Coventry Climax was a British fork-lift truck, fire pump, and specialty engine manufacturer. US airman operates forklift at a truck A forklift is a powered industrial truck used to hoist and transport materials by means of steel forks inserted under the load. ... An engine is something that produces some effect from a given input. ...

History

Coventry Climax ET 199 (1949 model)

The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later following the departure of Stroyer, was relocated to Paynes Lane, Coventry, and renamed to Coventry-Simplex by H. Pelham Lee^[1], a former Daimler employee, who saw a need for competition in the nascent piston engine market. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1664x1626, 383 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Coventry Climax ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1664x1626, 383 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Coventry Climax ... Lee Stroyer was a British petrol engine manufacturing company and a producer of a limited number of cars. ... The Precinct in Coventry city centre. ... Coventry Climax was a British fork-lift truck, fire pump, and specialty engine manufacturer. ... Henry Pelham Lee (1877–1953) was an English engine pioneer. ... Daimler has, since 1896, been the motor car marque of the British Daimler Motor Company, based in Coventry. ... Components of a typical, four stroke cycle, DOHC piston engine. ...

An early user was GWK, who produced over 1000 light cars with Coventry-Simplex two-cylinder engines between 1911 and 1915. Just before World War I a Coventry-Simplex engine was used by Lionel Martin to power the first Aston Martin car^[2]. Ernest Shackleton selected Coventry-Simplex to power the tractors that were to be used in his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914. The GWK was a British car made in Maidenhead, Berkshire, between 1911 and 1931. ... Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Nicholas II Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Conrad von Hötzendorf İsmail Enver Ferdinand I Casualties Military... Lionel Martin (1878)-(1945) a Cornishman who, with Robert Bamford, founded Aston Martin. ... Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury cars headquartered at Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. ... Portrait of Ernest Henry Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO, OBE (February 15, 1874 – January 5, 1922) was an Anglo-Irish explorer, now chiefly remembered for his Antarctic expedition of 1914–1916 in the ship Endurance. ... The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was a major exploration undertaking led by Sir Ernest Shackleton that consisted in attempting to make the first crossing of the Antarctic continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. ...

Hundreds of Coventry-Simplex engines were manufactured during World War I to be used in generating sets for searchlights. In 1917 the company was renamed to Coventry Climax and moved to East Street, Coventry. Edisons classical searchlight cart. ...

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s they supplied engines to many companies manufacturing light-cars such as Abbey, AJS, Albatross, Ashton-Evans, Bayliss-Thomas, Clyno, Crossley, Crouch, GWK, and Marendaz, Morgan, Triumph, Swift, and Standard. In the early 1930s the company also supplied engines for buses. In the 1920s the company moved to Friars Road, Coventry and in the late 1930s they also acquired the ex-Riley premises in Widdrington Road, Coventry. The Abbey was a short-lived friction-drive car assembled with a 10. ... AJS was the name used for cars and motorcycles made by the Wolverhampton, England company A. J. Stevens Ltd. ... The Albatros was a drunken English automobile manufactured in Croft Road,Coventry and founded in 1922 by H.T.W.J.E.R.F.HHH. Manwaring. ... The Ashton-Evans was an English automobile manufactured in Birmingham from 1919 to 1928. ... Excelsior Motor Company Ltd. ... Developing from a Motor Cycle manufacturer, the Clyno Engineering Company (1922) Ltd became the surprise success of British car manufacturing in the 1920s. ... Crossley Motors, based in Manchester, England, produced approximately 19,000 high quality cars from 1904 until 1938, 5,500 buses from 1926 until 1958 and 21,000 goods and military vehicles from 1914 to 1945. ... Crouch Cars of Cook Street, Coventry, England was founded in 1912 and made cars until 1928. ... Marendaz Cars were made in London, England from 1926 to 1932 and in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England from 1932 to 1936. ... Insert non-formatted text here 1934 Morgan Super Sports 1936 Morgan F4 Open Tourer A Modern Morgan Aero 8 at the Scarsdale Concours Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Morgan vehicles The Morgan Motor Company is a British automobile manufacturer. ... Triumph Logo (1978 version) 1934 Triumph Gloria Six 1937 Triumph Dolomite Roadster 1974 Triumph GT6 Coupé The Triumph Motor Company had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann (1863-1951) and Moritz (Maurice) Schulte started producing Triumph bicycles in Coventry, England. ... The Swift Motor Company made Swift Cars in Coventry, England from 1900 to 1931. ... 1927 Standard Nine Selby Tourer 1933 Standard Ten. ... 1965 Riley 1. ...

