![Invicta logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Invicta_logo.jpg)
Invicta is a British automobile manufacturer. The brand has been available intermittently through successive decades. Initially, the manufacturer was based in
Cobham, Surrey
Cobham () is a large village in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, centred south-west of London and northeast of Guildford on the River Mole. It has a commercial/services High Street, a significant number of primary and private s ...
, England, from 1925 to 1933, then in
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
, London, England, from 1933 to 1938 and finally in
Virginia Water
Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its nam ...
, Surrey, England, from 1946 to 1950. More recently, the name was revived for the Invicta S1 sports car produced between 2004 and 2012.
First incarnation
![2007-06-16 Invicta S-Type (Motor), 4467 cm³, Bj](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/2007-06-16_Invicta_S-Type_%28Motor%29%2C_4467_cm%C2%B3%2C_Bj._1931.jpg)
This manufacturer was founded by
Noel Macklin
Sir (Albert) Noel Campbell Macklin (28 October 1886 – 1946) was an innovative British car maker and boat designer. He founded Eric-Campbell in 1919, Silver Hawk in 1920, Invicta in 1925 and Railton in 1933. In 1939 he founded Fairmile Marine ...
with
Oliver Lyle
Sir Oliver Lyle, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE (1891–1961) was a British sugar technologist during the early 20th century.
Early life
Oliver was born in 1891, the year his grandfather, Abram Lyle died, in Weybridge, Surrey ...
of the
sugar family providing finance. Assembly took place in Macklin's garage at his home at Fairmile Cottage on the main London to Portsmouth road in Cobham, Surrey. Macklin had previously tried car making with
Eric-Campbell & Co Limited and his own
Silver Hawk Motor Company Limited The Invicta cars were designed to combine flexibility, the ability to accelerate from virtual standstill in top gear, with sporting performance. With the assistance of William (Willie) Watson, his mechanic from pre-World War I racing days,
[ a prototype was built on a Bayliss-Thomas frame with ]Coventry Simplex
Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, racing, and other specialty engine manufacturer.
History
Pre WW1
The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was reloca ...
engine in the stables of Macklin's house on the western side of Cobham.
SC and LC Chassis
The first production car, the 1925 ''2½ litre'' used a Meadows
A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artifici ...
straight six, overhead-valve engine and four-speed gearbox in a chassis with semi elliptical springs all round and cost from £595. Two different chassis lengths were available, ''SC'' and ''LC'' to cater for the customer's choice of bodywork. As demand grew a lot of the construction work went to Lenaerts and Dolphens in Barnes, London but final assembly and test remained at Fairmile.[ The engine grew to 3 litres in 1926 and 4½ litres in late 1928.
]
NLC and A Type Chassis
The larger engine was used in the William Watson designed 1929 ''4½ litre'' NLC chassis available in short or long versions, but the less expensive A Type replaced the NLC in 1930.
S-type
In 1930 the ''S-type'' was launched at the London Motor Show. Still using the ''4½ litre'' Meadows engine but in a low chassis slung under the rear axle. About 75 were made.
1½ litre
In an attempt to widen the market appeal the ''1½ litre'' straight-six overhead-cam Blackburne engined ''12/45'' L-type was announced in 1932. It was a large car with its wheelbase and proved too heavy for the available power needing a 6:1 rear axle ratio. It was available with a preselector gearbox
A preselector gearbox is a type of manual transmission mostly used on passenger cars and racing cars in the 1930s, in buses from 1940-1960 and in armoured vehicles from the 1930s to the 1970s. The defining characteristic of a preselector gearbox ...
as an option and most had coachwork by Carbodies
The London Taxi Company was a taxi design and manufacturing company based in Coventry, England. It formerly traded as London Taxis International and Carbodies.
It operated a coachbuilding business on Holyhead Road, Coventry. After half a c ...
. The supercharged
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...
''12/90'' of 1933 increased the available power from 45 to but few were made and a proposed twin-cam ''12/100'' never got beyond a prototype.[
]
Success
Sporting success for Invicta often came via Violette Cordery
Violette Cordery (married name Hindmarsh; 10 January 1900 – 30 December 1983) was a British racing driver and long distance record breaker.
Early life
Cordery was born in London to Henry Cordery and had an elder sister (Lucy)/Leslie and a you ...
, who was Noel Macklin's sister-in-law. She won the half mile sprint at the West Kent Motor Club meeting at Brooklands in 1925 driving a 2.7 litre. In March 1926 Cordery was part of a team of six drivers that set multiple long distance records at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza
The Monza Circuit ( it, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, , National Automobile Racetrack of Monza) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after ...
in Italy. They covered 10,000 miles at 56.47 mph, and 15,000 miles at 55.76 mph. In July 1926 at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry
Autodrome de Montlhéry (established 4 October 1924) is a motor racing circuit, officially called L’autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, owned by Utac, located south-west of the small town of Montlhéry about south of Paris.
