Coventry Premier Limited owned a British car and

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 ...

manufacturing business based in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the 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 city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

from 1912 to 1923. It changed its name from Premier Cycles to Coventry Premier Ltd in November 1914.

Early Company History

The business can trace its origins back to 1875 when

William Hillman William Hillman (13 November 1848 – 4 February 1921) was a British bicycle and automobile manufacturer. In partnership with Louis Coatalen he founded the Hillman-Coatalen Company in 1907, later the Hillman Motor Company after Coatalen's defe ...

and William Herbert formed Hillman & Herbert Cycle Co Ltd, as bicycle makers. They were joined in 1876 by George B Cooper and the company renamed Hillman, Herbert & Cooper Ltd, operating out of the Premier Works in Coventry, their Premier brand of cycles being very successful, with the factory covering 3 acres. In 1891 The Premier Cycle Co Ltd was formed to take over Hillman, Herbert & Cooper as a going concern, however the Premier Cycle Co was wound up later that year. Some time later The New Premier Cycle Co was formed to acquire the business of The Premier Cycle Co. In 1902 this company renamed itself as The Premier Cycle Co Ltd. In 1914 The Premier Cycle Co Ltd changed its name to Coventry Premier Ltd, and continued as such until sold to

Singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

in 1920. The Coventry Premier trademark continued to be used by Singer until c1927 when they ceased bicycle production.

went on to set up his own Hillman car company in 1907.

Premier Motorcycles

Hillman, Herbert & Cooper started manufacturing motorcycles from 1908.

Premier Cyclecars

The Premier

was launched in 1912. Described at the 1912 Motor Cycle and Cycle Car ShowThe Motor Cycle and Cycle Car Show at Olympia, The Automotor Journal, 30 November 1912, pp1451-1452 as 'a smart looking two-seater vehicle with coachwork torpedo-type body at 100 guineas'. The engine was a 998 cc air-cooled V-twin (85mm bore, 88mm stroke) with special heavy flywheel for cyclecar work and Bosch magneto. The transmission included a leather cone clutch and two speed gearbox (with reverse), and the rear axle included a differential, there was enclosed chain drive throughout. The chassis was of 'tubular trussed construction' with half elliptic front springing and quarter elliptic rear. The brakes comprised a foot-operated band brake operating on the transmission countershaft, and two internally expanding brakes on the rear axle operated by the hand brake lever. The Premier Works was situated in Read Street, Coventry. The original factory buildings no longer survive, but the site in more recent times was the location of a factory used by Lucas Aerospace.

Light car

A proper light car designed by the works manager G.W.A. Brown, who had been with

Talbot Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot ...

, was added in 1914 with four-cylinder engine of 1592 cc and shaft drive. Testing of the 4-cylinder car continued during the war, but when peacetime production restarted in 1919 it did not appear. Brown had moved to

Arrol-Johnston Arrol-Johnston (later known as Arrol-Aster) was an early Scottish manufacturer of automobiles, which operated from 1895 to 1931 and produced the first automobile manufactured in Britain. The company also developed the world's first "off-road" v ...

in 1917. Instead the company launched the ''8 hp Super Runabout'' two-seat, three-wheeled cyclecar with 1056 cc, water-cooled, V twin engine, shaft drive to a rear-mounted gearbox and chain drive to the rear wheels.

200 mile Brooklands

In 1921 Coventry Premier was bought by

and the three-wheeler was replaced by a four-wheeled version using the same engine but now having the gearbox combined with the rear axle, eliminating the chain drive. In 1923 the badge appeared on a basic version of the Singer Ten. The name was no longer used on cars from 1924, but bicycle making continued for a few more years. AJ "Jimmy" Dixon (Alfred James) of Enfield raced a Coventry Premier (No 8) in the 1921 Brooklands Junior Car Club 200 mile race. He finished in fourth place. About 500 three-wheel and 1200 four-wheeled

cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, people in ...

were made.

References