PreWarCar of the week: the impressive 1933 Siddeley Special

One of the largest engined, most powerful and highest specification touring cars of the 1930's, the Siddeley Special was born out of the 1919 merger of Armstrong-Whitworth's car division with the Coventry based Siddeley-Deasy. The Armstrong-Siddeley concern had not been noted for performance motoring prior to the debut of the 30 hp Siddeley Special in chassis form on stand 54 at the 1932 Olympia Motor show. One of the rarest of high quality pre-war cars, only 253 chassis were built in the production run which continued until 1937. Crafted in hiduminium alloy, the Special's magnificent six cylinder overhead valve engine produced 125 bhp at 3200 rpm. This paragon of power units transmitted its abundance of low speed torque via a Wilson pre-selector gearbox and would accelerate smoothly from walking pace to over 90 mph in top gear.

 

The Special's blend of engineering excellence and performance to match Bentley's 4 1/4 litre "Silent Sportscar", guaranteed its appeal, though the price tag of in excess of £1,000, depending on coachwork chosen, necessarily meant that ownership was restricted to a wealthy elite. 

Amongst distinguished owners of the model were Sir Malcolm Cambell and Tommy Sopwith. Cabriolet coachwork had became very refined by the mid 1930's with close fitting wind up windows and snug fitting hoods providing the comfort that one would expect from a saloon car. Twin side mounted spars, front and rear bumpers, first class Lucas lighting including a centre spotlight and windscreen mounted trafficators made the Burlington Tickford cabriolet a most practical car for summer or winter use.

 

Believed to be the oldest surviving example, KV 5824 was first registered in August 1933 and was the only chassis to be built with Burlington Tickford four door cabriolet coachwork. It was the eleventh car off the production line and was supplied originally to the Myers rum family. The car was painstakingly rebuilt by a Siddeley Special enthusiast during the late 1980s/early 90s. 

The car has passed through 3 owners since the restoration and has been kept in excellent mechanical order, the interior in beautiful and the bodywork is still in good sound condition.