Belsize

GB, 1897 – 1925

(1) Marshall & Co, Manchester, 1897 – 1902

(2) Belsize Motors & Engineering Co Ltd, Manchester, 1902 – 1906

(3) Belsize Motors Ltd, Manchester, 1906 – 1925

The ancestor of the Belsize was the Marshall, put together by a former bicycle manufacturer at a time when all ‘British’ designs except one (Lanchaster) were copies or adaptations of foreign cars. The Marshall was a modification of the French Hurtu, with a radiator added, which was in turn the German Benz, a small car with a single-cylinder horizontal engine and belt-and-chain transmission. The first cars to bear the Belsize name appeared in 1901. Most Belsize cars were of modern design, including the best known, a small Belsize 12hp for sale with shaft drive and a 2-cylinder engine by Buchet that had mechanical inlet valves and was efficient for its day. Chain drive was still considered appropriate for big cars, like the 20hp Belsize, which also had a 3-cylinder engine and a dashboard radiator. At the 1906 Olympia Show, a fine shaft-driven six with overhead valves was exhibited. However, the Belsize firm gained most of its repute from its conventional, smaller cars, which came to use 4-cylinder, side-valve engines with a notably good power output, unit construction of engine and gearbox, and worm final drive. Commercial vehicles, including Belsize taxis, were also made.

The staple model by 1920 was the Belsize Fifteen, of 2.8 litres; but in 1921, a true light car was introduced, the Belsize-Bradshaw. This used a 1094cc, ohv V-twin engine with oil cooling, designed by Granville Bradshaw, that was quieter-running than most conventional twins. Granville Bradshaw also made similar and smaller oil-cooled engines, some flat-twins, for installation in motor cycles and other manufacturers’ cars, as well as his famous air-cooled flat-twin (ABC). However, that in the Belsize-Bradshaw for sale was unreliable and frail, and undistinguished water-cooled fours replaced it in the light car range. All the same, by 1924 all cars were called Belsize-Bradshaws. The firm’s last fling was into multi-cylinderism on a miniature scale, with a 1696cc six in 1924, and, for 1925, a 2½-litre straight-8, both with overhead valves. The Belsize-Bradschaws company was in the official receiver’s hands before many of either could be made.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN

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International

GB, 1898 – 1904

(1) International Motor Car Co, London, 1898 – 1900

(2) International Motor Car Co Ltd, London, 1900 – 1904

Oscar Seyd’s firm never built a car, though some International car offerings were assembled in their Great Portland Street Showrooms and a certain amount of work was also undertaken at the service depot in Kilburn, where International cars had been operating since 1896. The original International-Benz was in fact a French-built Roger, a car which had become hard to sell in France; International added their own improvements to the International car, among them a reverse, a British-built version of the ‘Crypto’ gear and bodywork made to their order. Single- and twin-cylinder variations on the Benz theme were offered until 1901, later International car being German-built after the demise of M. Roger’s company. In 1899 International presented a ‘light two-seater racing car’ with wheel steering, a Benz-based 12hp with wheel steering, pneumatic tyres and double phaeton coachwork on the International car at £800, and a 9hp ‘vibrationless’ flat-twin (not on Benz lines) in addition to their regular range of International car. International cars became a limited liability company in 1900, when two Coventry firms, Payne and Bates (Godiva) and Allard, were approached to make a new design for the International car. The Payne and Bates-built International car(possibly the twin-cylinder Royal with steel frame and wheel steering, offered for £367 10s) proved unsatisfactory, but Allard’s effort, the International Charette, introduced in November 1900, sold in some numbers. This International Charette car was a belt-driven light car with front vertical 823cc engine of De Dion type (designed to run at only 1.000rpm), a coal-shovel shaped bonnet and rack-and-pinion steering. It sold for £165. Early International cars were rated at 5hp (later increased to 6hp) and there were 2-speed and 3-speed variants. All International Charette chassis were delivered to London under their own power. This type International car was not offered after 1903 and apart form the Mountaineer motorcycle, the later cars of the International company were of French origin. The International Armstrong (1902) was a single-cylinder 1.100cc machine with shaft drive on Renault lines and this gave way in 1903 to the Aster-engined Portlands, also shaft-driven and offered in a variety of sizes from a 6hp single at £205 up to a big 24hp 4-cylinder car with a 4-speed gearbox.

The smallest International car, the Portland was still available in 1904, but by this time the International car company was mainly concerned with importing the Diamant car. International were defunct by 1905.

US, 1900

International Motor Carriage Co, Stamford, Conn.

This International car company showed a light car with a 2-stroke engine designed to run on paraffin at the Madison Square Garden show in 1900, but this International car did not go into production.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS, GNG

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