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The Vale Special (sometimes just Vale) was a British sports car made between 1932 and 1935 in
The Vale Motor Company was established in 1931 by Pownoll Pellew (later 9th
Dave Cox: ''Ave Atque Vale - the story of the Vale Special''
- The history of the Vale Special.
- an account of his last day at Dunkirk. Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Vehicle manufacture in London
Maida Vale
Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is ...
, London.
History
The Vale Motor Company was established in 1931 by Pownoll Pellew (later 9th Viscount Exmouth
Viscount Exmouth, of Canonteign in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
History
The title was created in 1816 for the prominent naval officer Edward Pellew, 1st Baron Exmouth. He had already been created a baro ...
) as a 'gentleman's hobby' in a rented workshop behind The Warrington pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
in Maida Vale. The project was initially funded by Pellew (helped by his mother and his actress girlfriend Kay Walsh
Kathleen "Kay" Walsh (15 November 1911 – 16 April 2005) was an English actress, dancer, and screenwriter. Her film career prospered after she met her future husband film director David Lean, with whom she worked on prestige productions such a ...
) and his two business partners Allan Gaspar (with help from his bank manager father), and Robert Owen Wilcoxon (thanks to early film proceeds of his film actor brother Henry Wilcoxon
Harry Frederick Wilcoxon (8 September 1905 – 6 March 1984), known as Henry Wilcoxon, was an actor born in Roseau, Dominica, British West Indies, and who was a leading man in many of Cecil B. DeMille's films, also serving as DeMille's associ ...
). It was Henry who designed the striking Vale Motor Co. badge.
The cars were initially handmade and based on Triumph Motor Company
The Triumph Motor Company was a British car and motor manufacturing company in the 19th and 20th centuries. The marque had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann of Nuremberg formed S. Bettmann & Co. and started importing bicycles from Eu ...
components. What made the car 'special' was its low-slung chassis, considered a remedy to the poor road-holding of small sports cars. The first cars used the 832 cc side-valve engine from the Triumph Super 7
The Triumph Super 7 is a car manufactured from 1927 until 1934 by the Triumph Motor Company. It was produced as a response to the success of the Austin 7 and was Triumph's first car to be made in large numbers. In 1933 the name was changed to ...
fitted to an 84-inch wheelbase chassis bought in from 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 ...
, semi-elliptic leaf springs all round, and the hydraulic brakes and axles from the Triumph. The top speed was only 65 mph (105 km/h), which was too slow for serious sporting events: so from 1933 a 1098 cc, overhead-inlet, side-exhaust, four-cylinder, Coventry Climax
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 was offered, followed in 1934 by the 1476 cc six-cylinder version of the same engine.
Most of the cars had lightweight two-seater open bodies with fold-flat windscreens, but a four-seat version on a long-wheelbase chassis, called the 'Tourette', was available with the larger-engined versions.
In 1933 a new model, the Vale 'Vixen', was proposed with a larger engine size, longer 102 inch wheelbase on a stronger chassis, a redesigned steering system and other improvements. The blueprint exists, but a complete car was never built.
Around 55-60 cars had been built by the company when production stopped in 1935, though some have suggested that there were more, up to 80.Cox, p.147
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
Bibliography
* * *{{cite book , last=Georgano , first=N. , author-link= G.N. Georgano , title=Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile , year=2000 , publisher=HMSO , location=London , isbn=1-57958-293-1External links
Dave Cox: ''Ave Atque Vale - the story of the Vale Special''
- The history of the Vale Special.
- an account of his last day at Dunkirk. Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Vehicle manufacture in London