Rover

GB, 1904 to date

(1) The Rover Co Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire; Birmingham, 1904 – 1945

(2) The Rover Co Ltd, Solihull, Warwickshire, 1945 to date

The famous cycle firm Rover (which built J.K. Starley’s electric car in 1888) was offering tricars of conventional design in 1903, progressing from machines with cycle-type frames and belt drive to water-cooled and wheel-steered twins at £85 in 1905. The Rover car firm’s first production 4-wheeler was an interesting 8hp ‘single’ Rover car, the work of E.W. Lewis, which appeared in 1904. This Rover car had a tubular backbone frame, column change, a camshaft brake, and wire-and-bobbin steering, soon replaced by rack-and-pinion type. A smaller and less powerful 6hp Rover car followed at £105; one of the 8hp Rover cars was used by Dr. Jefferson in 1906 to drive from London to Constantinople.

The first 4-cylinder Rover car was a 16/20hp with shaft drive and 3.1-litre engine, followed by a small monobloc 10/12 Rover car. IN 1907 the shield-shaped radiator was introduced on Rover cars, vestiges of which survived until 1949. Courtis won that year’s TT on a 20hp Rover car of conventional design which was listed at a modest £400. The 8hp Rover car had acquired right-hand change by 1908, though the camshaft brake persisted, while in addition to the singles and the 20hp Rover car there were conventional L-head models of 1.6- and 2.5-litres in 1909. Rover cars own detachable wheels were optional in 1910, and in 1911 the 15hp 4-cylinder Rover car went over to pressure lubrication. Knight sleeve-valve engines were adopted, on an alternative version of the 8hp (this Rover car cost £30 more than its poppet-valve counterpart), and on a new vertical-twin 1.9-litre 12hp. 1912 was the last year of the singles and twins Rover cars, a new era arriving with the Clegg-designed 2.3-litre 4-cylinder monobloc 12hp Rover car at £350. This Rover car had worm-drive, inlet ports cast in the head, a water-jacketed carburetor, and electric lighting, and was the only Rover car model offered by 1914. It survived in the Rover car range until 1924, being known latterly as the Rover Fourteen. Later Rover cars had their headlamps attached to the radiator shell.

Rover car company built 12/16hp Sunbeams to War Department account between 1914 and 1918, but reverted to the small economy class in 1920 with a near-cyclecar, the Rover Eight, powered by a 1-litre (later enlarged to 1.130cc) flat-twin air-cooled sv unit, and retaining the 12hp Rover cars worm final drive. This Rover car was made under licence in Germany by Peter and Moritz. Some 17.000 Rover cars were sold up to 1925, prices dropping steadily from £300 to £160. Electric starters were not optional on Rover cars until 1923, and were never standardized. The successor Rover car was an ohv water-cooled in-line four, the 9/20, which Rover car cost £215, acquired front-wheel brakes in 1926, and was available with a detachable hartop coupé body in 1927, after which it gave way to a 1.2-litre Rover Ten, also with worm drive. 1929 Rover Tens had chromium plating, and sunshine roofs were available on closed models. A big 3½-litre six Rover car of 1924 did not go into production, but from 1925 to 1928 the Rover car company made some advanced 4-cylinder ohc Rover cars with 2.1- and 2.5-litre engines with hemispherical combustion chambers. Though the smaller 14/45 Rover car won the RAC’s Dewar Trophy for 50 consecutive ascents of Bwichy-Groes these wer expensive machines to make, and Rover cars breakthrough into bigger class came with a straightforward 2-litre ohv bevel-drive six which Rover car sold well at £410, and was developed into the stylish if not very practical Rover Light Six of 1930, noted for its raked screen and close-fitting cycle-type mudguards. This Rover car was the model which beat the ‘Blue Train’ in a race across France. The Rover car gave 70mph for £325. At the other end of the scale the same engine was made to propel a limousine Rover car on a 10ft 10in wheelbase.

