Nobel (automobile)
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The Nobel was a
microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often ...
built under licence from Elektromaschinenbau Fulda GmbH by York Noble Industries Ltd, between 1958 and 1962.


Background

Born in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
on August 17, 1922, Jakob Knoblauch, was credited in at least one publication as the “designer of the first
bubble car Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often ...
” although this is otherwise unsubstantiated. In England, he adopted the name York Noble and formed the company Noble Motors, Ltd., in May 1956, as UK concessionaires for the
Heinkel Heinkel Flugzeugwerke () was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, with ...
bubble car, until its manufacture was transferred to the Dundalk Engineering Company, in
Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...
during 1958. In December 1957, Noble set up another company, York Noble Industries Ltd, and in June 1958, it was announced that the company would be introducing two cars. The Nobel 200 limousine, a hard-top saloon, and the Nobel 200 ‘Vicky’, described as van or pick-up with detachable canvas top and side panels. Both vehicles would be available either as do-it-yourself kits or as ready to drive vehicles. The cars were described as re-designed versions of the German
Fuldamobil Fuldamobil is the name of a series of small cars produced by ''Elektromaschinenbau Fulda GmbH'' of Fulda, Germany, and ''Nordwestdeutscher Fahrzeugbau'' (NWF) of Wilhelmshaven between 1950 and 1969. Various designated versions of the car were ...
, which with the exception of the Sachs engine, would be entirely built in Britain. Shortly before York Noble made his announcement, a team had been sent on behalf of
Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...
aircraft company by Sir Matthew Slattery to examine whether it would be viable for Shorts to build the Fuldamobil under licence. Further details emerged in September 1958, when Cyril Lord, named as chairman of York Noble Industries, announced that manufacture would take place in Northern Ireland.


Initial prototypes

Formula One World Champion
Mike Hawthorn John Michael Hawthorn (10 April 1929 – 22 January 1959) was a British racing driver. He became the United Kingdom's first Formula One World Champion driver in 1958, whereupon he announced his retirement, having been profoundly affected by the ...
became associated with the marque towards the end of 1958, flagging away two Nobels amongst a host of other bubble cars at a promotional event in September, before appearing on the Nobel stand at the Paris Motor show the following month. At the show, it was announced that Hawthorn had accepted the role of Technical Director for York Noble industries. “Call me the outfit’s tea-boy” was his jovial riposte to the press. Two Nobel saloons were on display at the Paris show, both differed from later production cars, with different side trim and a different two-tone colour scheme. At least one car was fitted with a sun-roof, and also had its fuel cap on the left at the rear rather than in the usual central position. Both cars were left-hand drive and were fitted with four wheels. It was confirmed at the show that the car would be assembled by Short Brothers & Harland Ltd at their Glen Works in Newtownards, Northern Ireland, although about 90% of the manufacture of parts was done elsewhere. The chassis was made by
Rubery Owen Rubery Owen is a British engineering company which was founded in 1884 in Darlaston, West Midlands. History In 1884 the company was started by John Tunner Rubery (1849-1920) and his two brothers (Samuel 1844-1910 and Thomas William 1856-1925), a ...
. Production of the fibreglass body shell was subcontracted to the
Bristol Aeroplane Company The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable a ...
, with regular shipments of the bodies between Bristol and Larne Harbour.