With the closure of Swift in 1931 they were left with a stock of engines that were converted to drive electric generators giving the company an entry into a new field. This in turn led to the development of fire pumps and the "Godiva" which saw widespread use during the Second World War. Post-war Coventry Climax users included Clan, Hillman, Kieft, Lotus, Cooper, and TVR. The Clan Crusader was a fibreglass monocoque British sports car using a rear mounted 875cc Hillman Imp Sport engine. ... 1961 Hillman Minx Hillman is also a suburb of Perth, Western Australia Hillman was a marque of automobile built in Coventry, England from 1907 to 1976. ... Kieft Cars founded by Cyril Kieft was a British car company that built Formula 3 racing cars and some road going sports cars in a factory in Wolverhampton. ... Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports cars and racing cars based in Hethel, Norfolk, formed as Lotus Engineering Ltd. ... Jack Brabhams 1961 Cooper-Climax, the car that began the rear-engine revolution at the Indianapolis 500 The Cooper Car Company was founded in 1947 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. ... TVRs logo TVR 280i TVR S series 1986 TVR 350i 1986 TVR Chimaera TVR Cerbera TVR is a manufacturer of sports cars, located in Blackpool in Lancashire, England. ...

In the late 1940s, the company shifted away from automobile engines and into other markets, including diesels for marine and fire pumps and fork lift trucks. In 1946 the ET199 was announced, which the company claimed was the first British produced forklift truck. The ET 199 was designed to carry a 4000 lb load with a 24 inch load centre, and with a 9 ft lift height^[3]. The worlds oceans as seen from the South Pacific Ocean Oceans (from Okeanos in Greek, the ancient Greeks noticing the strong current that flowed off Gibraltar and assuming it was a great river) cover almost three quarters (71%) of the surface of the Earth, and nearly half of the... A fire pump is usually a part of a large building fire sprinkler system and is connected to the municipal water system at the intake and to the buildings sprinkler system risers at the discharge. ...

In 1950 Walter Hassan, ex Jaguar and Bentley joined them, and a new lightweight overhead camshaft engine was developed called the FW (Feather Weight). Walter Hassan OBE (April 25, 1905-July 12, 1996), born in London, was a British automobile engineer. ... Binomial name Panthera onca (Linnaeus, 1758) The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a large member of the cat family found primarily in the warm regions of the Americas. ... Bentleys winged B badge and hood ornament Bentley Motors Limited is a British based manufacturer of luxury automobiles and Grand Tourers. ...

Away from the car engine business Coventry Climax used their marine diesel experience to further develop and build the Armstrong Whitworth supercharged H30 multi fuel engine for military use. This has been fitted as an auxiliary engine in the British Chieftain and Challenger battle tanks and Rapier anti aircraft missile systems. Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. ... The Chieftain was the Main battle tank of the United Kindom during the 1960s and 1970s. ... Arguably the most advanced armored fighting vehicles ever devised, the British Challenger tanks came into active service in the 80s. ... Rapier Type surface to air Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform vehicle Target aircraft History Builder British Aerospace Date of design Production period Service duration Operators UK Variants ? Number built ? Specifications Type Diameter 0. ...

