Post-WWI: Facing bankruptcy in the existing business of Grahame-White Aviation Co, Claude Grahame-White diversified into furniture and car manufacture, presumably as Grahame-White Co. He discovered a lucrative business in refurbishing war-surplus Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost chassis.
1919 "The simplest of all new four-wheelers, the Grahame-White Buckboard, may be said to occupy the same position in the "car" world as does the scooter in the sphere of motor cycles. It is a small vehicle consisting of little, more than a motor-driven rear axle and a front axle connected by a platform of wood without springs, the flexible qualities of the wood being considered sufficient to insulate the passengers from the worst road shocks. A 3 h.p. two-stroke engine provides the power, the transmission being by chain to a countershaft gear box at the rear of the platform, thence by belt to the axle. Incidentally, this Buckboard is a development of a little machine which has been marketed in America for some time; it is known as the Smith Flyer, and differs in so far that the power is provided by an Auto-wheel. The price is 95 guineas." [1]
1920 November. Exhibited at the Motor Car Show at Olympia and the White City with a lightweight car seating two and weighing 5cwt. [2]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Motor Cycle of 11th December 1919
- ↑ The Engineer 1920/11/19 p498
- Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing) by J. M. Bruce. Published 1982 ISBN 0-370-30084-x
- AA. [1] Image courtesy of Aviation Ancestry