Crossley

GB, 1904 – 1937

(1) Crossley Brothers Ltd, Gorton, Manchester, 1904 – 1910

(2) Crossley Motors Ltd, Gorton, Manchester, 1910 – 1937

The name of Crossley was famous on engines before it was famous on cars; in fact the Crossley company was the first in Britain to make 4-stroke internal combustion engines on the Otto principle. Later, Daimler engines were made under licence. The first Crossley car for sale, a chain-driven 22hp 4-cylinder, appeared for the 1904 season. A Crossley 28hp and Crossley 40hp followed, all three cars being of normal design and foreign inspiration. Their designer was J.S. Critchley, formerly of Daimler. Shaft drive appeared in 1906, and late in 1909, some were fitted with Allen-Liveredge front-wheel brakes, but Crossley cars, though excellent machines, made little impression until after 1910. The 4-litre 20hp Crossley which then made its bow was a well-constructed, durable and very popular car. Designed by A.W. Reeves, it lived on in modified form until 1925. Crossley’s finest hour came in World War 1, when, as the Crossley 20/25hp it achieved fame as a staff car in the Royal Flying Corps, and as an ambulance and light truck. The Crossley model was extremely popular with the British Royal Family after the war in its 25/30hp version. In its early years, however, it was rivalled by the 15hp. The efficiency of the latter’s  otherwise conventional engine, a side-valve four like the rest, gave this Crossley a better performance than most cars in its class and encouraged the makers to offer a special sporting variant, the Crossley Shelsley.

The Crossley Fifteen was discontinued after 1914, but a new Crossley arrived for 1921. This Crossley 19.6hp was a rather more modern design, having a detachable cylinder head, and it was cheaper and lighter on fuel than its 25/30hp companion. The performance was about the same. It was also made in sporting form as the Crossley 20/70hp, but this model was heavy, like the ’Crossley 19.6’ itself, and the brakes were not good enough for the 75mph that was available. Crossley did not make a serious attempt to invade the middle-class market until 1923, when the Crossley 12/14hp, later called the Crossley Fourteen, was introduced. Like its brothers, this was a simple side-valve four, in this case of 2.4 litres, but was more modern, with its unit construction of engine and gearbox and central gear-change. The Crossley Fourteen was a very successful model, being flexile and, thanks to its light weight, both roomy and economical. It survived until 1927. By this time the two bigger Crossley cars were giving way to a much more up-to-date car; the Crossley company’s first six and its first overhead-valve machine. This Crossley 18/50hp model was a spacious, heavy 2.6-litre car with good brakes but somewhat lacking in power. Its engine was enlarged to 3.2-litres and 20.9hp for 1928. At the same time a new small Crossley of similar design, the 2-litre Crossley 15.7hp was introduced, to which a sporting alternative reviving the Shelsley name was  added in 1929. Lagonda’s 16/80 model used this engine later. The 6-cylinder Crossley 15.7hp continued until 1934 and the Crossley 20.9hp until 1937. Wilson pre-selector gearboxes were fitted from 1934.

In 1932, the Crossley company had introduced a light car, the Crossley Ten. This was an assembled vehicle powered by an 1100cc Coventry-Climax engine with overhead inlet valves. It was too heavy (a drawback compounded by the pre-selector gearbox), it was very low-geared and its brakes were mediocre. Another mistake was Crossley’s attempt to market the Burney rear-engined car with all-independent suspension. It was given a 15.7hp Crossley engine and a Wilson box, but it was too unconventional in appearance and handling. Very few were made. In 1935, Crossley introduced its new Regis range of small cars with handsome bodies styled by C.F. Beauvais. They consisted of the Crossley Ten and a new Crossley 1½-litre six of the same design also powered by Coventry-Climax, both with a new lowered frame. Both cars, together with the last Crossley 20.9s, disappeared after 1937.

Crossley assembled other people’s cars as well as making their own, beginning with the Willys-Overland Model 4 in 1920. The Gorton-produced Willys came to include more and more British-made parts, such as a Morris Oxford engine. A less likely diversion was an attempt of Crossley in 1921 to make the Type 22 Bugatti in England, but only a handful of these Crossley-Bugattis appeared. In 1922-1933 the Crossley factory made the AJS as well.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN

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Delage

France, 1905 – 1954

(1) Automobiles Delage, Courbevoie, Seine, 1905 – 1935

(2) Automobiles Delage, Paris, 1935 – 1954

Louis Delage, a former employee of Turgan-Foy and Peugeot, started modestly with a conventional shaft-driven single-cylinder 6½hp runabout with a De Dion Bouton engine which was marketed in England as the Baby Friswell. As early as 1906 Delage showed an interest in racing, and the Delage make’s second place in that year’s Coupe des Voiturettes was followed in 1908 with an outright win on a Delage single powered by a Causan-Designed engine. Meanwhile touring Delage cars continued to use De Dion power units, and later 4-cylinder engines of modest capacity built by Ballot, though single-cylinder cars rated at 6, 8 and 9hp were still catalogued by Delage for sale as late as 1910. The 1.4-litre ’Delage 12’ of 1909 was a neat little machine with monobloc cylinders, 3-speed gearbox and fuel tank streamlined into the dashboard, which sold for £230 and was progressively developed up to 1914. This Delage car had a pressure-fed crankshaft in 1910 and was joined in 1911 by a 2.5-litre 30bhp six on similar lines: the footbrake, unusually, worked on the rear wheels. This Delage model had acquired a 4-speed gearbox and electrics by 1914, a version with 11ft wheelbase being listed for town-carriage work.

