Argyll (automobile)
Encyclopedia
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
motor car marque manufactured from 1899 to 1932, and again from 1976 to around 1990.
The original Argyll marque
Alex Govan founded The Hozier Engineering Company in 1899, and it was at this factory that the first Argyll VoituretteVoiturette
Voiturette is a word mostly used to describe a miniature automobile; however, it has several nuanced meanings, depending largely on the usage date.-History:...
was produced; copied from the contemporary Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
, it featured a 2¾ hp
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
De Dion
De Dion
De Dion may refer to:* Jules-Albert de Dion , automobile pioneer* de Dion-Bouton, automobile manufacturer* de Dion tube, automobile suspension...
engine and shaft-drive. 1901 models had an upgraded engine of 5 hp; cars made in 1902 were upgraded even further, using 8 hp units. Soon there appeared a 10 hp twin with radiator tubes forming the sides of the hood; in 1904 the company introduced a range of front-radiatored Aster
Aster (auto parts company)
Aster was a French manufacturer of automobile parts; from 1900 to 1910 the company produced chassis, though it is not known if they built complete cars.The firm whose full name was Ateliers de Construction Mecanique l'Aster from St...
-engined cars. One of these was a 10 hp of 1985 cc; others were fours of 3054 cc, 3686 cc, and 4849 cc. All cars featured Govan's rather awkward gearbox, which had a T-shaped gate and separate reverse and change-speed levers. Argyll had now become Scotland's biggest marque and soon moved from its premises in Bridgeton, Glasgow
Bridgeton, Glasgow
Bridgeton is a district to the east side of Glasgow city centre. It is bounded by Glasgow Green to the west, Dalmarnock to the east and south and Calton to the north-west at Abercromby Street/ London Road...
to a grand terracotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
factory in the suburb of Alexandria built for the company by now named Argyll Motors Ltd. This factory was never used to capacity, and the company began to decline after Govan's death in 1907 and, went into liquidation in 1908.
Production restarted in 1910, under a company now named Argyll Ltd., with a new range of cars including the famed "Flying Fifteen", and a six-cylinder
Straight-6
The straight-six engine or inline-six engine is a six-cylinder internal combustion engine with all six cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase...
model. The 12/14 was widely sold as a taxi even being exported to New York. Four-wheel brakes designed by J.M. Rubury of Argyll and patented on 18 March 1910 by Henri Perrot
Henri Perrot
Henri Perrot, born on 21 August 1883 in Paris, was a French engineer who was one of the pioneers of the automobile industry from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He holds numerous patents in the field of automotive braking....
and John Meredith Rubury (Patent number 6807) were available from 1911 on, and in 1912 the single Sleeve valve
Sleeve valve
The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve-valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in USA in the Willys-Knight car and light truck...
engine designed by company director Baillie P. Burt and J. P. McCollum began production; the entire range featured Burt-McCollum engines by 1914.
Argyll changed hands in 1914 and the Alexandria factory was sold to the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
for torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
production. Car production was resumed on a small scale in the original Bridgeton works under the control of John Brimlow who had previously run the repair department. The first product from the new company was a revival of the pre-war
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
15·9 hp model, now with electric starter but few were sold. In 1922 it was joined by a 1½-litre sleeve valve model and in 1926 by the 12/40 sports.
The company made a final appearance at the London Motor Show in 1927 and the last cars were probably made in 1928 though still advertised until Argyll closed in 1932.
The second Argyll era
The name was re-used in 1976 by a new company who made a mid-engined sports car, the Argyll GT in LochgilpheadLochgilphead
Lochgilphead is a town and former burgh in Scotland, with a population of around 3,000 people. It is the administrative centre of Argyll and Bute. The town lies at the end of Loch Gilp and lies on the banks of the Crinan Canal....
, Scotland.
The new manufacturing company was founded by ex-Mini racer and turbocharger
Turbocharger
A turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...
expert Bob Henderson. The new car was named after the original Argyll of 1898, in honour of a grandfather of one of the investors who worked in the Argyll factory at Alexandria.
The only model was the mid-engined Argyll GT (or "Turbo GT"), which was based on a sturdy box section chassis with space frame clothed in a fibreglass bodyshell made next door to the old Arrol-Johnston
Arrol-Johnston
Arrol-Johnston was an early Scottish manufacturer of automobiles, which operated from 1896 to 1931 and produced the first automobile manufactured in Britain...
factory in Dumfries
Dumfries
Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...
by Solway Marine. The 1976 prototype car featured a turbocharged Rover V8 engine
Rover V8 engine
The Rover V8 engine is a compact V8 internal combustion engine with aluminium cylinder heads and cylinder block, originally designed by General Motors and later re-designed and produced by Rover in the United Kingdom...
. A version with a turbocharged Saab
Saab
Saab AB is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. From 1947 to 1990 it was the parent company of automobile manufacturer Saab Automobile, and between 1968 and 1995 the company was in a merger with commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania, known as Saab-Scania.-History:"Svenska...
engine was also mooted, but none was built. The suspension came from the Triumph 2500 and the gearbox was a ZF
ZF Friedrichshafen
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German public company headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German region of Baden-Württemberg....
5-speed unit. By undoing 10 bolts, the entire rear end, suspension, gearbox and engine came away.
Production versions of the car, which made its début in 1983, had as standard a turbocharged version of the Douvrin Euro V6 as used by Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
, Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
and others, together with a Renault 30 transaxle. A turbocharged V8 of 3.5 - 4.2 litres, together with the ZF transmission, was an option, but none were built. Other cars used the Lancia Beta
Lancia Beta
The Lancia Beta is a car produced by Lancia. It was the first new model introduced by Lancia after it had been taken over by Fiat in 1969.-Berlina:...
engine and transmission, while a small number featured a Buick
Buick
Buick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
V6 which had started out as a stillborn Indycar engine. A top speed of 160 mph (ca. 260 km/h) with the turbo V8 was claimed. Production capacity was stated to be twelve cars a year though Bob Henderson has never stated how many vehicles were actually built. With a quoted price of £25-30,000 at launch (comparable with the contemporary Ferrari 308 GTB
Ferrari 308 GTB
The Ferrari 308 GTB are mid-engined sports cars manufactured by the Italian company Ferrari in the 1970s-1980s. They made up the lower end of the company's range...
), however, numbers were likely to be low. Production ceased around 1990.