The Zendik was a British

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 ...

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...

, Surrey,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1912 and 1913. They had a sales office and showroom run by H Jenks at Ebury Street, Eaton Square, London SW. The car had an air-cooled 8 hp V-twin cylinder

Chater-Lea Chater-Lea was a British bicycle, car and motorcycle maker with a purpose-built five-storey factory in Banner Street, EC1, in the City of London (now converted into flats) and, from 1928, premises at Letchworth, Hertfordshire. It was founded by ...

engine driving the rear wheels through a two speed transmission with top gear being direct and the lower gear a chain reduction system. Reverse gear was obtained by diverting the drive through two friction wheels, one on the front of the

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

and a larger one connected to the low gear countershaft in the transmission. The footbrake operated on the rear wheels with internal expanding shoes and the handbrake controlled a leather faced band contracting onto the main drive shaft. The final drive to the rear axle used a worm drive reduction system. The chassis was wood with metal reinforcing and semi-elliptic springs were fitted to front and rear axles. Wire spoked wheels with 26 x 2.5 tyres were fitted. The car was provided with two-seat coachwork with a dummy radiator with a Zendik script across it. The body changed little throughout the life of the company. An updated version was announced in 1913 but probably never reached production. At least one chassis was fitted with a van body and supplied to Gaydon & Sons, a Kingston-based clockmaker. A top speed of was claimed in Zendik's own advertising and was backed up in a road test published in The Cyclemotor magazine in March 1913. The car was sold for £110 with a hood and windscreen available for an extra £10. It is not known how many Zendiks were made but the premises seem to have been very small and the company had a nominal capital of only £3000. They did however have a telephone installed, not particularly common in 1912. The end came in December 1913 when the company seems to have run out of money and at an Extraordinary General Meeting a liquidator was appointed. The company was wound up in June 1914.

References

{{reflist Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Companies based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Cyclecars Defunct companies based in Surrey

See also

References