Coventry Victor

Morton & Weaver

Thomas Morton & Williame Weaver formed a partnership as Morton & Weaver Limited in Coventry in 1904 as enginers and toolmakers. In 1911 they formed a new company the Coventry Victor Motor Company to continue there interest in motor engineering while the original company continued as tool makers.

Coventry Victor aero engines

The company started manufacturing horizontally opposed engines in 1904, and on 17 May 1910 one powered the experimental Weaver Ornithoplane, designed by W. A. Weaver, one of the partners in the company. In a series of four tests the Ornithoplane achieved a steady flight for a quarter of a mile, becoming the first monoplane to fly in Britain.

In 1955 Major W.A. Weaver, then managing director of the company, converted one of the company's air-cooled flat four industrial engines for aircraft use and a Piper Cub fitted with the engine completed 50 hours flight trials at Southend in July 1955. The engine, referred to as the 'Flying Neptune', was found to be a little heavy and a little low on power, but otherwise performed admirably.

Coventry Victor motorcycles

In 1919 Coventry-Victor, using their 688 cc flat-twin engine, started making motorcycle and sidecar combinations many of which were used as commercial outfits and became one of England's leading producers of horizontally opposed twins. The 1927 Coventry-Victor Silent Six has today become a sought after classic motorcycle. The company also supplied engines to many motorcycle and cyclecar makers, especially Grahame-White. Motorcycle production ended in 1936.

Coventry Victor cars

By 1926, the company found a new scope of activity: they launched their own design two-seater, three-wheeler car with the single wheel at the rear. There were four versions, the Standard, the Sports, the De-luxe, and the Parcelcar; prices started at £75. It used their own horizontal twin-cylinder engines of 688 cc at first, later enlarged to 749 cc, 850 cc and finally 998 cc. Drive was to the rear wheel via a two speed gearbox and chain drive. Early cars had a single brake. There was an updating in 1932 with styling by C F Beauvais and called the Luxury Sports with three-speed gearbox and costing from £110. The previous models remained available. Car production survived until 1938. After the Second World War, a prototype codenamed Venus was made with flat-four 747 cc engine never reached production. There were six reported Venus Prototypes all of which were ordered to be destroyed but one still exists at the Coventry Transport Museum. Little is known about the vehicle but it was found and recovered from a farm in the West Country in the 1980s

Other products

Maintaining their preference for the opposed twin cylinder design, Coventry Victor Motor Co built a twin cylinder diesel in the early 1930s known as the Cub. The design of the engine was illustrated in a GB patent by W.A. Weaver, M. Hamilton-Fletcher, and Victor Oil Engine Co in 1933. Bristol Tractor pictured a Cub-engined version of their tractor in 1933, though they fitted several different engines and it's not clear how many tractors were produced with the Cub engine. In 1935 the Coventry Victor Cub engine was available as the 19.5 hp Cub and 22 hp Cub Senior (10HP and 12HP nominal rating), and was described as originally having been designed for marine work. In 1938 Bristol Tractor re-introduced the Bristol 10 tractor with the Coventry Victor Cub diesel engine in the model "D", with production continuing to 1942.

The two Cub engines were in production in 1942 though the company advert states the company making them had recently changed its name from Victor Oil Engines (Coventry) Ltd to Oil Engines (Coventry) Ltd, with the works being Atlantic Works, Harefield Rd, Coventry whereas in 1935 the Cubs were listed as made by Coventry Victor Motor Co Ltd of Cox Street, Coventry. Victor Oil Engines (Coventry) Ltd was a subsidiary of Coventry Victor Motor Co Ltd formed in 1933. By 1949 the production of the Cub engine has changed again, to Cub Oil Engines Ltd, Atlantic Works, Wishaw, Scotland. The Cox Street address still appeared in later adverts for Coventry Victor Motor Co Ltd.

In 1946 The Engineer magazine reported that Coventry Victor had added two new small flat twin petrol engines to their range, of 285cc and 340cc, known as the "Midget" - the two models only differing in the cylinder bore (55 and 60mm respectively). The crankcases, cylinder heads, and pistons were all of aluminium alloy. The camshaft and crankshaft ran in ball bearings. These were available air cooled (with added fan and cowling for stationary use), and as water cooled units for marine use which included outboard motors.

After the war Coventry Victor Motor Co produced a range of petrol and diesel engines for marine and industrial use. The diesel engines included air and water cooled vertical single cylinder units (AD1, AD2, AD3 and WD1, WD2, WD3 models respectively), twin cylinder air-cooled HDA model, and water-cooled HDW models (also known as the Vixen). The petrol engines included twin cylinder air-cooled MA2 and AN4 models, and twin cylinder water-cooled MW2 and WN4 models. They also produced a flat-four air-cooled petrol engine (the AC4 or 'Neptune'), one use of which was in aircraft pressure test trolleys made by Sir George Godfrey & Partners. Major W.A. Weaver (managing director of the Coventry Victor Motor Co) converted one of these in 1955 for use in a Piper Cub aircraft, naming it the 'Flying Neptune'. Coventry Victor engines were also used in airfield pumping sets and to operate hydraulic ramps such as the Hylo Mk II mobile lifter made by Aviation Traders (Engineering) Ltd in the 1960s.

Present day

The Coventry Victor Motor Company Ltd was wound up voluntarily in January 1971. A.N. Weaver (Coventry Victor) Ltd. was formed in July 1971 to provide spares and offer a service to maintain existing engines.