Motoring nostalgia

[andyf]

Something has made my day!

When I was a callow youth in the late ‘60s, I bought a 1947 Lea Francis Sports like those shown here: http://www.lfoc.co.uk/vehicle/lea-francis-14hp-sports-1947-1949/ .
Only 120 were ever built, so they were rare 40 years ago, never mind today. It was great fun, but had to go after I got married in 1969; my wife couldn’t stamp hard enough on the rod brakes, and never really mastered the manual advance and retard 

A fit of nostalgia took me to the LF Owner’s Club website and the photos in that link. On a whim, I emailed the club registrar to ask if he knew anything of DRS 209 (the registration number of my car). He replied:
“Thanks for your enquiry. You'll be glad to know that your car is surviving in good shape, and is in our Club. I see it at our annual rallies most years. Maybe you'd like to come along to Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire on the second weekend of June (or maybe the first) and you'd stand a good chance of seeing it!”
He also offered to put me in touch with the present owner.

Knowing that it has survived and seems to be in good hands has really cheered me up on a dull January day.  

The car and I both date from 1947. I’m worried about seeing it again, because a comparison between its present condition and mine will show that the years have treated me less kindly than the car.

Andy

[saw]

A beautifully car 

[AdeV]

OK, so why is it described as "14hp" if its actually got 77 (or 87) bhp? Is that just the difference between hp & bhp, or was something else afoot?

[andyf]

I don't really know, Ade, but think that in the really early days of UK motoring, the power of a vehicle was estimated using a formula based on the cubic capacity of its engine. Engine efficiency improved, but the formula was retained until manufacturers realised that it made the cars sound a bit gutless.

A contemporary post-war car was the Austin 16, about which Wikipedia says:
"... it used a brand new 4 cylinder 2199 cc, overhead-valve engine.... The 'hp' (short for horsepower) was not a true reflection of the power of the vehicle, instead it was the result of a calculation to determine the excise duty (road tax) payable for the vehicle. The engine in fact produced 67 bhp (50 kW) at 3800 rpm."

The 1952 - 1954 Connaught GP racing cars had a souped-up version of the Leaf engine, which had a long stroke and was (for the time) quite torquey. They managed to come fourth in one race, but retired as often as they crossed the finishing line.

Andy

[John Stevenson]

I can remember as a kid of 15 or so trawling the local scrap yards looking for old motorbikes and found a Lea Francis,
No idea what model, probably just the standard cooking saloon but the OHC engine caught my eye, not a usual find in a bone yard.

John S.

[andyf]

Mine was overhead valve, John, but as far as can remember, there were twin cams working the rockers via pushrods about 4 inches long. I'm just glad it was never scrapped. Of my many, it is the one I remember most fondly, despite its impracticability. The Jowett Javelin it replaced came a close second. That was was a very practical car for a young man and his fiancee, with its bench seat in the front, steering column change, flat floor with no transmission tunnel and a pistol-type handbrake under the dash. Happy days...

Andy

[lordedmond]

Maybe this will help

Its the RAC rating system and was use for road tax calculations


http://www.designchambers.com/wolfhound/wolfhoundRACHP.htm



Stuart also created in 1947

[andyf]

There you go, Ade - all is explained.

Thanks for the link, Stuart. I suppose the only good thing about us being 1947 vintage is that our state pensions kick in this year. Perhaps I will be able to afford some beef dripping to liven up my bread.

Andy

[AdeV]

Fascinating stuff - and I'm not surprised that it was a tax thing...

Thanks for the link