V-radiators, lowered frames, and conventionally-mounted headlamps distinghuished the 1931 Rover cars, which ranged from the worm-driven Rover Ten at only £189 for a saloon up to the 2.6-litre, 60bhp Meteor 20 Rover car with prices from £398. This last Rover car was evolved into a pleasant 90mph sports model which Rover car won its class in the 1933 RAC Rally. 1932 saw the addition of a small six, the 1.4-litre Rover Pilot at £225, and an abortive experiment, the unconventional rear-engined 2-cylinder air-cooled Rover Scarab light car with all-round independent suspension, this Rover car intended to sell for £89. Though a cheap wormdriven Rover Ten was still listed in 1933, this was the year Rover cars adopted the free wheel, and turned to making Rover cars still in the medium-price class, but of generally superior quality – a position in the market Rover cars have held till the present day. 1934 Rover cars had 4-speed gearboxes, ohv engines, and spiral bevel final drive. The Rover car range consisted of a new 1.4-litre Rover Ten at £238, a 4-cylinder Rover 12 at £268, a 1.6-litre 6-cylinder Rover 14 derived from the earlier Pilot at £288, and a 16hp Rover Meteor saloon at £438, as well as 3-carburettor sporting sixes with 14 and 20hp engines. After a brief venture of Rover cars with hydraulic brakes, Rover cars reverted to mechanical actuation on all their Rover cars in 1936. Extensive restyling took place for 1937 on all Rover car models save the Ten, which Rover car was brought into line two seasons later. Big Rover cars were still offered: there was a 2.1-litre 16hp Rover car and a new 2½-litre Rover Speed 20 – and automatic chassis lubrication.

The 1937 style used on Rover cars lasted until the 1949 season. Changes included synchromesh in 1939, the replacement of wire wheels on Rover cars by disc types in 1940, a rationalization of the Rover car range after World War 2, and a switch to ioe engines in 1948, when only a 1.6-litre 4-cylinder 60bhp and a 2.1-litre 6-cylinder 75hp Rover car were offered, both with independently-sprung front wheels. Also new for Rover cars in 1948 was the 4x4 Land-Rover cross-country vehicle, initially using the 60hp engine; this Rover car has been progressively developed in 1950, but it was completely restyled, with slab-sided full-width bodywork, integral headlamps, steering-column change, and hydro-mechanical brakes, amended to full hydraulic two years later. The free-wheel of the Rover car was retained and the price was £1.106: this shape had a long production life which did not end till 1964. The range was widened once more in 1954 with a 2-litre four and a 2.6-litre 6-cylinder 90bhp version Rover car.

Meanwhile the Rover car company’s wartime work on gas turbines had led to the world’s first successful turbocar which appeared in 1950, using a 75 chassis and rearmounted 200bhp engine. The Rover car recorded 151,965mph over the flying kilometer in 1952, and was followed by further experimental cars of which the first designed as an entity was the T3, a 110bhp 4-wheel-drive Rover car coupé with fiberglass bodywork which was shown at Earls Court in 1956.

Development of the 1950 P4 Rover car  theme continued, with the introduction of overdrive (and the abandonment of the free-wheel) on the Rover 90 in 1956, and the adoption of vacuum servo brakes. There was a 105bhp version of the Rover 90, the Rover 105S, in 1957, and also an alternative model with Rover cars own 2-speed automatic transmission, dropped in favour of the Borg-Warner system after two seasons. Integral construction was introduced on the new 3-litre Rover car of 1959; this was a big Rover car with a 10ft 10½in wheelbase, and the option of overdrive or automatic, but retaining the overhead inlet valves of the smaller models. The price of this Rover car was £1.764. The 4-cylinder 60hp Rover car was dropped after 1962. From late 1959 all Rover cars had front disc brakes, and power-assisted steering appeared on the 3-litre in 1961.

In 1962 a new and more practical Rover turbocar appeared, the 140bhp T4 saloon with front-wheel drive and disc brakes on all 4 wheels: this Rover car did not go into production, though its structure served as a prototype for the advanced Rover 2000 of 1964, which first supplemented and then supplanted the last 2.6-litre developments of the old P4 Rover car, withdrawn at the end of that year. The Rover 2000’s 4-cylinder ohc engine developed 90bhp, all four forward gears were synchronized, a De Dion rear axle was used, an all 4 wheels of the Rover car had servo-assisted disc brakes. Like the 3-litre this Rover car had unitary construction, with detachable body panels, and its 100mph performance helped the Rover car to do well in rallies, with works support which had been initiated in the days of the 3-litre. The Rover-Leyland merger of 1966 brought the last of the major British independents under the control of the ‘big battalions’, but Rover car design was unaffected, and during the year there were two new versions of the Rover 2000, one with automatic, and the other Rover car, the TC with a 114bhp twin-carburettor engine. Engines provided the main news of 1967: the old ioe 2.6-litre six was adapted for use in the Landrover, and the Rover car company acquired a licence to build the discarded 3½-litre light-alloy ohv Buick V8, which powered a new edition of the 3-litre. This 3.5 was available only on Rover cars with automatic transmission, but on 160mph maximum speed was up to 108mph. A year later the V8 was wedded to the Rover 2000 structure to make the Three Thousand Five Rover car, a 114mph saloon, though this Rover car was not available with a manual gearbox until 1972.

