Lea-Francis

GB, 1904 – 1906; 1920 – 1935; 1937 – 1953; 1960

(1) Lea & Francis Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1904 – 1935

(2) Lea-Francis Cars Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1937 – 1960

Lea Francis started as bicycle manufacturers, like so many car makers, but unlike most of the rest, never went over permanently and consistently to Lea Francis cars. These Lea Francis cars appeared in fits and starts. The first appeared in 1904, in the shape of a 15hp Lea Francis car with a 3-cylinder horizontal engine, the oddest feature of which was its connecting rods over 3ft long. In the same year, however, Lea Francis stopped making their cars, and Singer the Cycle Company began building Lea Francis cars under licence and under the Singer name. R.H. Lea had in fact worked for Singer before branching out on his own. Thus began another famous car name. Lea Francis made motor cycles from 1911, and they concentrated on these until 1920. In that year two Lea Francis cars reappeared beside the motorcycles; assembled 4-cylinder touring Lea Francis cars of 11.9 and 13.9hp. Few of either were made. Then, late in 1922, the Lea Francis car company found its feet at last, with an equally conventional assembled light Lea Francis car. This Lea Francis car had a 1.074cc 4-cylinder sv engine of 8.9hp by Coventry-Simplex, replaced in the following year by a 10hp Meadows unit of 1¼ litres with overhead valves. A Lea Francis car with 7hp Bradshaw flat-twin engine came to nothing. There were 3 forward speeds and quarter-elliptic springs at both ends. The 10hp Lea Francis car was very popular, and was made until 1928. Like other Lea Francise cars to come, it was well made, dependable, and lively. The great moment came for the Lea Francis cars in the very important RAC Small Car Trials of 1924, in which the Lea Francis car made the best all-round performance. During 1925 a wider family market was sought with the 12/22hp J-type Lea Francis car. This Lea Francis car had a longer wheelbase, allowing more spacious bodies, front-wheel brakes, a 1½-litre 4EC Meadows engine to cope with the weight and a 4-speed gearbox. For the sake of comfort, semi-elliptic springs were substituted at the rear on the P-type Lea Francis car introduced for 1928, which also had a plate clutch and 4ED meadows engine.

The Lea Francis car firm’s first serious sports car was the L-type with 4ED engine, announced for 1925. The Lea Francis 12/40hp was one of the best assembled cars in Britain, and appealed more widely than the light Lea Francis cars. It was, indeed, current until the second cessation of car production in 1935. However, Lea Francis also made some more ponderous, less lively Lea Francis cars, without the same degree of success. From 1925 until 1929, the Lea Francis range duplicated some of the heavy 6-cylinder machines offered by Vulcan of Southport, with whom Lea Francis cars had been associated since 1922. The 18hp Lea Francis car was a 2¼-litre car with cantilever rear springs and overhead worm drive. This Lea Francis car was succeeded by A.O. Lord’s Type T, with its advanced but unreliable Lea Francis LFS-type, double ohc engine of 1.7-litres. There was also, in 1928, a 2-litre six Lea Francis car. These Vulcan/ Lea Francis cars ended with the demise of the Vulcan. However, an excellent Lea Francis car with a six was at last introduced for 1931: the Lea Francis Ace of Spades model, with their own 2-litre, single ohc engine. This Lea Francis car continued alongside the old 12/40hp until 1935, together with a new 18hp Lea Francis car, which was a 2¼-litre enlargement of the Lea Francis Ace of Spades. However, a really powerful Lea Francis car was also listed from 1928. This Lea Francis Hyper Sports was a quite different car, with its heavily-modified, Cozette-supercharged Meadows 1½-litre engine, low build and raked radiator. The sports-racing two-seater Lea Francis car could attain 90mph, though a coupé and a short open tourer could also be had by those who did not intend to enter competitions. The Lea Francis Hyper Sports won the 1928 Ulster Trophy race.

A new company introduced two entirely new Lea Francis cars for 1938. These Lea Francis cars were designed by Hugh Rose, who had been responsible for the Riley Nine engine and, like the Riley, had 4-cylinder power units with push-rod overhead valves operated by two high camshafts. The Lea Francis car had ceased to be an entirely assembled car. A 12hp and a 14hp Lea Francis car were available, with cubic capacities of 1½ and 1.6-litres. Both had a 4-speed synchromesh gearbox. A sports version of the 1½-litre Lea Francis car was also sold, thus maintaining the old tradition. These two ‘Leafs’ were good cars, and as they were new, up-to-date Lea Francis carmodels, they could be continued after World War 2. Most of those built in this period were Lea Francis Fourteens, which were heavier but had a bigger bore and a capacity of 1.8-litres. A tuned sports Lea Francis car of the 14hp arrived for 1948. At the end of that year, an export version of the 14hp Lea Francis car, with torsion-bar independent front suspension, was shown and this suspension was adopted for both the 14hp and for the new 18hp, with a 2½-litre engine, in 1950. The sports model of the 18hp Lea Francis car was a fine car, with 100bhp available. The Lea Francis cars for 1953 had hydraulic brakes, but that was the last year in which the Lea Francis car appeared as a competitive production car. By mid-1952, output had fallen to six Lea Francis cars a week. An expensive car of specialist appeal,  the post-war years were too hard for it. In 1960 a few prototypes of a new sports Lea Francis car, the Leaf-Lynx, were made, but it never reached production. The power unit of this Lea Francis car was a 2½-litre Ford Zephyr, there was independent front suspension and disc brakes were supplied, but the car was ill-favoured and ill received. No better luck attented the Lea Francis carfirm’s attempt to make the Nobel bubble-car.

