Vale Special
| Vale Special | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Vale Engineering Company |
| Production |
1932-1935 approx 100 made |
| Designer | P. E. Pellew |
| Body and chassis | |
| Body style |
two-seat tourer four-seat tourer (Tourette) |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine |
Triumph 832 ccI4 Coventry Climax 1098 cc I4 Coventry Climax 1476 cc I6 |
| Transmission | 4-speed manual |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 84 or 102 inches (2134 or 2590 mm[1] |
| Width | 55 inches (1397 mm)[1] |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | none |
| Successor | none |
The Vale Special (sometimes just Vale) was a British sports car made between 1932 and 1935 in Maida Vale, London.[2][3]
History
The Vale Motor Company was set up in 1931 by Pownoll Pellew (later 9th Viscount Exmouth) as a 'gentleman's hobby' in a rented workshop behind the Warrington pub in Maida Vale.[2][3] It soon expanded with funding from Allan Gaspar and Robert Owen Wilcoxon,[4] thanks largely to help from Pellew's then girlfriend Kay Walsh.
The cars were initially handmade and based on Triumph Motor Company components. The first cars used the 832 cc side-valve engine from the Triumph Super 7 fitted to a chassis bought in from Rubery Owen, semi-elliptic leaf springs all round, and the hydraulic brakes and axles from the Triumph. The top speed was only 65 mph (105 km/h),[5] which was too slow for serious sporting events: so from 1933 a 1098 cc, overhead-inlet, side-exhaust, four-cylinder, Coventry Climax engine was offered, followed in 1934 by the 1476 cc six-cylinder version of the same engine.
Most of the cars had lightweight two-seater open bodies with fold-flat windscreens, but a four-seat version on a long-wheelbase chassis, called the Tourette, was available with the larger-engined versions.
About 100 cars had been made when production stopped in 1935,[2] though the actual figure is greatly disputed.
External links
- Ave Atque Vale - A book on the history of the Vale Special.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Culshaw; Horrobin (1974). Complete Catalogue of British Cars. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-16689-2.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 David Cox, "Ave Atque Vale - the story of the Vale Special" ISBN 0-9553010-0-9
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 David Cox, "Ave Atque Vale - the story of the Vale Special"
- ↑ Robert Owen Wilcoxon, who was killed at the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940, was the brother of film actor Henry Wilcoxon
- ↑ Georgano, N. (2000). Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. London: HMSO. ISBN 1-57958-293-1.