Who knows this car?
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Austrian?
No.
And not german... ;)
British?
Correct.
Westcar 1924
That´s it!
I would suggest that this is not a Westcar, but a Heron. Both were built in the same factory by the same firm at the same time, but the Westcar was a conventional front-engined light car using mostly bought-in components. I will upload a picture of a Westcar once we can add new pictures here.
The first Herons used a mid-mounted engine, stiched plywood bodywork and various other innovations. They were also of less conventional appearance than the Westcars, though later Herons switched to front engine and more conventional looks.
I have not been able to find an image of a mid-engined Heron, but the car evolved from the Australian Marks-Moir light car. That car has featured as a puzzle before, and as you can see it strongly resembles this artist's impression:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=15776.msg147014#msg147014
My guess is that this image shows a Heron, but possibly erroneously listed as a Westcar due to fact that they were built alongside each other. What do you guys think?
I wouldn't know, but I had a Westcar in this puzzle...
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=10159.0 (http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=10159.0)
...and it looks nothing like the car seen here.
According to Georgano's Encyclopedia (which isn't infallible), they were indeed built alongside each other, and the Heron was also sold as the Westcar Colonial model. Which may explain the confusion, or make matters worse!
Georgano's Encyclopedia has a picture of a Heron, and it also doesn't look like this car.
The Heron pictured in Georgano is a 1925 model with a front-mounted Coventry-Simplex engine. This still had a plywood, chassis-less body, but the engine and gearbox were mounted in a subframe and was easily removable from the car. It carried a 'proper' radiator (probably by Serck) which bought it in line slightly more with the other Westcar products.
Having dug a little deeper into the story, I think this probably is a Westcar rather than a Heron; the Westcar Colonial model had a 12hp Dorman engine, but the Heron was slightly smaller and had a Ruby engine of 8hp. Also, the Westcar Colonial didn't have any doors (no doubt due to the flimsy nature of the plywood construction), having steps for entry, like the puzzle picture. The Heron (and, I think, the Marks-Moir) did have doors. If the puzzle car is said to have a 12hp engine, then it is probably a Westcar, but it should be listed as a Westcar Colonial model.
According to Mike Worthington-Williams, the bodies for both were built by Samuel E Saunders Ltd of Cowes, Isle of Wight, who later became part of Saunders-Roe, building plywood aircraft bodies. The Heron/Westcar bodies were delivered by boat to Southampton docks and then by Lorry to the Westcar works in Herne Bay.
The Colonial model appeared at the April, 1924, British Empire Exhibition at Wembly, and the smaller Heron was first seen at the October, 1924 Olympia show. The 'other' Heron, the front-engined version, was shown at the Olympia show in October, 1925, after which the marque stopped exhibiting and had been wound up completely by the middle of 1926. No more than 100 of all were built, and probably nearer to 50. I think there are a couple of surviving 'Strode' model Westcars, but no Colonials or Herons...
QuoteI would suggest that this is not a Westcar, but a Heron.
I can only say that the puzzle photo is a scan from a 1924 magazine.
I had the whole page but cropped all the rest and saved it with the name mentioned there.
So I am still sure my source claimed it to be a Westcar.
But any source can be wrong, too...