Lanchester 40 Saloon by Tickford
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Car producer : |
Lanchester |
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Model: |
40 Saloon by Tickford |
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Year: |
1919-1929 |
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Type: |
saloon |
The Lanchester Motor Company Limited was a car manufacturer located until early 1931 at Armourer Mills, Montgomery Street, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, and afterwards at Sandy Lane, Coventry England. The marque has been unused since the last Lanchester was produced in 1955. The Lanchester Motor Company Limited is still registered as an active company and accounts are filed each year, although as of 2014 it is marked as "non-trading".
Lanchester recommenced civilian production after WWI with a single model, the luxurious 40hp, which was even more expensive than the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost and rated every bit as highly, if not more so. The Lanchester 40hp had been launched at the London Olympia Motor Show in October 1919 and was intended to challenge the likes of Rolls-Royce and Daimler for the landed gentry and Mayfair carriage trade. Powered by a 6,178cc six-cylinder overhead-camshaft engine, driving via a Lanchester three-speed epicyclic gearbox, the Forty was capable of carrying the massive coachwork that its target market demanded. There were servo-assisted four-wheel brakes from 1924 and Lanchester's flagship was capable of accelerating from 5 to 78mph in top gear. With a rolling chassis price of £1,800 in 1925, it cost the equivalent of seven semi-detached houses. The Forty was produced from 1919 to 1929, although available to special order for a couple more years. Only 392 of these magnificent cars were built. They were owned by some of the world's richest and most famous, including the Duke of York (later King George VI), Prince Chichibu of Japan, Sir John Ellerman (reputedly England's richest man), Indian cricketer Ranji (the Maharaja of Nawanagar), and the fabulously wealthy Maharaja of Alwar. Somewhat surprisingly, the Lanchester 40hp also enjoyed a very successful racing and record-breaking career, setting a new 400km mark in 1924 of 157km/h (97.5mph).
The Twenty One joined the range in 1924. This had a 3.1-litre, six-cylinder engine, now with removable cylinder head, mated to a four-speed conventional gearbox and four-wheel brakes. It grew to the 3.3-litre Twenty Three in 1926. The Forty was finally replaced by the Thirty with straight-eight 4.4-litre engine in 1928. A further series of armoured cars was made in 1927, using a six-wheeled version of the Forty chassis.
