The Adamson was an English car manufactured in

Enfield, Middlesex Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield Highw ...

, from 1912 to 1925. It was designed by Reginald Barton Adamson at the premises of the family haulage contract business.

History

The first car of 1912 was a small two-seater bullnosed

cyclecar A cyclecar was a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive car manufactured in Europe and the United States between 1910 and the early 1920s. The purpose of cyclecars was to fill a gap in the market between the motorcycle and the car. A key c ...

and had a 1,099 cc twin-cylinder or 1,074 cc four-cylinder engine made by Alpha of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

driving the rear wheels via a three-speed-and-reverse gearbox and a countershaft from which two V-belts went to the rear wheels. The engine could be started from the driving seat using a mechanical linkage. The channel section steel chassis was placed under the axles with suspension by semi-elliptic leaf springs. This arrangement allowed the car to have a low, sporting appearance. In 1914 the option of a larger four-cylinder version was added. A new model was announced in 1916 with 1330 cc four-cylinder engine, but few if any reached the public before car production ceased later that year. After the war a new company, R. Barton Adamson and Co, was formed and the 1916 four-cylinder car was resurrected with a

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engine. In 1920 it cost £375, falling to £210 in 1924, but to put the price into perspective, in 1923 the

Austin 7 The Austin 7 is an economy car that was produced from 1923 until 1939 in the United Kingdom by Austin. It was nicknamed the "Baby Austin" and was at that time one of the most popular cars produced for the British market and sold well abroad. ...

was launched at £165.

Twin Car

The final cars from 1923 were the "Twin-Cars" that were effectively two

sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

s side by side with the driver in the off-side and powered by a choice of air- or water-cooled 9-horsepower 1078 cc V twin-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

Anzani Anzani was an engine manufacturer founded by the Italian Alessandro Anzani (1877–1956), which produced proprietary engines for aircraft, cars, boats, and motorcycles in factories in Britain, France and Italy. Overview From his native Italy, An ...

engines with chain drive mounted between the two passenger units. Production numbers are not known.

References

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External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20040914004746/http://britishmm.co.uk/history.asp?id=23 Cyclecars Vintage vehicles Cars introduced in 1912

History

Twin Car

See also

References

External links