugeot and Renault: the 1015cc Citroën GS. This had an air-cooled ohv light-alloy flat-4 engine, and all-disc brakes, those at the front being inboard. A station wagon followed in 1972, when fully automatic gearboxes and fuel injection were available on the big 4-cylinder saloons, and the twins continued in Citroën 2CV Dyane, Méhari and Ami forms. Even more powerful DS Citroëns were offered in 1973, outputs of the new 2.3-litre engines being 115bhp in carburetor form, or 130bhp with fuel injection: the latter was standardized on the SM. At the same time the Citroën GS was made available with automatic transmission, and the option of a 1200cc engine. The 2-cylinder Citroën cars were ssembled or manufacturerd in eight countries, and Citroën D-series models produced in South-Africa and Yugoslavia. In the latter country Citroën cars are marketed under the Tomos 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