History of
The Cars
History of
The Cars
The pre-war Invicta Car Company produced cars throughout the period from 1925 to 1934.
They all used chassis with channel section side members with channel and tubular cross members and all were characterised by having the outer ends of their road springs mounted in bronze sliding trunnions rather than swinging shackles.
Early chassis designated SC (small chassis) and LC (large chassis) were of fairly light construction and coped well with the 2 ½ and 3 litre engines giving up to about 75bhp.
However, the introduction of the 4 ½ litre engine giving over 100bhp showed up certain deficiencies. Accordingly, heavier chassis frames designated NLC were introduced, riding on heavier axles.
In 1930, in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash, a less expensive version of this chassis was introduced designated A type.
At the same time, an underslung version of the chassis was introduced for the S type model.
In 1932, in a further attempt to cater for an impoverished population, a 1 ½ litre car was introduced carried on a lighter underslung chassis designated by the letter L.
The Black Prince was introduced after WW2 when the Invicta name was revived, and these cars had welded steel box-section chassis with all independent suspension.
The Invicta S1 was launched in 2002 and had a one-piece carbon composite body shell bolted and bonded to a steel square tube space frame chassis.
The SC and LC Cars
The first Invicta cars were launched in 1925 and the chassis were designated SC (small chassis) and LC (large chassis). The early cars were fitted with 2 ½ litre Meadows engines, but they were soon increased in capacity to 3 litres. The LC continued into 1929, but some of the very late chassis were fitted with 4 ½ litre engines.
The NLC and A Type Cars
The NLC cars were introduced for 1929 and were generally similar to the earlier models with the same Meadows 4 ½ litre engine and type 8A gearbox, but were much more substantial in all respects.
The S Type
For the October 1930 Motor Show a sports version of the A type was introduced. In most respects it was similar to the A type but the chassis frame was underslung under the rear axle. The fixed ends of the springs were located by nibs on the main leaves rather than shackle pins and wheelbase was 9 feet 10 inches.
The L and LS Cars
The L type was introduced in 1932, and represented quite a departure from other Invicta models. It was a large car with a wheelbase of 9 feet 10 inches (the same as the S type) but was powered by a 1 ½ litre six cylinder Blackburne engine.
The Black Prince
In 1946 a new company appeared using the name Invicta Cars and they produced the Invicta Black Prince. The company was based in Virginia Water in Surrey, and the Black Prince was designed by William Watson, who had previously worked for the pre-war Invicta car company and had also been responsible for designing the S type.
The S1 Coupe
The two seater coupe was launched in 2002 with a one piece carbon composite body-shell bolted and bonded to a square tube steel spaceframe chassis. Front mounted engine driving the rear axle via a five speed manual gearbox and limited-slip differential.