History
Industrial ...
track, Paris, they covered 5000 miles at 70.7 mph, taking over 70 hours of day and night driving, supervised by the Royal Automobile Club.
Cordery was twice awarded the Dewar Trophy
The Dewar Trophy was a cup donated in the early years of the twentieth century by Sir Thomas R. Dewar, M.P. a member of parliament of the United Kingdom (UK), to be awarded each year by the Royal Automobile Club (R. A .C.) of the United Kingdom "t ...
, latterly in 1929 for driving in 30,000 minutes (20.8 days) at Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...
, averaging 61.57 mph.
Between February and July 1927 Cordery drove an Invicta around the world, accompanied by a nurse, a mechanic, and an RAC observer. They covered 10,266 miles in five months at 24.6 mph, crossing Europe, Africa, India, Australia, the United States and Canada.
In 1930 Donald Healey
Donald Mitchell Healey CBE (3 July 1898 – 15 January 1988) was a noted English car designer, rally driver and speed record holder.
Early life
Born in Perranporth, Cornwall, elder son of Frederick (John Frederick) and Emma Healey (née Mitc ...
gained a class win in the Monte Carlo Rally
The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially ''Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo'') is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. The rally now takes place along the French Riviera in Monaco and southeast ...
, and won the event outright in 1931 with an S Type, having started from Stavanger
Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...
. S. C. H. "Sammy" Davis had a spectacular accident in an S-type at Brooklands in 1931. Raymond Mays
Thomas Raymond Mays (1 August 1899 – 6 January 1980) was an auto racing driver and entrepreneur from Bourne, Lincolnshire, England.
He attended Oundle School, where he met Amherst Villiers, leaving at the end of 1917. After army service in ...
held the Brooklands Mountain Circuit Class Record in 1931 and 1932, and the outright Shelsley Walsh
Shelsley Walsh is a small village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, on the western side of the River Teme. For administrative purposes it is presently located in the Teme Valley ward of the county’s Malvern Hills district. In the 2011 ...
Sports Car Record in the latter year.
End of production
Car production seems to have finished in 1935. Noel Macklin went on to found Railton, who used the Cobham buildings to make their cars after Invicta moved to Chelsea in 1933. An attempted revival using Delage
Delage was a French luxury automobile and racecar company founded in 1905 by Louis Delâge in Levallois-Perret near Paris; it was acquired by Delahaye in 1935 and ceased operation in 1953.
On 7 November 2019, the association "Les Amis de Dela ...
and Darracq
A Darracq and Company Limited owned a French manufacturer of motor vehicles and aero engines in Suresnes, near Paris. The French enterprise, known at first as A. Darracq et Cie, was founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq after he sold his Gladi ...
components failed to get off the ground. Following the collapse of an attempted sale the court made an order for the compulsory winding up
Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...
of Invicta Cars Limited on 3 May 1938.
1946 revival
The name was revived in 1946 by an organisation calling themselves Invicta Cars of Virginia Water
Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its nam ...
Surrey who began making the Black Prince. Meadows engines were again used, this time a twin overhead camshaft 3-litre six with three carburettors giving 120 bhp. The aluminium-bodied cars – steel supplies were effectively non-existent for new businesses in Britain's new centrally planned economy – were extremely complex and very expensive with a torque converter (Brockhouse Hydro-Kinetic Turbo Transmitter) entirely replacing the gearbox. The torque converter was controlled by a small switch with forward and reverse positions. Suspension was fully independent using torsion bars and there were built-in electric jacks. Other innovative luxury items included a trickle-charger to charge the battery from the domestic mains, an immersion heater in the engine, interior heating of the body and a built-in radio. About 16 were made, 12 of which have survived. The new company lasted until 1950, when it was bought by Frazer Nash
Frazer Nash was a brand of British sports car manufactured from 1922 first by Frazer Nash Limited founded by engineer Archibald Frazer-Nash. On its financial collapse in 1927 a new company, AFN Limited, was incorporated. Control of AFN passed t ...
makers, AFN Ltd.
1989–date
Invicta Cars Ltd. Company No. 02342199 was registered again in 1989 by Christopher Browning, an Invicta enthusiast who was involved in the restoration and running of Invicta cars designed between 1925 and 1935. The purpose of the company was – and still is today – to record and preserve the heritage of the company name and provide a reference point for all the Invicta cars that are either being restored or are running on the road today.
2004–12
In the early 2000s, the marque was resurrected yet again, producing the Invicta S1, at the Invicta Car Company factory in Chippenham, Wiltshire
Chippenham is a market town in northwest Wiltshire, England. It lies northeast of Bath, west of London, and is near the Cotswolds Area of Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon and some form of settlement i ...