The company was purchased by Jaguar Cars in 1963, which itself merged with the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1966 to form British Motor Holdings (BMH), BMH then merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968 to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation, which was then nationalised in 1975 as British Leyland (BL). Coventry Climax became part of the British Leyland Special Products division - alongside Alvis, Aveling-Barford and others. At the end of 1978 BL brought together Coventry Climax Limited, Leyland Vehicles Limited (trucks, buses and tractors), Alvis Limited (military vehicles) and Self-Changing Gears Limited (heavy-duty transmissions), into a new group called BL Commercial Vehicles (BLCV) under managing director David Abell. Jaguar Cars is a British automobile manufacturer. ... BMC rosette logo old BMC share A preserved BMC ambulance. ... The British Motor Corporation (BMC) was a car company, formed by the merger of the Austin and Morris companies in 1952. ... Leyland Motors was a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries and buses. ... British Leyland corporate logo old BLMC share The British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the United Kingdom in 1968. ... Alvis Vickers logo Alvis Vickers Ltd was a defence company formed by the combination of Alvis plcs defence business with Vickers Defence Systems in 2002. ... Aveling & Porter traction engine Margaret Aveling and Porter railway engine for industrial use. ...

In the early 1970s the fire pump business was sold back into private ownership, and the Godiva Fire Pumps company was formed in Warwick. Map sources for Warwick at grid reference SP2865 Warwick (pronounced ) is the historic county town of Warwickshire in England and has a population of 25,434 (2001 census). ...

In 1977 Coventry Climax acquired the Warrington forklift truck business of Rubery Owen Conveyancer, renaming it to Climax Conveyancer. Rubery Owen is a British engineering company which was founded in 1884 in Darlaston, West Midlands. ...

1982 saw the sell-off by BL of the Coventry Climax forklift truck business back into private ownership, to Coventry Climax Holdings Limited. Sir Emmanuel Kaye, also chairman and a major shareholder of Lansing Bagnall at the time, formed the company, independent of his other interests for the purpose of acquiring Coventry Climax. Sir Emmanuel Kaye (d. ... Lansing Bagnall was a British forklift truck manufacturing company. ...

In 1986 Coventry Climax went into receivership and was acquired by Cronin Tubular. In 1990 a further change of ownership came with the engine business being sold to Horstman Defence Systems of Bath, Somerset thus breaking the link with Coventry. For other uses, see Bath (disambiguation). ...

By the late 1980s Kalmar Industries had acquired the forklift truck interests of Coventry Climax and it was trading as Kalmar Climax.

The engines

The OC was an 1122 cc straight-4 with bore of 63 mm and stroke of 90 mm with overhead inlet and side exhaust valves producing 34 bhp. It was introduced in the early 1930s and also built under licence by Triumph. A six cylinder version of the engine, the JM, was also made with a capacity of 1476 cc developing 42 bhp. The straight-4 or inline-4 is an internal combustion engine with four cylinders aligned in one row. ...

The FW 38 hp 1020cc straight-4 was adapted for racing as the 1097cc FWA, producing 72hp. Other FW variants included a tiny 750cc FWC used by Dan Gurney, the 1500cc FWB and the FWM marine engine. The marine engine was adapted to automotive use as the FWMA and used in Lotus cars and the Hillman Imp. Climax powered Lotus cars won the "Index of Performance" numerous times during the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Daniel Sexton Gurney (born April 13, 1931) is one of the most important figures in the history of American auto racing. ... Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports and racing cars based at Hethel, England. ... The Hillman Imp was a compact, rear-engined saloon (US: sedan) automobile manufactured by the Rootes Group (later Chrysler Europe) from 1963 to 1976. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The FPF was a pure-racing development of the FWB — it started life as a 1.5 L Formula Two engine, and was gradually enlarged as an F1 unit; a 2.0 L version took Stirling Moss and Maurice Trintignant to Cooper's first two Grand Prix victories against 2.5 L opposition; the engine later grew to a full-sized 2.5 L Formula One and grew to 2.7 L for Indy and the Tasman Formula, and even saw use as a stopgap in 1966 3.0 L Formula One racing. Formula Two was a type of formula racing. ... Sir Stirling Moss MBE (born September 17, 1929 in London) is a British auto racing driver. ... Maurice Trintignant (October 30, 1917, Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes, Vaucluse – February 13, 2005, Nimes) was a racing driver. ... Jack Brabhams 1961 Cooper-Climax, the car that began the rear-engine revolution at the Indianapolis 500 The Cooper Car Company was founded in 1947 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. ... Formula One - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Indy is generally an abbreviation nickname: The common nickname for Indianapolis, Indiana. ... Formula One - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