Production

The Nobel used mainly rectangular box-section steel tube for its chassis. Although this, like much of the car, was almost identical to the initial Fuldamobil S7 design, there were many minor differences and the overall dry weight of the Nobel was slightly heavier. The original Fuldamobil front brake arrangement proved liable to faults and rectifying this held up production for several months. The Bristol Aeroplane Company made the bodies at their factory at Coalpit Heath near Bristol. The intention was to produce these using new
injection moulding Injection moulding (U.S. spelling: injection molding) is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mould, or mold. Injection moulding can be performed with a host of materials mainly including metals (for ...
techniques they had developed, with the fibreglass injected at high pressure between male and female moulds. This had been successful on small mouldings, but proved to be unreliable on the larger car bodies and eventually normal fibreglass lay-up techniques were adopted. Official production of fully assembled saloon cars commenced in February 1959, with a provisional retail price in the UK of £317 before Purchase Tax. With the exception of the four-seater
Reliant Regal The Reliant Regal is a small three-wheeled car and van that was manufactured from 1952 to 1973 by the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, England, replacing the earlier Reliant Regent three-wheeled cyclecar van which had its origins in a desi ...
, this made it the most expensive three-wheeled car on the market in the UK at the time. Four-wheeled versions of the saloon were available as an option, or for export markets. The rear axle on these were fitted without any differential and with a very narrow
track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...
between the rear wheels. All production cars were painted white, with peacock blue lower sections. Self-coloured bodies made using
pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compo ...
s mixed into the
gelcoat Gelcoat, also called Gel Coat, is a material used to provide a high-quality finish on the visible surface of a fibre-reinforced composite. The most common gelcoats are thermosetting polymers based on epoxy or unsaturated polyester resin chemistry. ...
were experimented with, but this idea was abandoned when the overall finish proved unacceptable. In the UK, the intention to produce the cars in kit form had been in the anticipation that this would enable buyers to benefit from a significant reduction in the total amount of tax payable, but this does not appear to have been secured. One car was shipped in kit form to New York in April 1959, but in May 1959 it was stated that kits would not be available for sale at least another six months, and it is unclear if any cars were ever sold in kit form. A production capability of a 250 cars per week was often mentioned with regard to the Shorts factory, but despite extensive publicity, with the car appearing in London, and at major car shows in Paris, Geneva, and New York, where it was hoped that many four-wheel versions would be sold, and despite reports of large orders appearing in the press, chassis numbers indicate only about 400 of the cars had actually been produced by January 1960. The appearance of the car at the 1959 New York International Automobile Show drew particularly positive reports and it was stated that 1450 Nobels had been sold, with the car making “a million dollars for Britain”. Despite such extravagant claims, there is no record to indicate that any cars were ever exported to the USA. For the home market at least, it appeared that the retail price was too high, but it was also clear that with the production arrangements as they stood, there was very little scope to reduce it. In fact the Bristol Aeroplane company had attempted to increase the contract price for the bodies and in response, Shorts decided to transfer manufacture to their own factory at Queen’s Island in Belfast after autumn 1959. The additional overheads from transporting significant components such as the engines and chassis to Northern Ireland in addition to the subsequent cost of shipping completed cars back to the mainland made long-term production in Northern Ireland commercially untenable, and on 4 August 1959 it was announced that production by Shorts would cease after the first 1500 cars had been produced. Days after this announcement, a major strike by employees at Short Brothers and Harland began in protest at proposed redundancies. Though the specific issue of Nobel production was not the major trigger for the strike, it was felt to be a contributory factor, and the issue was raised by the
Northern Ireland Labour Party The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party in Northern Ireland which operated from 1924 until 1987. Origins The roots of the NILP can be traced back to the formation of the Belfast Labour Party in 1892. William Walker stoo ...
when it called for the
Northern Ireland Parliament The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...
to be recalled and steps taken to retain production of the Nobel. The strike was resolved after a few weeks, but it was without any deference or solution to the problem of the production costs of the Nobel saloon. At the same time as he announced that production of Nobel saloons at Shorts in Northern Ireland would end, Lord stated that he was negotiating with several companies in England to take over their work. He also announced that the Fairey Aviation Company at
Heaton Chapel Heaton Chapel is an area in the northern part of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire, it borders the Manchester districts of Levenshulme to the north, th ...
, Stockport would manufacture two new models, a Nobel “utility” car and a sports convertible, although they would not be producing the saloon.


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

{{Commons category, Nobel vehicles Microcars Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Cars introduced in 1958