Coventry-Victor
| Industry | Manufacturing and engineering |
|---|---|
| Successor | AN Weaver (Coventry Victor) Ltd. |
| Founded | 1911 |
| Defunct | 1971 |
| Headquarters | Coventry UK |
| Products | Aero engines, motorcycles and cars |
Coventry Victor was a British motorcycle and car manufacturer. Originally Morton & Weaver, a proprietary engine manufacturer in Hillfields, Coventry, founded in 1904, the company changed its name to Coventry Victor Motors in 1911, the company closed in 1971.
Thomas Morton & Williame Weaver formed a partnership as Morton & Weaver Limited in Coventry in 1904 as enginers and toolmakers. In 1911 they formed a new company the Coventry Victor Motor Company to continue there interest in motor engineering while the original company continued as tool makers.
The company started manufacturing horizontally opposed engines in 1904, and on 17 May 1910 one powered the experimental Weaver Ornithoplane, designed by W. A. Weaver, one of the partners in the company. In a series of four tests the Ornithoplane achieved a steady flight for a quarter of a mile, becoming the first monoplane to fly in Britain.
In 1955 Major W.A. Weaver, then managing director of the company, converted one of the company's air-cooled flat four industrial engines for aircraft use and a Piper Cub fitted with the engine completed 50 hours flight trials at Southend in July 1955. The engine, referred to as the 'Flying Neptune', was found to be a little heavy and a little low on power, but otherwise performed admirably.
In 1919 Coventry-Victor, using their 688 cc flat-twin engine, started making motorcycle and sidecar combinations many of which were used as commercial outfits and became one of England's leading producers of horizontally opposed twins. The 1927 Coventry-Victor Silent Six has today become a sought after classic motorcycle. The company also supplied engines to many motorcycle and cyclecar makers, especially Grahame-White. Motorcycle production ended in 1936.
By 1926, the company found a new scope of activity: they launched their own design two-seater, three-wheeler car with the single wheel at the rear. There were four versions, the Standard, the Sports, the De-luxe, and the Parcelcar; prices started at £75. It used their own horizontal twin-cylinder engines of 688 cc at first, later enlarged to 749 cc, 850 cc and finally 998 cc. Drive was to the rear wheel via a two speed gearbox and chain drive. Early cars had a single brake. There was an updating in 1932 with styling by C F Beauvais and called the Luxury Sports with three-speed gearbox and costing from £110. The previous models remained available. Car production survived until 1938. After the Second World War, a prototype codenamed Venus was made with flat-four 747 cc engine never reached production. There were six reported Venus Prototypes all of which were ordered to be destroyed but one still exists at the Coventry Transport Museum. Little is known about the vehicle but it was found and recovered from a farm in the West Country in the 1980s
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