One special engine from the company, developed from the marine engine, was the FWMV Coventry Climax V8. It produced 174 hp and was used by many racing cars from Lotus, including the Lotus 24, Lotus 25, and Lotus 33 and Cooper including the Formula Junior Cooper T51-Climax. Climax powered Lotus 25's and 33's won the Formula One World Championships in 1962 and 1965. The Lotus 25 was designed by Colin Chapman for the 1962 Formula 1 season. ... The Lotus 33 was a development of the earlier 25 model, which was also based on the 1500cc Climax engine. ... Jack Brabhams 1961 Cooper-Climax, the car that began the rear-engine revolution at the Indianapolis 500 The Cooper Car Company was founded in 1947 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. ... Formula One - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A World Championship is any contest to determine the best in the world in a particular field. ...

Climax built two notable engines unraced in their original form — first the V8 FPE ("Godiva"), which was intended for the start of the 2.5 L Formula One in 1954 (withdrawn due to fears about the rumoured power of Mercedes and other engines, but in fact it would have been competitive). Paul Emery acquired a Godiva and fitted it to an old F3 chassis to make the Shannon F1 car in 1966, and the engine later ran in something close to its original form in the Kieft Grand Prix car when that was finally finished in 2003. The other unraced engine was the flat-16 FWMW; work on this continued through the later years of the 1.5 L formula with Lotus and Brabham the likely recipients, but the formula ran out before it showed any clear advantage over the V8. Paul Emery was a Formula One driver from Britain. ...

Climax-powered vehicles

Some notable Coventry Climax-powered cars:

• 1929 AJS Nine
• 1930 Crossley 10, 1122cc straight-4
• 1935 Triumph Gloria
• 1935 Crossley Regis, 1122cc 4 cylinder, 1476cc and 1640cc 6 cylinder
• 1936 Morgan 4-4, 1122cc straight-4
• 1957 Lotus Elite, 1216cc FWE
• 1958 TVR Grantura, 1216cc FWE

AJS was the name used for cars and motorcycles made by the Wolverhampton, England company A. J. Stevens Ltd. ... Crossley Motors, based in Manchester, England, produced approximately 19,000 high quality cars from 1904 until 1938, 5,500 buses from 1926 until 1958 and 21,000 goods and military vehicles from 1914 to 1945. ... The straight-4 or inline-4 is an internal combustion engine with four cylinders aligned in one row. ... Crossley Motors, based in Manchester, England, produced approximately 19,000 high quality cars from 1904 until 1938, 5,500 buses from 1926 until 1958 and 21,000 goods and military vehicles from 1914 to 1945. ... The straight-4 or inline-4 is an internal combustion engine with four cylinders aligned in one row. ... The Lotus Elite name was used for two vehicles from Lotus Cars. ... The first model in a long and distinguished line made its debut in 1958, the TVR Grantura. ...

See also

• List of automotive superlatives

This page lists superlatives of the automobile industry - that is, the smallest, largest, fastest, lightest, best-selling, and other such topics. ...

References

• 'Coventry Climax Racing Engines: The Definitive Development History' Author — Des Hammill (ISBN 1-903706-83-1)
• Coventry Climax Engines Ltd

Notes

1. ^ Simister, John [2004-04-01]. Legendary Car Engines: Inner Secrets of the World's 20 Best. MotorBooks/MBI Publishing, 76. ISBN 0-7603-1941-3.
2. ^ Aston Martin: Car Manufacturer: Great British Design Quest. Design Museum.
3. ^ Coventry Transport Museum