A.C. 

GB, 1908 to date

(1) Autocars and Accessories Ltd, West Norwood, London S.E. 1908-1911

(2) Autocarriers (1911) Ltd, Thames Ditton, Surrey 1911-1922

(3) A.C. Cars Ltd, Thames Ditton, Surrey 1922 to date

This make succeeded the Weller and was a John Weller design developed from a commercial 3-wheeler, the AutoCarrier (hence the initials) with a single-cylinder rear-mounted moiv engine, 2-speed epicyclic gear and tiller steering. These side-by-side two-seater A.C. Sociables were made up to World War 1 and sold for less than £100, but in 1913 the company brought out a 10hp 4-cylinder light car with a 3-speed gearbox in the rear axle; the engine was a 1.100cc Fivet. A modernized version with electrics and a disc transmission brake appeared with the 1½-litre side valve Anzani engine in 1919, the giving way to A.C.’s own power unit in 1925 – the fours were dropped at the end of 1928. Also at the 1919 London show was Weller’s famous 1.991cc single ohc wet-liner six, an advanced power unit for its day. It did not get into production unitl 1922, but it remained in the catalogue until 1963, by which time output had gone up from around 35bhp to 103bhp. Under the aegis of S.F. Edge, the company’s director from 1921 to 1929, A.C.’s were raced, through their main interest was long-distance record work. A 4-cylinder car took 57 records at Brooklands Track in 1921; J.A. Joyce’s 16-valve ohc 1500cc single-seater covered 100 miles in the hour from a standing start in 1922; and Gillet broke the World’s 24-hour Record at Monthlhéry in 1925 on a 2-litre six. The 6-cylinder car of the Hon. Victore Bruce and W.J. Brunell became the first British entry to win the Monte Carlo Rally in 1926. In 1925 4-cylinder cars sold from £300, the cheapest six being £90 dearer, 4-wheel brakes were an optional extra, being standard on the 2-litre by 1927. All these cars retained the rear-axle gearbox, though the disc transmission brake did not last long.

Financial difficulties supervened in 1929, and virtually no cars were made for a couple of seasons, though the 1930 Magna series boasted hydraulic brakes. Th Hurlock brothers bought the company in 1930, and the 2-litre emerges in 1933 as a sporting machine with mechanical brakes and a conventionally-mounted 4-speed gearbox, in 56bhp and 66bhp versions. These cars were made on a bespoke basis, prices starting at around £435. Pre-selector boxes were available from 1934 and standard 1935 versions had synchromesh, while cars sold in 1936 had engines of 60 and 70bhp with an 80bhp sports engine available in a special short-chassis two-seater model. A 90bhp super-charged engine was listed in 1939.

A.C. resumed car production in 1947 with a saloon in the modern idiom. This had a 74bhp engine, and hydro-mechanical (full hydraulic from 1950) brakes, but retained its semi-elliptical springing up to the end of production in 1957. Some 3-wheeled monocars for invalids were made with 250cc B.S.A. motor cycle engines, and in 1953 came the Petite, a 3-wheeler roll-top convertible with rear-mounted 350cc Villiers power unit; despite a price of under £400, this never really became popular and was dropped in 1958. 1954 saw the advent of the Ace sports two-seater, a tubular-framed machine with all-independent suspension designed by John Tojeiro. With an 85bhp A.C. engine it could top the 199mph mark, and was later made also with 2-litre and 2.2-litre Bristol and 2.6-litre Dagenham Ford engines. Front disc brakes were standardized in 1960. In 1963 this car was developed into the Cobra (inspired by the American Carroll Shelby) with disc brakes all round and a 4.7-litre oversquare American Ford V8 engine developing 330bhp.

A Cobra finished 4th at Le Mans in 1964, but between 1965 and 1968 Shelby American Inc were responsible for the marketing of the 7-litre type, all Cobra production being abandoned in the latter year. From 1966, however, A.C. offered a luxury convertible or hardtop with Frua bodywork and a 7-litre Ford V8 engine, available with a 4-speed manual or an automatic gearbox. This 428 series was continued into 1973 at a price of £7.010. A.C. also made a special single-seater 3-wheeler for invalids with single-gear automatic transmission, wheel or handlebar steering, and fiberglass coupé body, powered by a 500cc 4-stroke twin engine.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcars. MCS

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

Voisin

France, 1919 – 1939

SA des Aéroplanes G. Voisin, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Seine

