Maudslay

GB, 1902 – 1923

Maudslay Motor Co Ltd, Parkside, Coventry, Warwickshire

The Maudslay Motor Company was a branch of a well-known engineering firm who had made marine engines for many years, and had built a Maudslay steam carriage in 1835. Their first Maudslay  car had a 20hp 3-cylinder engine with single overhead camshaft, 4-speed gearbox and double chain drive. Many of the early Maudslay cars had bodies which were convertible from an open brake for summer use to a closed station omnibus. In 1904 a larger 3-cylinder Maudslay car of 25hp was introduced, together with sixes of 40 and 60hp which were exactly double the size of the 20 and 25hp 3-cylinder Maudslay cars. Very few sixes were made, and the following year Maudslay introduced a range of fours on which they standardized until 1914, although a 16/20hp 3-cylinder Maudslay car was made until 1906. The round radiator which was to be a feature of Maudslay cars also appeared in 1905. Up to 1910 large fours of 20/30 and 35/45hp were made as Maudslay cars, shaft drive being introduced on the 1908 models. In 1910 a new 17hp four Maudslay car was announced, which had a silent chain gearbox for 1911. The larger Maudslay cars were gradually dropped, and by 1914 only the 17hp, called by the factory the ‘Maudslay Sweet Seventeen’, was being made. All these Maudslay cars retained the single ohc layout.

No post-war 1 Maudslay cars were made until 1923, when a very advanced Maudslay car was shown at Olympia. Known as the Maudslay 15/80, this Maudslay car had a 6-cylinder twin-ohc engine of 1.991cc, and Perrot 4-wheel brakes. It never went into production, and from then on, Maudslay concentrated on the manufacture of heavy commercial vehicles.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; GNG

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