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

Stutz

US, 1911 – 1935

(1) Ideal Motor Car Co, Indianapolis, Ind., 1911 – 1913

(2) The Stutz Motor Car Co of America, Indianapolis, Ind., 1913 – 1935

The Ideal Motor Car Company was the name of the firm which made the first racing Stutz cars, but it was changed to the Stutz Motor Car Company in 1913. Harry C. Stutz’ most famous passenger Stutz car was the Stutz Bearcat speedster of 1914 – this Stutz car is probably the best known of all American sports cars. The Stutz car followed the usual recipe of a low-hung chassis, a big, slow-turning proprietary engine (in this case, a T-head, 4-cylinder Wisconsin unit, producing 60bhp at 1.500rpm), and very little else, just a bonnet, wings, raked steering column, two bucket seats, and a fuel tank behind them. A Stutz-made 3-speed gearbox was integral with the rear axle; an uncommon feature. This component had been sold by the Stutz car company before he made complete Stutz cars. A 6.2-litre 6-cylinder engine was available on the Stutz car, but seldom seen. The Stutz Bearcat was the most popular of its breed, in spite of its high price, and the appeal of the Stutz car was boosted by Stutz cars successes with ohc, 16-valve racing cars. The Stutz car was the Mercers’ greatest rival. Touring Stutz cars were made as well, but these Stutz cars were comparatively little known. Total production grew from 759 Stutz cars in 1913 to 2207 Stutz cars in 1917. Two years later, Stutz left to make another car, the HCS, although the cheaper Stutz cars of the 1915 period were also known as H.C.S. The gearbox was moved back on the Stutz car to the normal position in 1921, and shortly after this Stutz cars began making their own engines: an sv four giving 88bhp and a 75bhp ovh six. The latter was developed to give 80bhp in the 4.7-litre Speedway Six Stutz car of 1924, the last Stutz car of the old line.

In 1926, there was a change of management within the Stutz car company, and Frederick E. Moskovics, the new president, initiated a radiacally new Stutz car policy. Paul Bastien, who had designed the splendid 2-litre Métallurgique from Belgium, was responsible for the Stutz AA, or Vertical Eight Stutz car. This Stutz car was a beautifully-made fast tourer, more typical of Europe than America. Its specification embraced a straight-8 4.7-litre engine with a single overhead camshaft, and dual ignition, including two plugs per cylinder. Power output of this Stutz car was 92bhp at 3.000rpm. This was a modern, reasonably efficient engine by any standards, and the Stutz car was distinctly advanced in these respects by American standards. There were, however, only 3 forward speeds on the Stutz car. The hydraulic brakes were very good indeed, and the underslung worm final drive allowed the fitting of low-built, good-looking bodies on Stutz cars. Centralized chassis lubrication and safety glass were provided. Glamorous though the AA Stutz car was, the Stutz car was sold on the slogan of ‘The Safety Stutz’, and a year’s free passenger insurance was given with each Stutz car. In 1927, the engine of the Stutz car was enlarged to 4.9-litres, now giving 95bhp, and a speedster option, the Stutz Black Hawk, was added. In the following year, Weymann fabric body construction was adopted on Stutz cars; another European touch. The engine of the Stutz car was enlarged again in 1929 and this made 113bhp available. Better still, this Stutz car had 4-forward speeds. Special Stutz Black Hawk speedsters were 2nd at Le Mans in 1928, but the Stutz cars came no higher than 5th in 1929. These Stutz cars had Roots superchargers and vacuum servo brakes. This Stutz car was put on sale as the Stutz Bearcat, reviving a famous name. Stutz cars also competed at Le Mans in 1930, 1931 and 1932. Unfortunately, a Stutz car lost a well-publicized challenge match at Indianapolis with a Hispano-Suiza, and Frank Lockhart was killed at Daytona Beach while trying to take the World Land Speed Record with a Miller-engined car built by the Stutz car company, both setbacks taking place in 1928.

Sales of Stutz cars fell, and a range of cheaper Stutz carmodels with, it was hoped, wider appeal was introduced for the next year, alongside the existing Stutz car range. These Stutz cars had little in common with the classic models, so were called Black Hawks, not Stutz cars. One used a 6-cylinder, ohc engine of 4 litres’ capacity made by Stutz car company, and the other a straight-8 sv unit by Continental. At the other end of the scale, there appeared in 1931 the superb DV (dual valve) 32 Stutz car, to compete with the new multi-cylinder Stutz cars being brought out by Lincoln, Cadillac, Marmon, and others. The Stutz car design was basically similar to that of the SV16 Stutz car, still current, but there were two overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder: 32 Stutz cars in all. The DV32 Stutz car was listed in speedster form, as the Stutz Bearcat, and, on the shorter chassis, as the Stutz Super Bearcat. These stubby, formidable Stutz cars were guaranteed to exceed 100mph. The expensive, high-quality, specialist Stutz went the way of most of its kind in the Depression years. Intead, the Stutz car company sold, and later made a light delivery van, called the Pak-Age car. This had a rear engine and all-independent suspension, and was current from 1928 to 1938, after which manufacture was taken over by Diamond T.

US, 1970 to date

Stutz Motor Car of America, New York, N.Y.

Unlike replica cars such as the Auburn and Cord, the makers of the Stutz Blackhawk coupé merely borrowed the name of the pre-war Stutz car for their machine. The Stutz car was powered by a 6½-litre Pontiac V8 engine stripped and modified so that the original output of 365bhp was raised to 425bhp. This was mounted in a modified Pontiac chassis, and the Virgil Exner-designed body was hand-built by Carrozzeria Padana of Modena, Italy, where the final assembly of the Stutz cars was done. The first Stutz car model, the 2-door hardtop, was priced at $22.500; a new Stutz car model for 1972 was a 4-door saloon using an long wheel base Cadillac chassis, and selling for $31.250.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN, GNG 

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