Gabriel Voisin was first famous for his aircraft. Voisin was one of the earliest and most important pioneers, claiming to have developed a practical aeroplane before the Wright brothers; the controversy still rages. Voisin was always a spectacular character, and so were his Voisin cars. However, like his aircraft, the Voisin cars were efficient machines as well. With the post-World War 1 depression in the aircraft industry, Voisin cars entered motor manufacture by acquiring the rights in a Citroën model which was never made as such. This Voisin car was the Voisin 18CV of 1918, which Voisin car used a Knight double-sleeve engine. Sold as the Type C1 Voisin, this Voisin car had 4-cylinders and a capacity of 4-litres. The Voisin car was a fine car, and henceforth Voisin cars used only sleeve-valve engines, developed by himself to a high degree. The 4-litre Voisin car had aluminium pistons, to permit higher engine speeds, and was eventually capable of 80mph. In spite of an excellent performance, the 4-litre was an immensely strong, refined and silent motor car – all characteristics of Voisin cars in general. A sports version Voisin carwas also offered, with 90bhp. The 4-litre was made until 1926. Alongside this Voisin car, from 1921, was the smaller Voisin C4, an 8CV of 1¼-litres that was later enlarged to 10CV and 1½-litres. In its final form, the 10CV engine of the Voisin car produced 44bhp at 4.000rpm – so much for the opponents of sleeve valves, who claimed that high revolutions could not be combined with reliability – and the Voisin car was capable of 70mph. The Voisin car had Dewandre vacuum servo brakes, as had all Voisin cars from late 1925. The 10CV Voisin car, too, survived in basic form until 1928. All the same, Voisin cars had to follow fashion in one respect, and introduced three 6-cylinder Voisin cars for 1927. The best-known Voisin car was the 13CV, providing 2.3-litres, the first Knight-engined six to be sold in France. Even in normal form, this was a 66bhp, 75mph vehicle, but a sports model Voisin car was also available. From 1928, this six, known as the Voisin Charmant, had alternative final-drive ratio for fast cruising.

Apart from sleeve valves, to which a number of famous manufacturers were wedded at the time, Voisin cars had three other enthusiasms that were considerably less common. One was truly easy gear-changing, which many makers sought, but few actually incorporated in their production cars. The Sensaud de Lavaud system of infinitely variable gears was applied on Voisin cars in 1929, first to the 10CV which, in the following year, had been superseded by a Cotal electric epicyclic gearbox. To this interest was related Voisin cars fondness for multi-cylinder engines, which aimed at giving the utmost flexibility, thereby avoiding gear-changing altogether. Voisin made a V-twelve luxury car as early as 1921. The layout of this Voisin car was revived in 1930 for the Voisin Type C18 Diane. This Voisin car was a 4.8-litre car with a 115bhp engine that needed only 3 forward speeds. The Voisin Simoun and Voisin Sirocco were two low chassis models Voisin cars with striking razor edge saloon and coupé bodies which were made in very small numbers in 1930. Identical except for their engines, the Voisin Simoun used a 5.8-litre six, and the Sirocco the V12. The Voisin Diane was still listed for 1938. The other Voisin cars of the 1930s were sixes, the Voisin Charmant continuing to 1934.

Voisin cars had a reputation for putting into practice ideas which remained ideals for most manufacturers. For example, he was dedicated to weight reduction, and to this end produced notably light patent bodies whose only drawback was their extreme ugliness. Of wood and aluminium, they were entirely practical, being cheap to make, compact, and strong, as well as light. A 2-door, four-seater saloon body on the 10CV Voisin car chassis weighed only 1.060lb, keeping the weight of the whole Voisin car down to 22cwt. The most unprepossessing were the convertible Voisin cars and those with detachable hard tops. Because of their looks, the Voisin cars, with their maker’s patent bodies, never sold well – a deplorable waste of well-directed ingenuity. However, fabric Weymann-type and other normal bodies were also supplied on the Voisin car. From 1931 to 1934, some Imperia cars from Belgium were made under licence. In 1936 a most unusual Voisin car was made in the shape of the straight-12; this Voisin car had two 3-litre, 6-cylinder engines in line, the rear part of the hindmost engine projecting into the driving compartment. 180bhp and 125mph were claimed, but the Voisin car was not put in production. The last Voisin cars, introduced in 1937, used the 6-cylinder 3½-litre Graham engine, though without the supercharger. These Voisin cars were not the work of Gabriel Voisin, but were made by a syndicate that had acquired the Voisin car name. After World War 2, Voisin designed a car which was as complete a contrast to his former work as can be imagined – the Spanish-built Biscuter.

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