Ariel (vehicle)
This article is about the Ariel motorcycle and motor car company, for the modern sports car manufacturer see Ariel LtdAriel was a British
bicycle,
motorcycle and
automobile marque manufactured in
Birmingham. Car production moved to
Coventry in 1911.
The company dates back to 1847 when Ariel made an early pneumatic tyred wheel for horse drawn carriages. The name was revived by James Starley and William Hillman in 1870 who used it to name the factory where they made
penny-farthing bicycles and sewing machines. In 1885 Starley invented the
Rover Safety Bicycle - a rear-wheel-drive,
chain-driven bicycle with two similar-sized wheels, which is essentially the design still used on bicycles today. Use of the name lapsed but in 1896 it appeared again, this time on motorised transport.
The first Ariel vehicle was a Tricycle that used a 2.25 hp
De Dion engine mounted at the rear. More
tricycles were produced and
quadricycles were added in 1901 as Ariel then moved into car production.
The company suffered several financial crises over the years including a spell in receivership in 1911.
Car Production
Cars were produced over two periods: from 1900 to 1915, and again from 1922 to 1925.
The first proper Ariel car was a 10
hp twin-cylinder car produced in 1902. In 1903, their first
four-cylinder was a 16 hp model. Both these vehicles had a leather
cone clutch that was entirely separate from the
flywheel. A
six-cylinder model, built on a seemingly inadequate
tube-frame chassis, entered production early in 1904.
An entirely new range was announced at the end of 1905; called the "Aero-Simplex", these cars were
Mercedes inspired four-cylinder designs of 15 hp and 25/30 hp and a six of 35/40 hp. In 1907-1908 the company began production of the monstrous 50/60 hp six, which offered an engine of 15.9 litres for a
chassis price of £950. In 1907 Ariel sold its
Bournbrook, Birmingham factory to the French
Lorraine-Dietrich company who wanted to enter the British market, and thereafter had its cars assembled at the
Coventry Ordnance Works, a branch of
Cammell Laird. The arrangement with Lorraine-Dietrich was cancelled in 1910. Production of a 1.3 litre light car was quashed by the outbreak of
World War I.
After 1918 the company tried one last, abortive attempt to cash in on the small car market with the Ariel Nine designed by Jack Sangster, the son of the owner, who had previously worked for Rover where he designed the similar but air cooled, twin cylinder, Rover Eight. It was launched in 1922 and featured a
flat-twin, water cooled engine of 996 cc and was capable of 55 mph. About 700 were made. It was joined by 1097 cc four cylinder Ariel Ten in 1922 with the gearbox combined with the rear axle. The car was advertised at £180 for the chassis and about 250 were made until in 1926 Ariel abandonded the car market to concentrate on motor cycles.
Motor Cycles
In 1944 Ariel became part of the
BSA group.
In the 1960's, to the dismay of some stalwart traditional motorcyclists, Ariel suddenly dropped the whole of its four-stroke engine range and produced basically two models, the two-stroke engined Arrow and Leader models. These engines, completely new to Ariel, were, in fact, copies of the pre-war German Adler models. The designs had been claimed by the Allies as part of war reparations after WW2 in a similar way in which BSA used the German DKW design for their famous Bantam models.To give Ariel credit, the Arrow and Leader models were at least an attempt to bring the company up to date having recognised the threat from the new Japanese imports.
The last Ariel was in the 1970s, the "Ariel 3", was a 3-wheeler 50cc 2-stroke
moped different from other mopeds at the time not just for having 3-wheels but because it was a tilting vehicle. The front half of the moped was hinged to the rear and so it could tilt into corners whilst keeping all 3-wheels on the ground. Production of the Ariel 3 was short and the moped was dropped along with the Ariel name shortly afterwards.
Famous Models
*Ariel Square Four
*Red Hunter
*VB
*Models A - G
*Arrow
*Leader
*Fieldmaster
*Huntmaster
*The Military Model WNG 350
*Trials HT5
*Trials HT3
*Scrambles HS
* http://www.arielownersmcc.co.uk/ Ariel Owners Club site includes History
*
1926 Ariel Model D*
1937 Ariel Red Hunter - Model NH1
