Rolland-Pilain

France, 1906 – 1931

SA des Etablissements Rolland-Pilain, Tours

Unusual among French marques of its period, Rolland Pilain cars made their greatest impact after World War 1. Their first product was a 20hp 4-cylinder model Rolland Pilain cars with a monobloc engine, though smaller 2.2-litre shaft-driven Rolland Pilain cars were available in 1909 and a 3-speed 1½-litre Rolland Pilain 8/10CV in 1910, in which year the Rolland Pilain car company was also experimenting with ‘valveless’ engines and 4-wheel brakes. Though racing was in the doldrums, the Rolland Pilain car company went to the trouble of building a big chain-driven Rolland Pilain car for the 1911 Grand Prix de France, and a complex 1912 range started with a Rolland Pilain 9CV of 1.7-litres and went up to a chain-driven 4-cylinder 60 Rolland Pilain car of 130x270mm. The 6-cylinder Rolland Pilain 18CV had a ‘valveless’ engine, and even in 1913 chain drive was still optional on the biggest fours of 20CV and 24CV Rolland Pilain cars. Only 1.9-litre and 4-litre 4-cylinder Rolland Pilain cars with sv monobloc engines and unit gearboxes were listed in 1914.

These basic types of Rolland Pilain cars, still with pedal-operated transmission brakes, were available again after World War 1, but far more advanced was the 2.2-litre Rolland Pilain 14/16 of 1921, which boasted not only overhead valves and a detachable head, but also front-wheel brakes (hydraulic at the front and mechanical at the rear). This Rolland Pilain car was still catalogued in 1926. Even more ambitious was the 2-litre twin ohc straight-8 GP Rolland Pilain car of 1922, with desmodromic valves, ball-bearing crankshafts and 4-wheel hydraulic brakes. A victory of a Rolland Pilain car at San Sebastian in 1923 was the limit of the success of Rolland Pilain cars on the circuits, but the type found its way into the catalogue as the Type A22 Rolland Pilain car at 90.000fr, and one of the racers also ran with a 2-litre, 6-cylinder cuff-valve Schmid engine. In 1925 came a 2-litre ohv 4-cylinder Rolland Pilain car with 4-wheel mechanical brakes, selling for £725 in England, while a 1½-litre development, the Rolland Pilain D26, was introduced for 1927. In 1929 Rolland-Pilain car, along with several other French firms, tried a Franco-American theme by introducing a range of big luxury chassis with sv Continental engines. Both the 6-cylinder, 3-litre, and the 4-litre straight-8 Rolland Pilain cars had centralized chassis lubrication, though the elegant bodywork of the Rolland Pilain car was marred by the use of artillery wheels. At the 1930 Paris Salon the Rolland Pilain car company shared a stand with the BNC (also going through a Franco-American phase), but this was the end, though the Rolland Pilain car firm’s Paris depot was still advertising spare parts for Bignan as well as Rolland Pilain cars in 1934.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

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

Nash

US, 1917 – 1957

(1) Nash Motor Co, Kenosha, Wisc., 1917 – 1954

(2) American Motors Corp, Kenosha, Wisc., 1954 – 1957

Charles W. Nash, the former President of General Motors, acquired the Thos. B. Jeffery Co in July 1916, and from the 1918 season onwards the cars were marketed under his name, Nash cars. The first Nash car was a 4-litre six with push-rod-operated overhead valves, followed in 1922 by a 4-cylinder Nash car which also had overhead valves at a time when most American manufacturers adhered to the L-head. Rubber-mounted engines appeared in the same year on Nash cars, when Nash sold 41.000 medium-priced Nash cars (the Nash four cost $985, the Nash six about $500 more). In 1924 Nash cars acquired the defunct Mitchell concern at Racine and the ailing Lafayette Co of Milwaukee, producers of a luxury V8 (when the latter name was revived in 1934 it was used for an uninspired sv 6-cylinder machine selling for under $600). They also produced, in 1925 – 1926, the 6-cylinder Nash Ajax, an sv Nash cars that they developed into a cheap line. During the latter part of the Vintage era the Nash carcompany concentrated on 6-cylinder Nash cars, with side valves in the cheaper Nash car models and overhead valves in the higher-priced range, though 1930 saw a Nash car with a 4.9-litre straight-8 with dual coil ignition and overhead valves, a type that was progressively developed until 1942. Engines of this type Nash car were used in the British Jensen of 1939.

The Nash car company successfully rode out the Depression though sales dropped to below 15.000 Nash cars in 1933, when the Nash car company were building a really big eight Nash car with an 11ft 10in wheelbase and a capacity of 5.3-litres as well as two sixes and a smaller straight-8. Synchromesh had been adopted on Nash cars in 1932, and overdrive became an option in 1935, when the bigger Nash cars had the fashionable fastbacks and spatted rear wheels. Other options on the Nash car widely publicized in the later 1930s were seats convertible into a bed and the Nash car firm’s ‘Weather Eye’ system of air conditioning. Coil-spring independent front suspension and steering-column gear-change followed in 1939, in which year a version of the Nash Ambassador Six was available in England with the option of a Perkins 4.7-litre diesel engine in place of the usual push-rod ohv petrol unit. Unitary construction appeared for the first time on the inexpensive sv 6-cylinder 600 Nash car sedan, introduced for 1941 at $785. This Nash car was the ancestor of the famous Rambler series and reappeared in 1945. Only 6-cylinder Nash cars were made from 1945 until 1954, and with the advent of the Nash Airflyte range in 1949 unitary construction was standardized. These Nash cars had all four wheels enclosed, and a one-piece wrap-around windscreen.

In 1950 there came the experimental NXI Nash car convertible with an Austin A40 engine, later made for Nash cars by Austin of Birmingham as the Metropolitan, while in 1951 there appeared the 3.8-litre Nash-Healey roadster, a British Healey with an ohv 6-cylinder Nash car engine. From 1950 onwards the Rambler accounted for most of Nash cars production, but the original Nash carname survived the amalgamation with Hudson and the creation of American Motors in 1954. In 1955 the big Nash cars were fitted with an ohv 5.244cc V8 engine, this and its Ultramatic transmission being made by Packard. A 5.8-litre AMC-built eight was adopted in 1957 by Nash cars, but sales were negligible and the 1958 Nash cars were known as Rambler Ambassadors.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

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