The 8-cylinder Rover-Buick engine was to have further applications, among them Morgan’s Plus-8, an experimental mid-engined Alvis coupé, and the GKN-Lotus 47, a Europa derivative. In 135bhp form the unit also powered the Range Rover announced in June 1970 as a more luxurious station wagon development of the Landrover. This Rover car used rigid axles and coils all round. Other features were an all-synchromesh gearbox, permanently engaged 4-wheel drive, and all-disc brakes. Top speed was over 95mph. Range Rovers were used for a successful British Army expedition across the Darien gap in Central America in 1972. The Rover 2000, Three Thousand Five, 3.5-litre, Landrover comprised Rover’s 1972 – 1973 offerings.

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

Hotchkiss

France, 1903 – 1955

(1) Hotchkiss et Cie, St. Denis, Seine, 1903 – 1936

(2) Automobiles Hotchkiss, St. Denis, Seine, 1936 – 1955

The American Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss set up his ordnance Horchkiss car factory at St. Denis in 1867; the Hotchkiss cars were the result of an arm slump. The work of Terrasse, these first Hotchkiss cars were T-headed fours with pair-cast cylinders, 5-ball-bearing crankshafts, low-tension magneto ignition, round honeycomb radiators, 4-speed gearboxes, and the famous Hotchkiss drive by live axle and open propeller shaft. Initially cylinder capacities of Hotchkiss cars were 4.6-litres and 7.4-litres, but the Hotchkiss car company’s first racers of 1904 were 17.8-litre monsters notable for their aiv and chain drive. Though their 1905 successors conformed once more to touring-car practice, they were even bigger Hotchkiss cars, with 18.815cc and an alleged 130bhp. Hotchkiss’s last racing season was 1906 with their Grand Prix Hotchkiss cars had 16.3-litre L-head units and quick-detachable wire wheels. Though these Hotchkiss cars were unsuccessful, Hotchkiss sold 167 cars that year, with gate change standardized, and a choice of five Hotchkiss car models: a short-lived 4.2-litre petrol brougham, fours of 18, 30 and 42hp, and their first six. The last-mentioned Hotckiss car was the large V-type that evolved into a 9½-litre machine and was still being offered in 1912 as a Hotckiss car. Chassis price was £1.000 and it was capable of 60mph.

The slump following the Agadir crisis led to the abandonment of ball-bearing crankshafts on Hotchkiss cars; at the same time there was a move towards smaller Hotchkiss cars with the 3.1-litre T-type, with side valves in an L-head and high-tension magneto ignition. Two years later came something even smaller and more modern, the 12/16hp Hotchkiss X-type with 2-bearing crankshaft and three forward speeds at £390. Soon monobloc engines spread up the range to the 3.7-litre Hotckiss AB of 1912. From 1911 there were some smaller L-head sixes, the 4.678cc Hotchkiss X6 and the 5½-litre Hotchkiss AC6; 1912 sales were a record 598 Hotchkiss cars. Electric lighting was available from 1913, and all the 1914 Hotchkiss car models – the 2.6-litre Hotchkiss AG, the 4-litre Hotchkiss AF, the 5.7-litre Hotchkiss AC, and the 6-cylinder Hotchkiss AC6 – had semi-elliptic suspension all round.

The wartime demand for Hotchkiss machine guns led to the establishment of a branch factory under the Englishman Harry Ainsworth, this subsequently making engines for W.R. Morris until it was absorbed by him in 1923. At home Hotchkiss sold off their surplus works capacity at Lyons and concentrated on a revised Hotchkiss car again, the AF with full electrics and a horseshoe-shaped radiator in place of the traditional round one. Its successor, the Hotchkiss AH of 1921, had cantilever rear springs and torque tube drive, and a year later came the Hotchkiss AL with ohv, and a detachable head; front-wheel brakes were added for 1923. There was also a prototype luxury Hotchkiss car at the 1921 Paris Salon; this Hotchkiss AK had a 6.6-litre 6-cylinder ohc engine, dual ignition, 4-speed unit gearbox, servo-assisted 4-wheel brakes, and a cruciform-braced frame, but it never went into production.

The return of Ainsworth to St. Denis in 1923, coincided with the construction of a new Hotchkiss car factory and a more realistic type of car, the 2.4-litre 12CV Hotchkiss AM, with 4-cylinder sv engine, 4-speed unit box, four-wheel brakes, wire hwwls, and Hotchkiss drive once more. Between 1924 and 1928 it was the Hotchkiss car company’s staple product, selling at the rate of over a thousand a year and offering a 70mph performance at a modest outlay. It persisted until 1932, acquiring ohv in 1926 and rod-operated brakes in 1928, and its engine was used in some Morris-Léon Bollées. Even better was the Hotchkiss AM80 of 1929, largely the work of Bertarione. This was a short-stroke (80x100mm), 7-bearing ohv 3-litre six that owed a good deal to the AM2, though early cars featured torque tube drive; it was to be the basis from which all subsequent Hotchkisses were evolved. A silent 3rd gearbox featured on 1931 Hotchkiss car models, Hotchkiss drive reappeared in 1932, and 1933 improvements included Bendix brakes, cruciform-braked frames, down-draught carburetors and mechanical fuel pumps. Hotchkiss AM80 engines were also fitted to Sizaire Frères and Tracta cars.

