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

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

Lagonda

GB, 1906 – 1963

(1) Lagonda Motor Co Ltd, Staines, Middlesex

(2) Lagonda Ltd, Staines, Middlesex

(3) Lagonda Ltd, Feltham, Middlesex

(4) Aston-Martin-Lagonda Ltd, Newport Pagnell, Bucks.

Wilbur Gunn, the founder of the Lagonda Car Company, hailed over Springfield, Ohio. He came to England in about 1897. In 1898 he built an air-cooled cycle in a greenhouse at Staines. On this site the first vehicle to bear the Lagonda car name was assembled in 1900, an improved version of the air-cooled cycle; and it was here that Lagonda cars were to be built until 1947.

To his new product, the Lagonda car, Gunn gave the French form of the American Indian name for Buck Creek, the stream near his home town. In 1905 the Lagonda car company’s first racing success came when a V-twin cycle won the London-Edingburgh trial. This victory encouraged Gunn to enter the motor car field with a 20hp 4-cylinder Lagonda car. Developed in 1906, this first Lagonda car was brought out the following year as the Lagonda Torpedo. A 6-cylinder version followed; the Lagonda car carried Wilbur Gunn and Bert Hammond to win the Moscow – St Petersburg Reliability Trial in 1910. The big tourer Lagonda car was a result ‘greatly favoured’ by Tsar Nicholas II, and the Lagonda Car Company’s early fortune was made form exporting these Lagonda cars to Russia until war broke out in 1914.

At home a dapper Lagonda 14/4 replaced the earlier Lagonda 12/4 in 1909. This gave way in 1913 to an 11.1hp light Lagonda car of radically advanced design. Among its more striking innovations were a riveted monocoque body of unit construction; an anti-roll bar to assist the suspension; and the Lagonda car had the earliest known fly-off hand brake. The Lagonda car enjoyed a wide market, being subsequently enlarged into a 11.9 in 1920 and a 12/24 in 1924, though later Lagonda cars no longer had monocoque construction.

In 1925 Arthur Davidson designed the 1954cc ohv-engined Lagonda car which marks the beginning of the Lagonda as a sports car. The Lagonda 14/60 engine featured 4-fully-machined hemispherical combustion chambers, the first to be marketed, aspirated by interchangebale valves opposed at 90 degrees. Twin camshafts were carried high in the block of the Lagonda car. A Rubury braking system of prodigious efficiency was fitted. Grouped chassis lubrication nipples were featured, as was a clutch stop. The whole Lagonda car was superbly finished.

The Lagonda 2-litre Speed Model, a modified version of the 14/60 Lagonda car, was developed late in 1927 for the 1928 season. The chief difference between it and the earlier Lagonda car lay in the valve-timing overlap, twin carburetors on a direct manifold, and a raised compression ratio of 6.8:1. These alterations combined to give the Lagonda Speed Model tourer an acceleration from rest to 80mph in 50 seconds, and the new Lagonda car did well in competition. A 2½-litre 6-cylinder Lagonda car with push-rod operated ohv was introduced in 1926, and this was subsequently enlarged to 3-litres on Lagonda cars in 1928. For 1930 the chassis of the Lagonda 2-litre was lowered and during that year a supercharged Lagonda car became available. In 1932 came the last of the 4-cylinder 2-litres Lagonda cars, the Lagonda Continental, which had smaller wheels and a sloping radiator, and this finally gave way to the Lagonda 16/80, a 2-litre six with a push-rod operated ohv engine of Crossley manufacture. This Lagonda car was later fitted with an ENV preselector gearbox. This was an attractive car but, like all the Lagonda 2-litres, it suffered from excessive weight.

In the meantime a version of the 3-litre known as the Lagonda Selector Special appeared. This Lagonda car was fitted with a Maybach gearbox that gave eight forward speeds, four high and four low, by means of an internal reduction gear with semi-automatic control. This Lagonda car was something of a failure, however, and was quietly dropped.

At the 1933 Motor Show two outstanding Lagonda cars were introduced: the 1.104cc Lagonda Rapier, with twin overhead camshafts and the 4½-litre Lagonda M45, having a similar Meadows 6-cylinder ohv engine to that in the now defunct Invicta. At last a Lagonda car had real performance and it is noteworthy that the Lagonda Car Company made their own very attractive coachwork.

For 1935 two additional Lagonda car models made their appearance, the 4½ Lagonda Rapide and the Lagonda 3½-litre, both using the same shortened chassis. It was no doubt this complexity of models which caused the Lagonda car company to get into financial difficulties, and a victory at Le Mans by a Lagonda Rapide came too late to save the day.

When in the summer of 1935 Alan Good saved the Lagonda Car Company from absorption by Rolls-Royce, he appointed W.O. Bentley as chief designer. The Lagonda LG45 model with which Bentley attacked the Luxury market in 1936 had longer road springs and Luvax dampers, but retained the Lagonda M45R engine and chassis. Not until the 1936 Motor Show could Bentley’s influence on the Meadows engine be seen in its definitive form in Lagonda cars. The Sanction III unit featured an improved coss-flow inlet manifold cast integrally into the head, onto which the carburetors were now bolted directly. Various other improvements on the engine of the Lagonda cars including a lightened flywheel allowed the line on the revolution counter to be moved up to 4.000rpm.

The last of the 4½-litre Lagonda cars was the Lagonda LG6 of 1938. This Lagonda car had independent front suspension, hydraulic brakes and outboard rear springs, but still used the Meadows engine. The V12 engine, brought out for the 1937 Lagonda car season, is considered the finest of W.O. Bentley’s designs. This 180bhp unit could raise the Lagonda car’s speed from 7 to 103,45mph on top gear without snatching; and this flexibility could be supplemented by revving freely to 5.000rpm on the indirects. Regrettably the Lagonda car design was never developed fully, for production was stopped in 1940, a few months after Lagonda Rapide versions had been placed third and fourth at Le Mans.

In 1947 the Lagonda car firm was taken over by the David Brown complex. Contrary to spelling the end of the traditional Lagonda car, the new merger enabled Bentley’s last motor-car design to be realized. This was the Lagonda 2.6-litre model which appeared in 1948. Its brilliant but unorthodox layout embraced a true cruciform chassis, independent rear suspension unique amongst British cars, and a twin ohc 6-cylinder engine. A bored-out edition of the 2.6 Lagonda car was offered as the 3-litre in 1951, featuring luxurious styling, rich appointments and a top speed of 110mph. HRH the Duke of Edingburgh had two Lagonda cars for his personal use, and for many years was a honorary member of the Lagonda Club.

The Lagonda Rapide was announced in 1961. Using a DB4 engine of 3.996cc capacity, the Lagonda car was set up on a platform chassis with independent springing all round, servo-assisted disc brakes and a De Dion rear axle. An elegant, aluminium Superleggera body by Touring of Milan contributed greatly to the Lagonda car’s massive acceleration. The Lagonda Rapide’s top speed was a genuine 125mph with comfortable cruising at 120; its sumptuous finish and appointments were in kepping with a price of £5.000. Production of Lagonda cars ceased in 1963, though a 4-door saloon version of the V8 Aston Martin DBS built for Sir David Brown in 1970 bore the Lagonda emblem.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; HAF

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