of Ashtead Motor Works, Ashtead, Surrey
1904-1906. Made cars with Simms engines
1904 Ashtead Motor Works. Company No. 82486, registered 7 November 1904 with a capital of £6,000 in £5 shares, to carry on 'the business of motor-car, vehicle, and cycle manufacturers...' Its premises appear to have been established off Grove Road, Ashtead, presently used by Oakhill Garage.
1905 November. 'Crawshay-Williams, Ltd., of Ashstead, Surrey, shows what the makers term their "B" type delivery van, with 12 h.p. engine and metal disc clutch. It is designed to carry a load of 5-cwt'.'[1]
1905 'Messrs. CRAWSHAY-WILLIAMS, LTD., ASHTEAD, SURREY. This company exhibited one complete motor car, chain driven, to seat seven...'[2]
1906 February. Details of their 16 hp petrol car.[3]
1906 'The 16 HP Crawshay Williams Petrol Car - Crawshay-Williams, of the Ashtead Motor Works, in Surrey. They have for some time devoted their attention to the production of touring cars of moderate power, and have also made a study of light vans for delivery work...'[4]
1906 'Crawshay Williams, Ltd., Ashtead Motor Works, Ashtead, Surrey. 20-H.P. 2-Cylinder “Valveless” Chassis. Price, £345. 20-H.P. 2-Cylinder “Valveless” Landaulette, to seat six, with front extension and wind screen. Price, £485.' These cars had an unusual layout, with engine placed beneath the driving seat and the space beneath the bonnet utilised for a cone-shaped petrol tank. 'The framework of the car resembles somewhat a punt' reported The Engineer journal in February 1906. Test driven for the article , 'On the high gear the car travelled up long and steep gradients without necessitating change to the low gear’; ‘a highly meritorious attempt to adapt a two-cycle internal combustion engine to the propulsion of road vehicles'.[5]
1907 See 1907 Motor Show (SMMT)
1907 November. Full report of Valveless engine[6]
1907 Agents for Valveless car
1908 Company in liquidation.[7]
1909 Sale of factory. 'FREEHOLD FACTORY, known as "THE ASHTEAD MOTOR WORKS," Crampshaw-lane, situate about one mile distant from Station on the LB. and S.C. and L. and S.W. Railways, and to the High Road from London Dorking...'[8]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Commercial Motor 1905/11/23
- ↑ The British Trade Journal, Volume 43, 1905
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1906/02/24
- ↑ The Auto: The Motorist's Pictorial, Volume 11, 1906
- ↑ 1906 International Motor Exhibition
- ↑ [[1]]
- ↑ The London Gazette Publication date:10 July 1908 Issue:28157 Page:5071
- ↑ Surrey Mirror - Friday 28 May 1909