Designer P. E. Pellew | Transmission 4-speed manual | |
 | ||
Manufacturer Vale Engineering Company Production 1932-1935
approx 100 made Body style two-seat tourer
four-seat tourer (Tourette) Engine Triumph 832 ccI4
Coventry Climax 1098 cc I4
Coventry Climax 1476 cc I6 | ||
The Vale Special (sometimes just Vale) was a British sports car made between 1932 and 1935 in Maida Vale, London.
History
The Vale Motor Company was established in 1931 by Pownoll Pellew (later 9th Viscount Exmouth) as a 'gentleman's hobby' in a rented workshop behind The Warrington pub in Maida Vale. It was initially funded by Pellew (helped by his mother and his actress girlfriend Kay Walsh) and his two business partners Allan Gaspar (with help from his bank manager father), and Robert Owen Wilcoxon (thanks to early film proceeds of his film actor brother Henry Wilcoxon). It was Henry who designed the striking Vale Motor Co. badge.
The cars were initially handmade and based on Triumph Motor Company components. The first cars used the 832 cc side-valve engine from the Triumph Super 7 fitted to a chassis bought in from Rubery Owen, semi-elliptic leaf springs all round, and the hydraulic brakes and axles from the Triumph. The top speed was only 65 mph (105 km/h), which was too slow for serious sporting events: so from 1933 a 1098 cc, overhead-inlet, side-exhaust, four-cylinder, Coventry Climax engine was offered, followed in 1934 by the 1476 cc six-cylinder version of the same engine.
Most of the cars had lightweight two-seater open bodies with fold-flat windscreens, but a four-seat version on a long-wheelbase chassis, called the Tourette, was available with the larger-engined versions.
About 100 cars had been made when production stopped in 1935, though the actual figure is greatly disputed.