User:Trident13/Villiers Ltd

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The Villiers Engineering Co. Ltd.

A short history of the company

Background and beginnings

In the 1890s John Marston's Sunbeam bicycles became extremely successful. From the start they had relied on high quality of production and finish. But John Marston was dissatisfied with the pedals on his machines, which he bought in. In 1890 he dispatched his son Charles to the USA on a selling trip but included in his instructions that Charles must discuss pedal engineering with Pratt and Whitney in Hartford, Connecticut and come back with a high class pedal and the machinery for making it. Whether or not he visited Pratt and Whitney and got machinery there is not clear but Charles himself said that the Villiers Engineering Co. was "the ultimate fruit" of his trip to the US.

What seems to have impressed him there was the production system and the labour saving devices. He pointed out that "it was not possible to develop these at Sunbeamland, which had long been working on another plan, but it was possible to start them in a new factory". Presumably this refers to the fact that Sunbeamland had developed, and continued to be developed, on the old courtyard factory plan which was not amenable to flow, or assembly line, production.

In 1898 they acquired "a small japanning shop and three cottages" in Villiers Street. How small the shop was is not clear as they had belonged to Edward Bullivant, a producer of japanned ware on quite a large scale. In any event they were big enough to convert into offices and factory and for eight men to be employed there. Charles Marston was put in charge of this factory, though most of his time was still to be spent at Sunbeamland. The company was registered as the Villiers Cycle Component Company with Charles Marston as the Managing Director.

The new machinery and production methods proved to be a success - such a success that they produced more pedals than Sunbeam needed. It was decided to sell the surplus to other bicycle makers. This decision was to turn Villiers from an in-house component shop into a major manufacturer in its own right. Charles appointed Frank Farrer, who was then the manager of the Palmer Tyre Company's Coventry depot, as sole agent for the sale of the surplus pedals. Farrer had many connections with the cycle trade, was a good engineer and a great salesman and was to become the driving force in Villiers. So quickly successful was this move that Frank Farrer joined Villiers full time in 1902 and the factory was employing 36 men. At some later point John Marston sold the Villiers side of his company to his son Charles, for £6,000, to be paid for out of future profits.

Sometime in 1902 Villiers patented a free wheel for bicycles. Today we take these for granted but then it was a new development. They went into production with such remarkable success that they gave up making pedals in 1904. Every bicycle maker had to have free wheels and Villiers had the patent on them. Villiers this became the world's biggest manufacturer of free wheels, reaching the height of their production just after the Second World War when they were making 80,000 per week or more than 4 million per year. They exported them all over the world.

1946 onwards

After the war demand continued to be very strong and the company was almost constantly expanding and re-organizing. In 1956 Villiers produced its two millionth engine and duly presented it to the Science Museum.

In 1957 they "absorbed" J. A. Prestwich Industries Ltd., makers of the J.A.P. engines. In 1962 the company were claiming that: "jointly the two companies produce a vast range of two-stroke and four-stroke petrol engines and four-stroke diesel engines from 1/3rd to 16 b.h.p. These are the engines which power many of Britain's two-stroke motor cycles, scooters and three wheelers and the great majority of the motor mowers, cultivators, concrete mixers, generating sets, elevators, pumping sets. etc." Not only that but the old standbys continued: "in fifty-eight years [Villiers] have sent nearly seventy millions [bicycle free wheels] to all parts of the world". Not only did the company produce engines but, as they said in 1962: "The Villiers Group offers an extensive service to industry in the supply of drop forgings, castings, pressings and metal fabrications, spur, bevel and helical gears, and in the design and manufacture of Viltool special-purpose machine tools, using the Viltool unit heads and the 'building block' system of tooling."

This 1951 Excelsior was fitted with a Villiers 197cc two stroke engine.

An advert from 1951

Overseas the company had subsidiaries in Australia (Ballarat), New Zealand and Germany and associate companies in Spain and India.

To give an impression of how widely used Villiers engines were here is a list, names only, of motorbikes which had Villiers engines in some or all of their models in the post World War II period alone:  Aberdale, ABJ, AJS, AJW, Ambassador, BAC, Bond, Bown, Butler, Commander, Corgi, Cotton, Cyc-Auto, DMW, Dot, Excelsior, Francis-Burnett, Greeves, HJH, James, Mercury, New Hudson, Norman, OEC, Panther, Radco, Rainbow, Scorpion, Sprite, Sun, Tandon.

In the early 1960's the company was taken over by Manganese Bronze Bearings, who also purchased Associated Motor Cycles (A.M.C.) in 1966. A.M.C. was formed in 1931 when A.J.S. was purchased by Matchless. In 1952 A.M.C. acquired Norton Motors Limited who produced Norton motorbikes.

