Solved: Name That Make #10 - Murad

[ftg3plus4]

I've been looking on the 'net for pictures of obscure makes... or at least semi-obscure ones.

(P.S.: Don't judge my picture alteration too harshly... I don't have PhotoShop.)

[Otto Puzzell]

Another entry in the photoshopped number plate sweepstakes!   

[ftg3plus4]

Or, in this case, a not-Photoshopped-but-painstakingly-altered-in-Paint number plate.

What really sucks is that I did one that was wonderfully realistic-looking... only to find out that the car would have been a repost.

[Otto Puzzell]

Or, in this case, a not-Photoshopped-but-painstakingly-altered-in-Paint number plate.

Wow - that's impressive.

[ftg3plus4]

Movin' on up to Experts.

[Djetset]

I think it's the short-lived 1948-49 Murad, proposed to be made in Aylesbury, England by Wadia Hanni Murad.

[ftg3plus4]

Murad it is!

Unmodified pic:

[Otto Puzzell]

Another view

[ftg3plus4]

Wow, same license plate & everything. Isn't my original pic just a drawing?

[Otto Puzzell]

I thought it was - now I'm not so sure...

[grobmotorix]

I wanted to post this once:

[Carnut]

This car is to be auctioned at Brightwell's, Leominster soon with no reserve.
It's needs total restoration, and since it used no proprietary parts at all, only tailor-made ones, it could cost a little money...!

[nicanary]

This car is to be auctioned at Brightwell's, Leominster next week with no reserve.
It's needs total restoration, and since it used no proprietary parts at all, only tailor-made ones, it could cost a little money...!

That would be an interesting car in which to visit Goodwood! You can imagine all the "what the hell is that?" observations. We Autopuzzlers would come into our element.

[Carnut]

This car is to be auctioned at Brightwell's, Leominster next week with no reserve.
It's needs total restoration, and since it used no proprietary parts at all, only tailor-made ones, it could cost a little money...!

That would be an interesting car in which to visit Goodwood! You can imagine all the "what the hell is that?" observations. We Autopuzzlers would come into our element.

Now's your chance!
All you need is a spare few hundred thousand Pounds...!

[Allan L]

. .  it used no proprietary parts at all, only tailor-made ones, it could cost a little money...!

I happen to know that the gearbox was the Armstrong-Siddeley Mk. IV although, unlike its original use and its use by Lea-Francis, it was not in unit with the engine.
David Filsell, who wrote the Georgano entry, says it was well beyond the prototype stage but does not elaborate on that.

[Carnut]

Yes, the blurb actually says "...the Murad had numerous technical advances including a unique overhead-valve engine, coil independent front suspension and extensive use of rubber bushes to eliminate the need for regular greasing.  With no major components supplied by other suppliers, the Murad was a brave and forward-thinking effort, punching above its weight."
So maybe the gearbox didn't count as a major component!

Below is what the car looks like now along with the auctioneer's publicity:

QUOTE
This is the one and only Murad ever made and was developed in the 1940s at vast expense by engineers at the Murad Machine Tool Company of Aylesbury in a doomed attempt to take on the established car manufacturers at their own game. After the project was abandoned, Wadia Murad, the Jamaican-born entrepreneur behind the project, used the prototype as his own personal car up until 1964 when it was finally put into storage and disappeared. It has just been rediscovered and is due to be sold at No Reserve in the next Brightwells auction in Leominster on 21st November.
UNQUOTE

[Otto Puzzell]

From the seller's site:

AMENDMENT: By an amazing stroke of good fortune we have been contacted by a gentleman in Kent who has not one but two Murad engines that have been languishing in his shed for decades. He has long been hoping that the car might eventually resurface one day and will be only too pleased to pass the engines on to the new owner free of charge, although they will need to be collected from the Maidstone area. While the engines are not complete, they do include cylinder blocks, a cylinder head, crankshaft, pistons, con rods, clutch parts plus various other items. 

[Carnut]

From the seller's site:

AMENDMENT: By an amazing stroke of good fortune we have been contacted by a gentleman in Kent who has not one but two Murad engines that have been languishing in his shed for decades. He has long been hoping that the car might eventually resurface one day and will be only too pleased to pass the engines on to the new owner free of charge, although they will need to be collected from the Maidstone area. While the engines are not complete, they do include cylinder blocks, a cylinder head, crankshaft, pistons, con rods, clutch parts plus various other items. 

Something of a limited market for Murad engines!!

[Allan L]

I know someone who may be able to make the connection between those Murad engines and the job lot of gearboxes he had found that he told me about a few years/decades ago. He lives in Kent and was a dealer in old vehicles.

[Carnut]

I know someone who may be able to make the connection between those Murad engines and the job lot of gearboxes he had found that he told me about a few years/decades ago. He lives in Kent and was a dealer in old vehicles.

Maybe it's the same chap mentioned in Otto's quote?

[Wendax]

Some more pictures of it today:

[grobmotorix]

another photo: