Armstrong Siddeley Motors

I have been reading about Armstrong Siddeley Motors, formed in 1919 at Parkside to produce high-end hand built cars for wealthy customers. It must have been quite a leap of faith to begin producing a car costing the equivalent today of well over £47,000 less than one year after the end of the Great War, but the enterprise proved to be a success, and Armstrong Siddeley continued to make cars for the next forty years. We had a Whitley when I was a teenager and I loved it, revelling in its road presence. I was fascinated with it's preselector gearbox and "fluid flywheel" (whatever that was!). The inventor of this gearing system was I understand Walter Wilson, an engineering genius who was credited as the co-inventor of the tank, which relied on his novel epicyclical gearbox. I do not remember the factory other than going with my father on one occasion to buy a silencer for the Whitley from the parts department and would love to know if anyone has any memories or information regarding the company.

My prewar Riley has a Wilson pre-selector gearbox which drives through a centrifugal clutch. When I was looking for a car to restore I knew it had to be Coventry built. The marques I considered were Riley, Alvis, Lea Francis and Armstrong Siddeley, specifically a Typhoon. The Riley was slumbering in a lock up in Barnacle. All this was 37 years ago.

You may find these of interest... Graces Guide Information about vintage cars Armstrong Siddeley Owners Club ASM also had hangar space at Bitteswell aerodrome after the war where they were involved in many projects relating to the jet turbine engine

Hi, I once saw a pre-selector gearbox, stripped, but this one was a mechanical device where a transmission belt was moved in away, something like a derailleur push-bike gear. Two sets of sprockets were next to each other with the belt always the correct tension as the sprockets were inversely sized so as the belt went onto a bigger sprocket one side whereas it moved onto a smaller one adjacent. I cannot explain it any easier.

Ah, yes, the Siddeley. The first time I walked through those gates I believe was 1948, I was being guided on a tour whilst being interviewed for a job as works fireman. There were gangs of men assembling the cars (no track), rows of cars a few yards from each other, all hand built. There was no time fixture to each man for his part in the assembly. They had time to talk. But Coventry in those days, men were happy with their lot, most had recently returned from the horrors of war. All they wanted was a honest job for honest pay, a home of their own, a new city with new shops. There was an expectancy, an excitement, like kids days before Xmas throughout the city. You could feel it all around you, new fashions, new music, new sports facilities, new cars, a great time for a great city.

I came to Coventry in 1949 to train with Rootes and as you say there was a vitality about the city. All the car factories were going full blast and sending cars all over the world. Rootes exported over 75% of what they made and there were new cars parked everywhere - plenty of bomb sites - prior to being driven to the docks. Everyone was in work and there were others coming from all over the country to work. The pubs, especially on a Friday, like the Walsgrave and Wyken Pippin, were always busy. Then on Saturday there was the 'City' with George Mason, Plum Warner, Noel Simpson, Norman Lockhart and Dick Mason. The absolute tragedy was the labour unrest which let in the imports and just ended up putting everyone out of work. The convenors and stewards were too politically motivated when they should have been creating an industry to provide jobs for the grandchildren. Happy memories.

I worked at Armstrong Siddeley Motors from 1957 to 1960 and remember seeing a Star Sapphire Limousine built for Princess Margaret, it had deep pile lambs wool rugs in the back and wood veneer drinks cabinet, also wood veneer dashboard, a car made for Royalty. It is still on the road today as a wedding hire car by a company in Cornwall.

Mr Blue Sky. Don't forget the Sapphire jet engine, housed in between two high walls and roof, no back and front - the earth shuddered, a mighty machine, dwarfed anything they had ever built.

I remember walking through the Jet Engine Assembly workshop to get to the canteen, the only test house I remember seeing had four walls and a steel ladder fixed into the wall leading to a open roof so you knew when a test was in progress, you could hear it.

Mr Blue Sky, Forgot to mention this was 1949 and at Ansty. Sorry.

Hi Kaga. Could that earth shuddering noise at Ansty have been either of the early rocket engines Snarler or Screamer? Only asking.

Or the Viper, Mamba & Double Mamba? My father worked in the Ansty text beds from the end of the war until the 1970's.

They were side by side, worked independently.

A picture I posted in 2013 from the CET 25th Septmber 1953 in the Central Hall. A talk was given by Mr W H Lindsey, director and chief engineer of Armstrong Siddeley, to the members of the members of the Freemans Guild, a Mamba turbo prop. My step grandad, third from the right with the moustache and his dad behind him. Both worked at the Gauge and Tool.

Annewiggy, Yes, when it was being tested it was about a twelve feet long, four feet diameter, like a long tin-can, had wires and bits all over it, and we weren't allowed to touch it no matter how much it went on fire. We were told we were only there for fire premiums. Me, I just got myself lost in the long grass of the airfield with a pretty girl. That's another story.