Delage also pursued his racing career to good purpose, winning the 1911 Coupe de l’Auto with a horizontal-valve 3-litre 4-cylinder Delage which had a 5-speed gearbox with overdrive top. These features were also found on the 6.3-litre Delage cars which won both the 1913 GP du Mans and the 1914 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, while for the 1914 Grand Prix his 4½-litre Delage cars had twin ohc, desmodromic valves and 4-wheel brakes (but no handbrake). While producing munitions in World War 1, Delage found time to develop a new long-stroke 4½-litre sv 6-cylinder (Delage Type CO), which went into production in 1919 with 4-wheel brakes, but still with a fixed cylinder head. There was also a companion 3-litre 4-cylinder, and by 1921 the Delage CO had developed into the Delage CO2 with ohv, twin-plug head, dual magneto ignition and 88bhp. The 1920s saw a line of excellent fast Delage tourers, while from 1922 to 1927 a costly but very successful Delage racing programme was pursued. Starting with the 6-cylinder Delage I and Delage II sprint cars, the Delage company progressed to an ohv V12 of 10.7 litres’ capacity in 1923, with which René Thomas annexed the World’s Land Speed Record at Arpajon in the following year with a speed of 143,31mph. The Delage car subsequently had a long and distinguished racing career in England. For the 2-litre GP Formula in 1924 Planchon designed a four ohc V12 Delage of great complexity – in twin-supercharged 1925 form it gave 190bhp and won the French and Spanish Grand Prix. Equally costly were the Lory-designed 1½-litre twin-cam Delage straight-8s of 1926 – 1927, with 5-speed overdrive gearboxes and various types of supercharging. In their early days these Delage cars had a bad name for overheating but they were unbeatable in 1927, with five major Grands Prix to their credit. There was also R.J.B. Seaman’s triumphal 1936 voiturette season, when the nine-year-old Delage trounced the ERA and Maseati opposition.

Mainstay of the Delage touring-car programme from 1924 onwards was the classic 2.1-litre 4-cylinder Delage DI for sale, with ohv, 4-wheel brakes, magneto ignition (coil on later cars), 4-speed gearbox and single-plate clutch. For sale at £475 in England it was excellent value and sports versions with aluminium pistons were quite fast. At the same time the Delage company offered the vast 6-litre Delage Type-GL as competition for the Hispano-Suiza: unusual features of this ohc 6-cylinder were the clutched fan, twin oil pumps, X-braced frame and hydraulic servo brakes – it could be bought in England for £1650 in 1925. It was only produced up to 1927. The Delage DI had gone a year later, Delage turning to 6-cylinder cars of more modest capacity: the 3.2-litre ohv Delage DM followed by a less successful sv Delage DR, made in 2.2-litre and 2.5-litre forms. The 1929 Paris Salon saw the first of the big ohv long-stroke straight-8s Delage cars for sale, all with coil ignition, pump and fan cooling, and 4-speed gearboxes. Valve bounce was countered by making the springs operate separate rocker arms. It came in several wheelbase lengths from 10ft 10in to 11ft 11in, and carried superbly elegant if not always practical bodywork. In 1931 it was joined by a 3-litre Delage D6 which was the same car with two less cylinders.

A super-sports Delage D8 was available in 1932: though often overbodied it took its International class 12-hour record at 112mph. The Delage range was further complicated in 1932 by the advent of a new series of short-stroke models, the first of which, the Delage D6-11, had an almost square 2.1-litre 6-cylinder unit, with the Delage D8’s valve gear, independent transverse front suspension and a silent-third gearbox. Inexpensive pressed-steel saloon bodywork was used and the Delage car sold for £595. By 1934 there was not only a companion straight-8 (the Delage D8-15) of 2.7-litres, but also a 1½-litre 4-cylinder version. The big Delage D8s were still listed. 1935 Delages featured synchromesh and hydraulic brakes and slightly undersquare 6- and 8-cylinder engines were used: all Delage cars now had ifs. Louis Delage was, however, forced to sell out to Delahaye and thereafter the Delage cars slowly evolved into more florid versions of that make, built in the same factory. The 4-cylinder cars died out with the obscure 2.2-litre mechanically-braked Delage DI-12 of 1936, a badge-engineered Delahaye. There was an abortive plan to make Delage cars in England in 1937. Up to World War 2 the Delage company’s offerings were the 2.7-litre Delage D6-70 and the 4.3-litre 8-cylinder Delage D8-100 and Delage D8-120. All had hydraulic brakes, Cotal gearboxes and ifs, and the Delage D6-70 could be bought in England for £695. This Delage was raced to some purpose, winning the 1938 TT and taking second place at Le Mans in 1939, in which year capacities of both engines were increased. The 3-litre 6-cylinder car appeared after the war, but only a few were made, and Louveau’s and Jover’s second place at Le Mans in 1949 was almost the last that was heard of Delage. Along with Delahaye, Delage was aborbed by Hotchkiss in 1954.

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