The 1933 Hotchkiss car range was expanded both up and down, with new Hotchkiss 12CV (2-litre) and 13CV (1.3-litre) fours for the economy market, and an 85mph fast tourer, the 100bhp 3½-litre Hotckiss AM80S, for the enthusiast. This Hotchkiss car was based on the car with which Vasselle won the 1932 Monte Carlo Rally. Hotchkiss cars repeated this success in 1933 and 1934: in the latter year the Hotchkiss cars collected two Glazier Cups in the Alpine Trial. There were further wins in the Monte Carlo in 1938 and 1939; on the latter occasion a Grand Sport Hotchkiss car tied with a 3½-litre Delahaye. Radiators were moved forward on the 1934 Hotchkiss cars, and the 3-litre gave way to a 2.650cc 15CV that was not a success and lasted only one season. The 1935 Hotchkiss cars had synchromesh and integral boots, and at the top of the 3½-litre 20CV range was the twin-carburettor Hotckiss Paris-Nice, a 115bhp sports car capable of 95mph. Hydraulic brakes appeared in 1936 on Hotchkiss cars (to be quietly dropped halfway through 1937). The sports 20CV engine was now giving 125-130bhp and when allied to a short 9ft 2in wheelbase resulted in the Hotchkiss Grand Sport, a true 100mph saloon.

By 1938 the horseshoe radiator on the Hotchkiss car was now a wire-mesh grille, but despite the exigencies of French rearmament programmes the Hotchkiss car company managed to deliver 2.751 Hotchkiss cars that year, made up of the two fours, the reinstated 3-litre Hotchkiss 680, and the 3½-litre Hotchkiss 686 in various forms, including seven-seater limousines with the single-carburettor 100bhp engine. Hotchkiss also came to the rescue of the ailing Amilcar concern, helping to make the Grégoire-inspired 1.185cc Compound, a small fwd saloon with unitary construction in Alpax; this was sold in England, though not in France, as a Hotchkiss car. A 1.3-litre ohv development, the Hotchkiss B67, was ready for production when France collapsed in the summer of 1940.

Hotchkiss never really recovered from World War 2, though Peugeot were briefly interested in the Hotchkiss car company and Hotchkiss 686 cars won the first two post-war Monte Carlo Rallies of 1949 and 1950. The Hotchkiss 12CV and Hotchkiss 20CV were back in production, unchanged, by 1946, but the first year’s output was a miserable 117 Hotchkiss cars. Hydraulic brakes and independent front suspension did not appear until 1949 on Hotchkiss cars (though Hotchkiss had experimented with the latter in 1937), and a Cotal electric gearbox became a factory option. The 1951 Hotchkiss car models were ‘facelifted’ with V-screens, recessed headlamps and auxiliary coil rear suspension, but in the meantime there had been an expensive mistake: the acquisition by Hotchkiss of the rights to the Grégoire flat-4. This ingenious device was a development of the 1938 Amilcar theme featuring all-round independent suspension and a 4-speed overdrive gearbox, as well as front wheel drive. Production Hotchkiss car models with 2.2-litre engines were said to achieve 95mph and 30mpg, but the teething troubles were endless, and Hotchkiss only managed to make 250 Hotchkiss cars in the end. There was a shutdown in 1952 and the price of recovery was a merger with Delahaye that led inevitably to concentration on commercial vehicles. The old Hotchkiss cars 13CV and 20CV received another facelift in time for the 1954 Paris Salon, but his was their swansong, though medium-powered trucks continued to be made until 1970, along with a version of the American Jeep built under licence.

GB, 1920

Hotchkiss et Cie, Coventry, Warwickshire

Hotchkiss of Coventry, a British offshoot of the famous French Hotchkiss car firm, was set up during World War 1 to make engines in Britain. Their units became best known as the motive power for Morris and BSA light cars, but before they were taken over by William Morris, Hotchkiss experimented with a small car of their own. The Hotchkiss car consisted of their 1.080cc air-cooled V-twin ohv engine installed with a 3-speed gearbox in a pre-war Morris Oxford chassis. It never went into production.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS, TRN

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