History of BSA Cars "The Thirties"

Rear-Wheel-Drive cars (1933 to 1936)

BSA's next RWD car came in 1932 and whilst designed and produced at Small Heath did have similarities to the small Lanchesters, then being produced by the BSA group. For 1933 rear wheel drive car with 1185 cc engine. At that time Daimlers had 6 or 12 cylinder engines and the only 4 cylinder Lanchester had a 1203 cc engine (presumably not very different to the later 1203 cc Scout engine). These BSA's were produced on a Lanchester theme but the similarity was only superficial as wheelbase, gear box ratios, wheel size and other items were different.

For 1933 the RWD BSA cars were a 10 hp tourer and a 10 hp saloon on an 8' 14" wheelbase, both fitted with the fluid flywheel system of transmission. Chassis numbers started at D1Ol and engine numbers had a T prefix, presumably also starting at T1O1. Look at the T9 page and you'll see that the FWD T9 chassis was offered as an alternative to the fluid flywheel chassis. Like all of the FWD cars, the T9 models were substantially cheaper that the RWD cars. For 1934 the RWD range was expanded to include a standard saloon plus Delux version, Varsity saloon, Tickford Drophead foursome saloon, Peerless coupe (by Coventry Motor Sundries) and a Tickford three seater. The last named looked very sporty, but presumably with fluid drive lag sprints were out of the question. The engine was tuned by N A McEvoy and the body built by Jensen's of West Bromwich and was dubbed the Alpha Beta due to its Alpha like appearance. The basic saloon had a steel body, whilst the De Luxe version was coach built, as was the Varsity saloon and all featured the 1185 cc engine. For 1935 there were some changes, the most significant being the introduction of a six cylinder engine (what other companies were building 2, 4 & 6 cylindered cars at the same time!?) This engine was 1378 cc OHV with integral cylinder and head arrangement with a four bearing crank.

Of 1300 cc capacity The Streamlined saloon might have looked impressive but it had the same performance as other vehicles in the range. The six-cylinder engine may have sounded more powerful but it only had a capacity of 1300c.c.

And so it went on, or did it? For 1936 the range was unaltered with the exception of a 4 cylinder 1330 cc engine on some models, but with a massive reduction in price. All six cylinder models were reduced at leat £40 and all four cylinder cars by at least a whopping £80. This obviously was the writing on the wall and in the spring of 1936 production ceased for all models, including our three wheelers, with the exception of the Scout. After this date BSA cars were restricted solely to the FWD Scout in various forms and the fluid flywheel market was left exclusively to more expensive Daimler and Lanchesters. So ended the production of BSA RWD cars. Post War saw the BSA group centralising car production on the Daimler and Lanchester companies and a move away from the low cost towards the medium and high cost market.