Rare and beautiful 1953 Lanchester Classic Car Glenview Folk Museum | Season 1 – Episode 40

Rare and beautiful 1953 Lanchester Classic Car Glenview Folk Museum | Season 1 – Episode 40

 

This rare and beautiful 1953 Lanchester LJ 200 was fully restored over several years by Alan and Brian Kennedy of the Glenview Folk Museum. The Father and Son worked on the bodywork, interior and engine. The 4-cylinder inline engine runs sweetly and it has a party trick where you can balance a coin on the engine when it is running. While the two-tone colour of the paint is not original it is striking and shows off the perfect lines of this lovely car. 

 

The Glenview Folk Museum is located just outside Ballinamore in Co. Leitrim and is owned and ran by the Kennedy Family. The Kennedys recognised the importance of preserving the past for the future and have a large display of vehicles including the Lanchester and a 1930’s car workshop accurate to the smallest detail. The Kennedy’s look forward to welcoming you to their museum. www.glenviewmuseum.ie

 

Beginning in 1899 the three Lanchester brothers from Birmingham; Fredrick, George and Frank incorporated The Lanchester Engine Company. The first Lanchester car was on the road in March 1896 and had a single-cylinder 1306 cc engine. Jumping forward to 1902 and Lanchester, manufacturing in Coventry became the first car manufacturer to market mechanical disc brakes to their customers. Although the discs were very thin and made of soft metal and not very powerful, it would be some time before other car manufacturers caught up and also offered disc brakes. 

 

By the 1930’s Lanchester had produced around 16 models of car including the highly innovative 1927 prototype petrol-electric car designed by Frederick W. Lanchester. The suspension and body were both constructed in wood and the car had a rear-mounted petrol engine and an electric motor with no clutch or gearbox. Under normal driving conditions the petrol engine was adequate and also charged the battery. The electric motor was used when moving at slow speeds in forward to reverse or when a boost was needed for climbing hills, but the car never made it into production and only ever covered d 1,218 km (757 miles). 

 

Replacing the pre-war 1809 cc ‘Roadrider’ model the 1968 cc ‘Fourteen’ launched on 10th October 1950 featuring a revised front suspension, a new chassis, pre-selective 4-speed epicyclic gearbox automatic lubrication on warm-up. Marketed as a small luxury car the post-war Fourteen had an entirely new coach-built body with the plan to move to an all steel body once the Coventry factories destroyed in the war had been rebuilt. The all steel body would have allowed a price and weight reduction and opened the export markets as the car would then be suitable for assembly overseas, where it was named the Leda. 

 

The Lanchester company has had a chequered ownership being bought by BSA in 1930, subsumed into Daimler and then into Jaguar in 1960. In 1990 Ford bought out Jaguar with Land Rover, then sold on to Tata Motors who created Jaguar Land Rover and the Lanchester marque lies dormant within this company. 

 

1953 Lanchester LJ 200 specifications: 

Type: LJ 200

Production: 1950 – 1954

Engine: 1968 cc four-cylinder overhead-valve water-cooled

Transmission: 4-speed pre-selective self-changing gearbox and Fluid Flywheel

Power output: 60 bhp (45 kW; 61 PS) @4,200 rpm

Length: 175” (4,460 mm)

Width: 66” (1,700 mm)

Weight: 3,100 lb (1,400 kg)

Video: Ireland Made
Information sources:  

Info: https://www.facebook.com/daimler.oc/