It's funny how one thing leads to another isn't it? No sooner do I do a post about the Beardmore than I get a reply from the 'The Brochure King' Richard Stanier to say : "Hi Brian, that really is uncanny. Only last night I was going through my 'archive' (otherwise known as the back bedroom at brochure HQ) and looking at some photos I have on the Beardmore artic, and what do you know..........."
Rich goes on to say:"Anyway it's great to see one of these machines on the Blog, and it's not every day I get to assist someone who needs more information or pictures on these!" Well 'Two-Stroke' will be delighted Rich I know that, and it will eb something to get his teeth into as he return from his hols!.
Regarding that trailer Rich says: "Apparently Beardmore started making taxis and light trucks at Paisley in 1920 but moved heavy truck production to London in 1930 when they acquired the rights to manufacture the Chenard Walcker (of Gennevilliers, France) artic using the Larkhall trailer arrangement. (Photos of a British built Chenard Walcker and Larkhall-style trailer---shown below ---attached)
This operation apparently only lasted for a couple of years, and Beardmore became re-establised in the mid 1930's in Scotland, but this time in Dumbartonshire. I have attached a couple of photos of the Beardmore "Multiwheeler" lorries - One in their factory and displaying (I think) their own design of diesel engine, and another showing the arrangement with the trailer.
The Beardmore Cobra was a 10 tonner, with the Python as a 10/15 tonner and the Anaconda as a 15 tonner. M&S indeed owned a Beardmore Multiwheeler - it was registerred PJ 3934. Cheers!! Rich." And Rich has since sent me this amendment to the above: "The engine in the Beardmore Photo is (on closer inspection) a petrol unit. You can see the distributor. It appears to be made by Henry Meadows,"
Comments (2)
Beardmore remained in production until about 1967 making taxis at a small factory, that was originally their london maintenance branch, in the Hendon area. The later taxis used Ford mechanical parts, one of the last models used a Transit 2.4 Diesel engine and the radiator grill and headlights from a Cortina MkII car.
Beardmore also produced motorcycles for a short period in the 1920s.
Posted by D Powell | August 15, 2008 6:33 PM
Posted on August 15, 2008 18:33
Sorry I dropped a clanger with the last posting, the Beardmore taxi did indeed have a Ford engine but it was a Consul petrol engine. The taxi was called a Mark 7 and about 650 were built between 1954 and 1967. it looked like a slightly facelifted version of the old Austin FX3. Beardmore had a Mark 8 in development when they closed in 1967 and this project was sold to Metro-Cammell-Weyman as the Metrocab. When they closed it was sold on to Reliant and later to Hooper the limousine builder who kept it in production until 2006 with Toyota mechanical parts in the final years.
The Ford Cortina II based cab was a Winchester built by Winchester Automobiles (West End) Ltd, a subsidiary of the Westminster Insurance Co. who covered many of the cabbies. These vehicles had Perkins (Mk1) or Ford (Mk 2,3 and 4)engines, they were in production from 1963 to 1972 used GRP bodywork and the cabbies were widely consulted in the design process.
Posted by D Powell | August 16, 2008 2:33 PM
Posted on August 16, 2008 14:33