Maudslay Motor Company

The Maudslay Motor Company was founded in 1901 by Walter Henry Maudslay, grandson of the eminent engineer Henry Maudslay to make marine internal combustion engines at a factory in Parkside, Coventry. He was joined by his son Cyril Charles Maudslay and his nephew Reginald Walter Maudslay, who left in 1903 to found the Standard Motor Company.

The marine engines did not sell very well, and in 1902 they made their first engine intended for a car which was fitted to chain-drive chassis. The three-cylinder engine, designed by Alexander Craig, was an advanced unit with a single overhead camshaft and pressure lubrication. Also In 1902, Maudslay Motors made a petrol railway locomotive for the City of London Corporation to draw trucks from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway to the Corporation meat market at Deptford, this requiring 50 tons to be drawn up a gradient of 1 in 36. It was fitted with a three-cylinder engine developing 85 bhp at 450 rpm, with cylinders of 9inch bore and stroke. Transmission was via a 2-speed change gear. The locomotive weighed 12 tons, and was provided with an 8 hp auxiliary engine which was used to start the main engine. This was the first commercially successful petrol locomotive in the world.

The three-cylinder engine was followed in 1903 by a six-cylinder version, possibly the first overhead-camshaft six to go into production. For 1904 a range of cars was on offer from 25hp to 60hp, including one with a 9.6-litre version of the six-cylinder engine. The cars were among the most expensive on the British market, with the range and engine types continuing to evolve during this time.

In addition to cars, the company expanded into manufacture of commercial vehicles, ranging from small two-cylinder delivery vans to six ton lorries. The first Maudslay double decker buses were produced in 1905, being used by Scottish Motor Traction and the London Road Car Company. The Great Western Railway operated Maudslay buses and lorries in this period. In 1912 Maudslay supplied a 40 hp (30 kW) engine to power an early petrol-electric railcar.

In 1948, Maudslay joined AEC and Crossley in the new Associated Commercial Vehicles (ACV) Ltd. The name was kept on at first, but in 1950 it was phased out. The Maudslay plants continued to assemble AEC-designed models in the 1950s and there were some badge-engineered Maudslays to give AEC extra space at Motor Shows. After the formation of Leyland Motor Corporation the Castle Maudslay plant produced axles; Rockwell bought it in the late 1970s.

In 1942, three of Henry Maudslay's grandsons commemorated their grandfather's name by forming the Maudslay Society, an organisation to encourage young engineers.[1]