Mark A

MARK A - January 1949 to April 1951

January 1949

The Mark A was introduced. A 2/3 seater Tourer with an aluminium, stressed skin body fitted with a Perspex windscreen. The single front wheel was driven by a Villiers 10D, 122cc air-cooled engine and a 3 speed direct change gearbox (no reverse). Steering was by a cable and bobbin arrangement whilst starting was achieved by means of a handle mounted under the dash panel and connected by cables to a modified kick-starter on the engine. There were trailing link front forks, rigid mounted rear wheels and a cable and brake rod system that operated the rear brakes only. A 2½ gallon petrol tank was fitted, along with 6 volt rectified lighting, a manually operated windscreen wiper and "Goodyear" low pressure 16" x 4" tyres - interchangeable all round. Front lighting was by two external head and side lamps of 12 / 3 watt capacity mounted on either side of the body. Rear lighting was by a single, centrally mounted tail lamp with a 3 / 3 watt double filament bulb. No brake light was fitted.
Vehicle length 8' 10", width 4' 7" and height 3' 6". The wheelbase was 5' 5", the rear track 3' 10" and the weight 310lb.

December 1949

The Deluxe Tourer was identical but had the Villiers 6E, 197cc engine, a marked gear quadrant on the dashboard, a floor-mounted starting handle, engine mixture control, outside driving mirror and a spare wheel. An electric windscreen wiper was fitted as standard but could be specified at extra cost for the Standard Tourer.

October 1950

An improved Deluxe Tourer was introduced. A Triplex glass windscreen replaced the Perspex type and used heavier windscreen pillars with sidescreens fitted on the outside. (The Perspex windscreen was still retained for the Standard model.) A rack and pinion steering replaced the cable and bobbin variety for all models.

Chassis Number Range: A/1/1 to C/4/1973

Total Mark A Production = 1,973