The Autocrat was a British car manufacturer operating from 1913 to 1926. The company operated from premises in the

Balsall Heath Balsall Heath is an inner-city area of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It has a diverse cultural mix of people and is the location of the Balti Triangle. History Balsall Heath was agricultural land between Moseley village and the city of ...

area of Birmingham. Unusually for the time the company seems to have been run by two women, Ivy Rogers and Miss Howell. The first cars in 1913 were

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 ...

s powered at first by Peugeot and later by JAP air cooled V-twin engines. The Peugeot engine was mounted with its cylinders in a "fore and aft" layout and drove the rear axle via a chain but the JAP version had the engine mounted across the chassis with a chain drive to a separate gearbox and shaft to the back axle. In spite of being air cooled both cars had a dummy radiator. The cyclecar was quickly joined by a light car with a 1098 cc four cylinder

Chapuis-Dornier Chapuis-Dornier was a French manufacturer of proprietary engines for automobiles from 1904 to 1928 in Puteaux near Paris. Between 1919 and 1921 it displayed a prototype automobile, but it was never volume produced.Linz, Schrader: ''Die große Automo ...

engine and shaft drive to a three speed gearbox. Production of the V-twins stopped in 1914.Some car production seems to have continued into World War I and in 1915 a 1340 cc Coventry Simplex engined car was listed. In 1919 a new range of 10-12 hp cars was introduced with engines from a variety of makers including Meadows, Coventry Simplex and Dorman. Capacities varied from 1500cc to 2000cc. Drive was to the rear axle via a three of four speed gearbox and torque tube. The suspension used semi elliptic leaf springs all round. Autocrat build their own coachwork to a very high standard but the price was high at £875 in 1920. Electric starting was introduced in 1923 and a closed body was offered alongside the open cars. A detachable hard top was also available for some models and a sports version with the chassis lowered by 3.5 inches was listed. The company was taken over by Calthorpe in 1926 and the factory was closed.

References

{{reflist Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1913 Defunct companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Manufacturing companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands