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Private company

Coventry Victor

British motorcycle and car manufacturer

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 1971.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1911Founded1
  • Industryautomotive industry1
  • HeadquartersCoventry1

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Coventry-Victor 3-Wheeler 1933
Photo: Lars-Göran Lindgren Sweden, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

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 1971.2

Products and brands

Maintaining their preference for the opposed twin cylinder design, Coventry Victor Motor Co built a twin cylinder diesel in the early 1930s known as the Cub. The design of the engine was illustrated in a GB patent by W.A. Weaver, M. Hamilton-Fletcher, and Victor Oil Engine Co in 1933. Bristol Tractor pictured a Cub-engined version of their tractor in 1933, though they fitted several different engines and it's not clear how many tractors were produced with the Cub engine. In 1935 the Coventry Victor Cub engine was available as the 19.5 hp Cub and 22 hp Cub Senior (10HP and 12HP nominal rating), and was described as originally having been designed for marine work.

The Victor Cub was promoted in Australia as having been used for cars and marine work and as a stationary power unit. The 1000 cc air-cooled twin-cylinder horizontally opposed engine was rated at 10 hp and gave a peak output of 20 hp at 2800 rpm. It could run at up to 4000 rpm without danger though normally governed to between 2000 and 2800 rpm. The light alloy combined crankcase and water jackets enclosed cast iron wet liner cylinder bores. The horizontally opposed shape of the engine made it particularly suitable to fit Jowett vehicles. It also suited boats of more than 15 tons displacement and an overall length of 34 feet or 10 metres.

In 1938 Bristol Tractor re-introduced the Bristol 10 tractor with the Coventry Victor Cub diesel engine in the model "D", with production continuing to 1942.

The two Cub engines were in production in 1942 though the company advert states the company making them had recently changed its name from Victor Oil Engines (Coventry) Ltd to Oil Engines (Coventry) Ltd, with the works being Atlantic Works, Harefield Rd, Coventry whereas in 1935 the Cubs were listed as made by Coventry Victor Motor Co Ltd of Cox Street, Coventry. Victor Oil Engines (Coventry) Ltd was a subsidiary of Coventry Victor Motor Co Ltd formed in 1933. By 1949 the production of the Cub engine has changed again, to Cub Oil Engines Ltd, Atlantic Works, Wishaw, Scotland. The Cox Street address still appeared in later adverts for Coventry Victor Motor Co Ltd.

Read the full text

In 1946 The Engineer magazine reported that Coventry Victor had added two new small flat twin petrol engines to their range, of 285 cc and 340 cc, known as the "Midget" - the two models only differing in the cylinder bore (55 mm and 60 mm respectively). The crankcases, cylinder heads, and pistons were all of aluminium alloy. The camshaft and crankshaft ran in ball bearings. These were available air-cooled (with added fan and cowling for stationary use), and as water cooled units for marine use which included outboard motors.

After the war, Coventry Victor Motor Co produced a range of petrol and diesel engines for marine and industrial use. The diesel engines included air and water cooled vertical single cylinder units (AD1, AD2, AD3 and WD1, WD2, WD3 models respectively), twin cylinder air-cooled HDA model, and water-cooled HDW models (also known as the Vixen). The petrol engines included twin cylinder air-cooled MA2 and AN4 models, and twin cylinder water-cooled MW2 and WN4 models. The AN4 was used in the 1950s by Thomas Green & Son on their Griffin models PRR and PRY motorised rollers. Coventry Victor also produced a flat-four air-cooled petrol engine (the AC4 or 'Neptune'), one use of which was in aircraft pressure test trolleys made by Sir George Godfrey & Partners. Major W.A. Weaver (managing director of the Coventry Victor Motor Co) converted one of these in 1955 for use in a Piper Cub aircraft, naming it the 'Flying Neptune'. Coventry Victor engines were also used in airfield pumping sets and to operate hydraulic ramps such as the Hylo Mk II mobile lifter made by Aviation Traders (Engineering) Ltd in the 1960s.

From Wikipedia’s article on Coventry Victor, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1911Founded Founded1

Sources

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