Sunbeain-Mabley
I was fascinated by your article on cyclecars (TCM April
2020, pages 68-73) but there is another one, which, apart from its weird configuration, is an interesting example of a cyclecar produced before a famous motorcycle manufacturer began making motorcycles.
Described as 'the Victorian love-seat on wheels; this odd vehicle had its wheels in an offset diamond configuration, with one at each side, one at the front and one at the back.
The front wheels were thoughtfully placed out of line with each other, so that there was no chance of missing a single bump! The engine was placed over the front wheel and steering was by tiller.
Around 130 of these vehicles were produced by John
Marston Ltd between 1901 and 1903. Although it was the first production Sunbeam car, I always think of it as a cyclecar.
Paul Hutton, archivist to The Marston Sunbeam Club and Register.
Thank you, Paul, for your email and accompanying period photographs. Despite some averring true cyclecars were produced in their defined period 1910-1925, your reminder of the Sunbeam-Mahley proves, to my mind, they were built over a much wider period, as this motorised love-seat ticks all the boxes to make it a cyclecar.
Described by the company as a 'voiturette' - though love-seat or loving seat sounds more romantic - the Sunbeam-Mahley was unveiled at the 1901 Crystal Palace Show, along with a couple of more conventional car prototypes. Although history informs us this vehicle was built by John Marston Ltd of Sunbeamland, Wolverhampton, it was designed by an architect Maxwell Mabberley-Smith (sometimes spelt Maberley
Smith) whose specialism was architectural ironwork design.
Priced at £130, it comprised its Victorian love-seat bodywork mounted on four asymmetric diamond form wheels viewed from above, making it a four track vehicle, seemingly to give it enhanced stability on the rough roads of the early Edwardian days, although I prefer your suggestion, Paul, of ensuring it didn't miss a single bump it its path ...
Just over three feet wide, the Sunbeam-Mahley was powered by a 2¾hp (74x76mm, so
326cc) automatic inlet valve water-cooled De Dion Bouton engine mounted aside the front wheel, with drive to the middle two wheels. The central driving wheels were unsprung, while both the front and rear were sprung and steered - on opposite locks, by the tiller.
The driver sat at the back looking over or round the passengers to steer with the tiller, control the engine and operate its primitive brake. Although the designer intended this as a vehicle for two (as illustrated by one of the accompanying photographs) two can squeeze into thefront compartment. Though I'm not sure how the two dogs would enjoy the lusty-sounding De
Dion engine and a wise person wouldn't be smoking a pipe so near it either... However it, is a posed photograph, created at the behest of the promotional team.
Also nicknamed a motorised sofa or corner snug seat, an estimated 130 to 150 SunbeamMableys were built circa 1901-02, with the last examples offered by the factory as late as spring 1904. A four or perhaps five are believed to have survived.
As he wasn't in the employ of John Marston Ltd, Maxwell Mabberley-Smith was paid a royalty for each vehicle sold with a later company director stating Maxwell earned more from the design than the company did.
One example completed the 1901 Liverpool 100 Mile Reliability Trial (Competition) including a hill climbing test to earn a gold medal. Later observers state it was more stable than it looks ...
As a 12-year-old boy, I stood at the side of the Brighton Road in Croydon, Surrey, watching the 1963 (November 3) RAC Commemoration Run, LondonBrighton, with my grandmother May Stevens ( nee Nelson) watching the pre-1905 vehicles pass by; gran's father George was a well known road and track cycle racer on ordinaries and later tandems and quads, hence her interest in veteran cars and vehicles. And I can report the 156th car to chug through Croydon was participant number 88, a Sunbeam-Mahley, entered by LR Beint.
More recently, at the 2011 Veteran Motorcar auction, Bonhams sold a SunbeamMahley which realised £58,000 plus commission (whether this is the car I saw years earlier I don't know).