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This page: Early original photograph of a rare British light car of the early 1920s.

Belsize-Bradshaw 9hp light car.

Thanks go to Johnboy for the following vintage-era photograph. In it, his grandmother is seen behind the wheel of an early 1920s Belsize-Bradshaw 9hp roadster, outside a golf club that she worked at. This light car was identified by Varun, on the Old Classic Car Facebook page (thanks).

(Please click the thumbnail to view the full-size image.)

The 9hp roadster shown here was launched as the Belsize-Bradshaw 9hp roadster in 1921. The company's previous cars were simply badged as Belsize, but as this model featured a novel 1294cc V-twin Dorman-built engine that had been designed by Granville Bradshaw, the name was altered. It featured both oil- and air-cooling, but wasn't without its issues, which led in 1924 to a new car being launched, powered instead by a more conventional, four-cylinder, unit. Despite the new car, the writing had been on the wall for the company since 1923, and the Manchester-based business packed up for good in 1925. No doubt the popularity of the Austin 7, launched in 1922, added to the company's woes (and those of other, similar, light-car manufacturers of the early 1920s).

Return to Page 21 in the motoring image archive, or visit the main index of vintage & classic photographs here, where there are thousands of original vintage and classic car images to view.

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Old Classic Car (C) R. Jones 2023. Content not to be reproduced elsewhere.

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