AIR-COOLED SPORTS MODEL

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32034, 8 July 1969, Page 13

AIR-COOLED SPORTS MODEL

(By

G. R. LANE)

It has taken nearly half a century for the motorist to bring himself to accept that the engine of bis car can be cooled just as efficiently by air as by water. Today, the air-cooled baby Fiat is Europe’s most popular car, and no-one now regales his friends at the bar with tales of cylinder-heads glowing red-hot after a hard drive from the coast.

They did once, and such tales, largely fictitious, did much to hasten the end of the last air-cooled, twincylinder cars to be sold In Britain in any number—the A.B.C.s. There cbuld be no doubt about the marque's origins—the initials stood for AllBritish Engine Company—and its designer, Granville Bradshaw, was regarded as a brilliant designer. Why the A.B.C. did not get the recognition it deserved remains a classic motoring mystery. The power-weight ratio was excellent; so was

the horizontally • opposed, twin-cylinder power unit, which, by 1924, was pushing out 40 b.h.p. This gave vivid acceleration and a top speed of more than 70 m.p.h. The A.B.C. was a good-looker, too, with a highly-polished aluminium body and exhaust pipes sprouting sportily through the bonnet sides. It was reliable, economical and nifty. But it did not sell —at least not enough to survive the lean years of the mid-twenties. The reason may have been that early A.B.C.S had pushrod operated valve-gear that gave considerable trouble if not adjusted with great care, and, although this was later rectified, the rumour of unreliability remained. And, of course, like all air-cooled engines, it did get hot. But the charge of unreliability was totally unjustified. There are still A.B.C.s running today which have done considerably more than

100,000 miles without a major overhaul. The car illustrated Is the 1926 Super Sports A.B.C.