After A.M.C.'s collapse and take-over in 1966, a new company called Norton Villiers was formed, which would produce machines using the Norton name. A new flagship machine was needed to replace the current ageing models and so in 1967 the Commando was developed, just in time for the Earls Court Show. The first production machines were completed in April 1968, but there were bending problems with the frame and so a new frame was introduced in January 1969. The original model, now called the 'Fastback' was joined by the 'S Type' which had a high level left-side exhaust and a 2.5 gallon petrol tank. Initially the engines were produced in Wolverhampton, the frames in Manchester and the components were assembled at Burrage Grove, Plumstead. The Plumstead works were subject to a Greater London Council compulsory purchase order, late in 1968 and closed in the following July. An advert from 1953

After a Government subsidy, an assembly line was set up in a factory at North Way, Andover, with the Test Department in an aircraft hanger on nearby Thruxton Airfield. Manufacturing was transferred to Wolverhampton, where about 80 complete machines were produced each week. Components and complete engines and gearboxes were also shipped overnight, from Wolverhampton to the Andover assembly line. The police were showing a lot of interest in the Commando and so Neale Shilton was recruited from Triumph to produce a Commando to police specifications. The end result was the 'Interpol' machine, which sold well to police forces, both at home and abroad. The machine was powered by a 750c.c. O.H.V. engine and included panniers, top box, fairing, and had fittings for a radio and auxiliary equipment.

Right from the beginning the Commando took part in racing events, and after its win in the 1969 Hutchinson 100 and a second place in the Production T.T., the company decided to produce a racing model. This led to the development of the successful 750c.c. overhead valve 'Production Racer'. It featured a tuned engine, front disk brake and was finished in bright yellow, which led to the machine being known as the 'Yellow Peril'.

The Norton Interstate. Courtesy of Jim Boulton.

A new version of the 'S Type' was introduced in March 1970. It was called the 'Roadster' and had a 750c.c. O.H.V. engine and a low-level exhaust, with upward angled silencers and reverse cones. The model 'S' was discontinued in June. September 1970 saw the introduction of the 'Fastback MK. 2', which was soon replaced by the Mk.3. It had alloy levers and modified stands and chain guards.

The ‘Street Scrambler’ and the ‘Hi Rider’ were launched in May 1971 and the ‘Fastback Long Range’ with a larger petrol tank, was launched in July. January 1972 saw the appearance of the ‘Mk.4 Fastback’, an updated ‘Roadster’ and the ‘750 Interstate’, with its high performance ‘Combat’ engine. The ‘Combat’ could deliver 65 b.h.p. at 6500r.p.m. with a 10 to 1 compression ratio. Unfortunately the engine proved to be extremely unreliable, main bearing failures were common and pistons tended to break off at a slot, under the oil control ring. These problems gave the company a bad reputation, which wasn’t helped by the fact that the ‘Commando’ suffered from quality control problems which were well covered in the motorcycling press. By the middle of 1972 the BSA-Triumph group were in serious financial trouble and the Government decided to bail the company out with a financial rescue package, providing it would agree to merge with Norton Villiers. Norton Villiers Triumph was duly formed and the new company got off to a shaky start.

In January 1973 the ‘Mk.5 Fastback’ was launched and the ‘Long Range’ was discontinued. In April the ‘Roadster’, ‘Hi Rider’ and the ‘Interstate’ all began to use a new 828c.c. engine. Development work also began on a 500c.c. twin, stepped piston engine, with a monocoque pressed steel frame. The new engine was called the ‘Wulf’, but the project was dropped in favour of developing the rotary Wankel type engine which was inherited from BSA.

Things went well that year for the Norton racing team, as Peter Williams won the 1973 Formula 750 T.T. and Mick Grant came in second. Unfortunately the company itself was in deep financial trouble and redundancy notices were issued at Andover, which was followed by a sit-in at the works. The situation continued to deteriorate in 1974 and came to a head in June when the Government withdrew its subsidy. The 750 Commando. Courtesy of Jim Boulton.

There was a general election and luckily the incoming Labour Government restored the subsidy. The company decided to close two of its sites and concentrate production at Wolverhampton and Small Heath. This caused a lot of industrial unrest at Meriden, and resulted in a workers’ sit in, which stopped production at Small Heath. By the end of the year the company had lost over 3 million pounds. Even during these hard times the company still managed to produce new models. 1974 saw the release of the ‘828 Roadster’, the ‘Mk.2 Hi Rider’, the ‘JPN Replica’ and the ‘Mk.2a Interstate’. Only two of these were to continue in production the following year. Early in 1975 the company reduced its range of models to just two machines, the ‘Mk.3 Interstate’ and the ‘Roadster’. Both machines were improved by the fitting of an electric starter, a left side gear change, right foot brake and rear disk brake.

Things went from bad to worse in July when the Industry Minister recalled a loan for 4 million pounds and refused to renew the company’s export credits. The company then went into receivership and redundancies were announced for all of the staff at the various sites. At Wolverhampton an action committee was formed in an effort to continue production and develop the ‘Wulf’ engine. The works were picketed and a prototype machine called the ‘Norton 76’ was produced. This came to nothing as the Wolverhampton works had closed for good. It was a sad end to such an important company, and a bitter one. Many of the local workers never received the money that was owed to them. Norton Villiers Triumph managed to survive when the Government stepped in to save part of the company, but unfortunately this did not include the Wolverhampton works. The British motor cycle industry was in its death throes. The market for British machines disappeared, there was not enough demand to maintain the factory. With a strange burst of enthusiasm the company bought the gates from the now demolished Tong Castle and erected them at their works entrance in Marston Road. It was a last gesture.