Autovia was a short lived brand of British car from

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 ...

existing from 1935 to 1938 with production starting in January 1937.''The Times'', Wednesday, 22 September 1937; pg. 6; Issue 47796 The venture was ambitious and even included setting up a school for

chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

s. The cars were expensive and it was a market sector well served by other companies. 44 cars were made.

Large luxury cars

The company was created by Riley as a subsidiary to produce large luxury cars and a new factory was built. A 2849 cc 90°V-8, triple camshaft engine was developed from a pair of 1½-litre Riley engine blocks and coupled to a pre selector unit bought from

Armstrong Siddeley Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines. The company was created following ...

. One car was fitted with a ZF 4 speed manual box, drive was to the rear wheels through a live axle with

worm gear A worm drive is a gear arrangement in which a worm (which is a gear in the form of a screw) meshes with a worm wheel (which is similar in appearance to a spur gear). The two elements are also called the worm screw and worm gear. The terminol ...

final drive. Three body types were advertised, a Sports saloon, a Special Saloon with extra leg room at the expense of boot space and a

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a prof ...

mostly built by

Arthur Mulliner Arthur Mulliner was the 20th century name of a coachbuilding business founded in Northampton in 1760 which remained in family ownership. The business was acquired by Henlys Limited in 1940 and lost its separate identity. Mulliner Northampton ...

of Northampton who were London distributors. The car was also available as a bare chassis. The venture failed when Riley went bankrupt. When they were taken over by the

Nuffield Organization Nuffield Organization was the unincorporated umbrella-name or promotional name used for the charitable and commercial interests of owner and donor, William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield. The name was assumed following Nuffield's gift made to form ...

Autovia was not resurrected. There were thought to be eight of these cars remaining in 2008. The limousine was considered remarkable for its width being more than its overall height yet the floors were flat and a tunnel and wells avoided at the back. "The general low set helps stability" said ''The Times'', "the models are well equipped, as they should be for the price".

Specification

The specially designed chassis frame permits a low overall height and low floor line.
In addition to the details in the adjacent box: * wheels: Dunlop centre-lock wire 3.50" x 19" with nave plates * tyres: 5.5" section on 19 inch wheels * suspension by semi-elliptic springs from the two rigid axles is controlled by hydraulic shock absorbers, their resistance is controlled by the driver * braking on all four wheels is mechanically actuated by rods with wedge operated shoes in 16 inch drums * steering by worm and nut * lubrication (of chassis items) is centralised and automatic

Pricing

In a prior announcement 10 October 1936 Victor Riley revealed there would be two models available in addition to the bare chassis all with an automatic clutch, a preselective gearbox and a worm driven back axle. Prices would be: * chassis £685 * five-seat saloon £975 * limousine £995 The London distributors were Arthur Mulliner Limited of 54 Baker Street.''The Times'', Saturday, 10 Oct 1936; pg. 6; Issue 47502

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