Marlborough

France, GB, 1906 – 1926

(1) Malicet et Blin, Aubervilliers, Seine, 1906 – 1924

(2) T.B. André and Co Ltd, London, 1909 – 1926

This Anglo-French Marlborough car started life as an entirely French car, but the British content incrased until with the final 2-litre type the Marlborough car was 100 percent British. Malicet et Blin were well-known suppliers of components to the French industry, and the first car to bear the name of Marlborough was a conventional 7hp single-cylinder runabout Marlborough car exhibited at the 1906 Show in London by C.C.C. of Taunton. The Marlborough cars next appearance was in 1909, when T.B. André of shock absorber fame took over the agency. These Marlborough cars were conventional medium-sized machines with pair-cast cylinders, magneto ignition, 3-speed gear boxes, cone clutches and shaft drive, selling at a modest £270 for a 12hp of 2.8-litres capacity. There was also a bigger 3.1-litre four Marlborough car, and a short-stroke (85x90mm) six selling at £350. These Marlborough cars had round radiators and were marketed until 1911, though by this time the six had acquired more conventional cylinder dimensions and a capacity of 3.6-litres. 1912, however, brought a change of direction and the Marlborough car emerged as one of the first 4-cylinder cyclecars, with a 1.130cc sv water-cooled power unit, a sharp V-radiator and shaft-and-bevel drive, selling for £185. Sir Francis Samuelson (with his wife as mechanic) drove one Marlborough car in the Year’s Cyclecar Grand Prix, and by the outbreak of World War 1 the Marlborough car was an altogether more substantial affair with artillery wheels and a capacity of 1.2-litres. An electrically-equipped coupé Marlborough car could be bought for £275.

Post-war Marlborough cars were still largely French and had acquired round radiators, an extra 100cc, and four forward speeds. Subsequent improvements on the Marlborough cars included 1½-litre British Anzani engines, rod-operated brakes and (in 1921) flat radiators. A rotary-valve machine was entered for the 1921 200 Miles Race at Brooklands, but this Marlborough car did not start. The Anzani-engined 1922 Marlborough Roadspeed model was guaranteed to reach 60mph, but a year later a differential-less light Marlborough car used the familiar 1.100cc ohv French C.I.M.E. power unit, these models being still listed in 1924 at £175. In 1923 T.B. André ventured into serious racing with the 1½-litre Marlborough-Thomas. Last of the Marlborough cars was a British-made 2-litre sporting six with an ohv Coventry-Climax engine, forced lubrication 4-wheel brakes and 75mph top speed, but this Marlborough car never went into production. André made a brief comeback in 1933 with a small 2-cylinder sports car under his own name.

NZ, 1919 – 1926

Designed by John North Birch, the Marlborough cars were large, beautifully-built machines powered by 5.8-litre 4-cylinder engines with five main bearings and full force-feed lubrication. Three  Marlborough cars were laid down, but only two completed, the first Marlborough car in 1919 at Blenheim, South Island, and the second in 1926 at Gisborne, North Island. The second car was renamed Carlton, a name also used by Birch for the small car he built two years later.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS, GNG

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