, England owned by Michael Bristow who acquired the brand in 1980.
The S1 was launched at the 2002 British International Motor Show
The British International Motor Show is an annual motor show held by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders between 1903 and 2008 in England, and as The British Motor Show since 2021 by Automotion Events.
Initially held in London at Th ...
. The car, designed in cooperation with Chris Marsh & Leigh Adams, was powered by , producing and with a claimed top speed of and acceleration to 60 mph in 5 seconds.
A supercharged
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...
5.0-litre V8 engine
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
s supplied by Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
's Special Vehicle Team
Special Vehicle Team, also known as SVT, was an arm of Ford Motor Company responsible for the development of the company's performance car, highest-performance vehicles. Established in 1991, SVT was the successor to the Special Vehicle Operations ...
(SVT) in America which can be tuned by Invicta to deliver up to at 6000 rpm and of torque
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...
at 4500 rpm, which has a claimed top speed of upwards of . The range prices started at £106,000 and finished at £160,000, or about $156,000 to $236,000 US dollars (December 2008).
The car features AP Racing
Brembo S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of automotive brake systems, especially for high-performance cars and motorcycles. Its head office is in Curno, Bergamo, Italy.
History
Brembo was established in Paladina, Italy on January 11, 1961 ...
6-pot (front) and 4-pot (rear) main braking system with cross drilled and race spec ventilated disc brake
A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to ho ...
s, an independent hand brake
In road vehicles, the parking brake, also known as a handbrake or emergency brake (e-brake), is a mechanism used to keep the vehicle securely motionless when parked. Parking brakes often consist of a cable connected to two wheel brakes, which is ...
system by Brembo
Brembo S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of automotive brake systems, especially for high-performance cars and motorcycles. Its head office is in Curno, Bergamo, Italy.
History
Brembo was established in Paladina, Italy on January 11, 1961 ...
, fully adjustable shock absorber
A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulic device designed to absorb and damp shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typically heat) which is then dissipated. Most sh ...
s with race double wishbone suspension
A double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design for automobiles using two (occasionally parallel) wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckle ...
, a BTR Hydratrak race limited-slip differential
A limited-slip differential (LSD) is a type of differential that allows its two output shafts to rotate at different speeds but limits the maximum difference between the two shafts. Limited-slip differentials are often known by the generic tr ...
, 50/50 weight distribution
Weight distribution is the apportioning of weight within a vehicle, especially cars, airplanes
An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocke ...
and a space frame
In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with ...
tubular chassis
Superleggera (Italian for ''Superlight'') is a custom tube and alloy panel automobile coachwork construction technology developed by Felice Bianchi Anderloni of Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. A separate chassis was stil ...
and roll cage
A roll cage is a specially engineered and constructed frame built in (or sometimes around, in which case it is known as an exo cage) the passenger compartment of a vehicle to protect its occupants from being injured or killed in an accident, pa ...
.
In April 2012 Westpoint Car Company, formerly the Invicta Car Company, was wound-up
Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...
by the court as a result of a £40,000 unpaid debt following diminishing interest in expensive cars. Invicta Motors changed its name to Westpoint Car Company shortly before it was dissolved to save the Invicta brand being linked to yet another financial failure. The dispossessed owner, Michael Bristow, said it was the fourth financial collapse in the marque's history.
Main models
*1925–26 2½ litre
*1926–29 3 litre
*1928–34 4½ litre
*1931–35 4½ litre S-Type
*1932–33 12/45
*1932–33 12/90
*1937–38 2½ litre
*1946–50 Black Prince
*2004–12 S1
Other Invicta brands
There were earlier but unconnected Invicta companies which made cars in Finchley
Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross.
Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...
, London from 1900 to 1905 and Leamington, Warwickshire, England, from 1913 to 1914. There was also an Invicta in Turin, Italy, in 1906.
Buick Invicta
The Buick Invicta is a full-size automobile produced by Buick from 1959 to 1963. The Invicta was a continuation of the intermediate Buick Super that mated the standard size Buick LeSabre (pre-1959, Buick Special) body with Buick's larger 401 cubic ...
was a General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
product made from 1959 to 1963.
See also
*List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom
:''This list is incomplete. You can help by adding correctly sourced information about other manufacturers.''
As of 2018 there are approximately 35 active British car manufacturers and over 500 defunct British car manufacturers. This page lists ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
External links
Invicta 12/90 photo gallery
British Pathe Video of Violet Cordery's Invicta beginning its 'Round the World' trip in 1927
{{DEFAULTSORT:Invicta (Car)
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England
Sports car manufacturers