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

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