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Lanchester Fourteen 14 Leda Barker-bodied For Sale (1953) | | Lanchester Fourteen Saloon Barker
Very rare Lanchester ''Fourteen'' saloon, 1953, with very good unusually subtle mid silver / gold metallic coachwork, blue leather upholstery, (some wear to front, rear good), fitted rim bellishers, original trafficators etc. Very nice pre-selector gearbox. Very interesting huge history file includes invoices, drawings, photos, service data. Classic car show plaques etc. Excellent wedding car. Just completed in excess of 300 mile trip. A pleasure to drive. Good classic tourer. Has featured in classic car magazines. Few Lanchester Fourteen Saloons were made. Fewer still survive. Barker-bodied model.
THE LANCHESTER FOURTEEN Original Marketing stated:
The Lanchester Fourteen is a completely new car in which the latest ideas in modern styling have been combined with the best of the Lanchester tradition.
The Fourteen represents a great advance on the Lanchester Ten and for further comparison, an abridged specification of the Fourteen is given herewith:
ENGINE. Type: 2-litre. Cylinders: 4. Bore X Stroke: 76.2 mm. X 107.9 mm. Compression ratio: 6.7 to 1. Maximum b.h.p.: 60 at 4,200 r.p.m. Rating: 14 h.p.
DIMENSIONS. Length: 14 ft. 7 ins. Height: 5 ft. 2 ins. Width: 5 ft. 5 ins. Wheelbase: 8 ft. 8 ins. Track: 4 ft. 4 ins. Fuel capacity: 15 gallons. Tyre size: 6.4 X 15.
BRAKES. Girling Hydro-mechanical.
14 HP
LARGE SALOON
1950 - 1953
This was the second post war model brought out by The Lanchester Motor Company of
Coventry, the first being the smaller 10 HP. It was advertised as ‘Big car comfort in a medium
powered saloon’.Their was a saloon and a prototype DHC.
SPECIFICATION.
Layout: 4 door luxurious 4/5 seater saloon with a steel body on a separate chassis.
Front engined with rear wheel drive. It has a flat floor with no transmission tunnel.
Engine: A straight 4 cylinder overhead valve engine of 1,968 cc capacity , bore &
stroke 3 ins X 4.25 ins Push rod operated overhead valves, Compression ratio 6.7 to 1. 60 BHP
at 4,200 rpm. Single Zenith down draught carburettor.
Transmission: Four speed pre-selector gearbox, fluid flywheel (instead of a Ferodo
type clutch plate) with a final Hypoid bevel drive.
Suspension, Steering, & Brakes: Front:- Independent by laminated torsion bars, half
elliptic leaf spring rear with hydraulic shock absorbers. Hydraulic and mechanical, dual safety
brakes, with a cable operated hand brake.
PERFORMANCE.
Top Speed; 75 M.P.H.
Fuel Consumption 24 M.P.G.
.
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase 104 ins.
Length 174.5 ins.
Width 65.5 ins.
Dry Weight 3,130 lbs. (28 cwt, or 1,400 kg.)
PRICE:
On launch £1,393
PRODUCTION:
Total Approx. 2,100
The Lanchester Fourteen Saloon was announced in October 1950, and featured more up-to-date body styling than the Ten which was discontinued in July 1951. Powered by a new 1968-cc engine which developed 60 bhp at 4200 rpm it sold at £1364. The Leda (introduced in 1952) was similarly styled and equipped and was all-steel bodied version for the export market. A De-Ville Convertible was introduced in 1952.
Often unfairly overlooked as a 'scaled-down Daimler Conquest', the Lanchester Fourteen (known as the Leda in its export form) was a highly significant car for the BSA combine in the early fifties.
The Lanchester marque had already led the way in postwar production for the company, being the first all-new model to come out of the works after the devastation of the Coventry blitz. The Leda not only followed this trend of original design, but served as a test-bed for the highly successful Daimlers that were to follow. Far from being a scaled-down Conquest, the Leda was first off the drawing board by several years, and was in effect a Conquest prototype.
The engine was all-new, being a two-litre four-cylinder unit; it would later be extended to six cylinders for the larger Daimler Regency range. Similarly, the body was all-new, having the rounded lines that were characteristic of so many British cars into the mid-fifties. The early versions (Fourteens) were built from 1950 on traditional fines, with panelling over a wooden frame. The export version (Leda), which followed two years later, was a trend-setter in its field, with its all-steel construction - the first Daimler product so constructed. In both cases the bodywork was almost identical to the Daimler Conquests that came along in 1953, only the wings and bonnet differing greatly because of the Lanchester's smaller engine; some say the Lanchester grille actually suits the styling better.
The Leda was the last large-volume product from Lanchester. The last of the great Lanchesters
THAT great British marque Lanchester was once called the ideal retired Colonel’s car.
How true this was. The Lanchester 14 and Leda of 1950 to 1954 was not the car to go tearing off in, but more a transport of delight in which you just sit back, drive smoothly and just enjoy the quality.
And it certainly was quality all the way with Lanchester, which after the war showed great promise as a name that was going places.
The problem was that Lanchester was owned by Daimler and a lot of sharing was going on. For instance, the 14 used the same chassis as the Daimler Conquest and in some ways looked like it.
Even so, Daimler had high hopes for Lanchester, one of the main pulls being that the Lanchester still had the craftsman built wood-framed coachbuilt bodyshell. But in 1952 the coachbuilt version was joined by an identical pressed-steel bodied version that became the Leda.
Needless to say, the steel body soon became the norm because Lanchester claimed it was lighter and better suited to the car. And of course it was easier and cheaper to produce than the coachbuilt version.
Also, there were competitors coming out of the polished woodwork of the British market, seemingly by the dozen, Armstrong-Siddeley and Rover being just two.
Lanchester could have gone on for years, except that when the lovely 14 and Leda came to the end of the road, Daimler replaced it with a car that was a total flop, the Lanchester Sprite.
Despite the fact that tooling had been completed for the Sprite, it was cancelled after only 13 cars were competed.
It was the last of the Lanchesters and the Sprite name passed to BMC for little Austin Healey sports car.
But it was the coachbuilt 14 that epitomised that last effort of a great name. It was a car that proudly drove traditional methods into a new age.
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