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

Hudson

US, 1901 – 1902

Beau-Chamberlain Manufacturing Co, Hudson, Mich.

The first car to bear the name Hudson was a light steamer with a vertical 2-cylinder engine, single chain drive and tiller steering. This Hudson car bore no relationship to the later Hudson car.

US, 1909 – 1957

(1) Hudson Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich., 1909 – 1954

(2) American Motors Corp., Kenosha, Wisc., 1954 – 1957

The Hudson car was created by Roy D. Chapin, and financed by J.L. Hudson, head of Detroit’s famous department store of that name. The first product was a 20hp 4-cylinder Hudson car of conventional design, capable of 50mph, of which 4.000 Hudson cars were sold in its first season. These fours, one of which was entered in the 1914 Tourist Trophy were first supplemented and then supplanted by a 6-cylinder line. The first of these Hudson cars was the heavy (3.696lb) and fairly expensive $2.350) Hudson Model 54 with a 4-speed overdrive gearbox, but the 4½-litre Hudson Super Six of 1916, with its high-compression sv engine, really made the Hudson company’s name, and marked the first of a line of engines of this type which lasted almost to the end of Hudson car production, giving generous outputs while still burning commercial-grade petrol. A Hudson Super Six made the first two-way transcontinental trip – New York to San Fransisco and back – in 1916; Ira Vail took 9th place with a Hudson car in the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in 1919, and this Hudson car formed the backbone of New Zealand’s ‘service car’ network in the 1920s.

Though Hudson’s booming sales in the 1920s were largely due to the inexpensive companion make the Essex, the Hudson car company also pioneered modestly-priced closed Hudson cars, and in 1922 their ‘coach’ (a 2-door saloon) sold for only $100 more than a tourer. Until 1929, the Hudson Super Six remained the staple Hudson car model, and during its last three years of production the Hudson car was powered by a 4.7-litre ioe unit derived from the original Essex Four of 1918. In 1930 this Hudson car was replaced by a 3½-litre straight-8, later increased to 4.168cc in 1932 – this tough and well-liked unit remained in production until 1952, and powered such Anglo-Americans as the Railton and Brough Superior. These firms also used Hudson’s 3½-litre six.

The 1930s were less facrouable to Hudson cars, except in Britain, where the breed’s popularity warranted the manufacture of a small-bore 2.7-litre ‘export’ six rated at only 16.9hp, which was still being made for Hudson cars in 1940. The regular Hudson Six was a bigger machine of 3.455cc and was offered with independent front suspension in 1934 and 1935; in the latter year Electric Hand gear change became available on Hudson cars. Fencer’s mask radiator grilles followed in 1936, and steering-column change in 1939. The first post-war Hudson cars were a continuation of the 1942 models, but 1948 brought the revolutionary Hudson Step-Down series with the Hudson car company’s high-compression sv in-line engines. These low-built Hudson cars had unitary construction of chassis and body, rear wheels mounted inside the chassis frame, and coil-spring independent front suspension. The 5-litre 145bhp 6-cylinder Hudson Hornet engine introduced for 1951, proved a great success in stock-car events, but before this the Hudson car company had reached its post-war sales peak, with nearly 145.000 Hudson cars delivered in 1950. Competition in the medium-price bracket was too strong, and Hudson’s venture in the compact car market in 1953, with the 3.3-litre 6-cylinder Hudson Jet at $1.833 (this was also the first Hudson to abandon the wet-plate clutch) was not successful.

In 1954 Hudson amalgamated with Nash to form the American Motors Corporation. Though all production was transferred from Detroit to Kenosha, and the Hudson car range now shared its utinized hulls with the bigger Nash models, sales did not prosper. These last Hudson cars had initially the old sv 6-cylinder units or Packard-built V8s, while both Nash’s Rambler and the Austin-built Metropolitan were sold by Hudson agents. The Hudson car name was dropped at the end of the 1957 season.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; GNG, MCS

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