Private company

Atalanta Motors

Logo: User:MatthiasKabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

Motor vehicle

The Atalanta was an English automobile manufactured from 1937 until 1939 by Atalanta Motors Ltd in Staines, Middlesex. Two models were made.2 It ceased to exist in 1990.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1936Founded1
  • Industryautomotive industry1
MHV Atalanta V-12 4.3 litre 1939 02
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons5

The Atalanta was an English automobile manufactured from 1937 until 1939 by Atalanta Motors Ltd in Staines, Middlesex. Two models were made.2

The story

The 1937 car used Albert Gough's somewhat erratic 4-cylinder overhead-cam 1496 cc 78 bhp and 1996 cc 98 bhp engines with three valves and two spark plugs per cylinder which had been previously fitted to some Frazer Nashes where Gough had worked. An Arnott supercharged version was also available. Three or four-speed gearboxes were offered. The car had a tubular steel chassis and all round independent suspension using coil springs. Two-seat open sports and two-seat drophead coupé bodies built by Abbott were available.

From 1938 the car could be had with a 4·3-litre V-12 Lincoln-Zephyr engine giving 112 bhp which proved to be the more popular. The car had a 3-speed gearbox. A four-seat version on a slightly longer chassis was made as well as the two-seaters.

A 1496cc version raced in the 1938 Le Mans 24 hour race driven by Charles Morrison & Neil Watson (one of the company founders). The car retired with a broken driveshaft. In the late 1930s there was also an open sports version of the Atalanta, with a seven-litre American side-valve engine and an 8-position, gated gear change, and a smaller-engined open sports version using an OHV engine with a blower.

The cars were very expensive and the outbreak of war stopped production after only about 20 cars were made. The company continued in existence making pumps and becoming Atalanta Engineering Ltd.

From Wikipedia’s article on Atalanta (1937 automobile), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1990Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1936Founded Founded1

Sources

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