- Castle Three
Infobox Automobile
name = Castle Three
manufacturer = Castle Motor Company
production = 1919-1922
class =cyclecar
body_style =
engine = 1094 cc Dorman or 1207 cc Peters in-line 4 cylinder
transmission = two or three speed
length =
width =
height =
weight =
wheelbase =
successor = none
designer =The Castle Three was a British three wheeled
cyclecar made from 1919 to 1922 by the Castle Motor Company of Castle Mill Works, New Road,Kidderminster , Worcestershire. The company had originally been a car repair business founded in 1906 by brothers Stanley and Laughton Goodwin but grew to make munitions during World War I and entered the car building business with the coming of peace and the post war boom.The car was aimed at the top end of the Cyclecar market and so was fitted with a four cylinder, water cooled engine. The first batch of cars had side valve, straight four, Dorman engines of 1094 cc with the remainder using Belgian Peters 1207 cc engines. These were in-unit with a gearbox, either of two speed epicyclic or three speed conventional type and drove the single rear wheel by a shaft and bevel gears.cite book |last=Baldwin |first=N. |title=A-Z of Cars of the 1920s|year=1994 |publisher=Bay View Books |location=Devon, UK |id=ISBN 1-870979-53-2]
The open two seater body with
dickey seat had a smart nickel plated radiator and electric lighting and was attached on a chassis with the suspension using quarter elliptic leaf springs at the front and semi elliptic at the rear. Unusually for a cyclecar,artillery wheel s were used rather than wire spoked ones.The car was exhibited at the 1919 London Motor Show and a reputed 2300 orders were taken. Not all these were confirmed and it is estimated that around 350 were made. Two are known to survive.cite book |last=Georgano |first=N. |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile |year=2000 |publisher=HMSO |location=London |id=ISBN 1-57958-293-1]
A prototype of a four wheel version was made but never went into production. The company closed in 1922 selling the works to a carpet maker.
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
