Enfield Automotive

Last updated

Enfield 8000 in London The E8000ECC parked in Mount Street, Mayfair, London.JPG
Enfield 8000 in London

Enfield Automotive was an electric car manufacturer founded in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. Under the ownership of Greek millionaire Giannis Goulandris, production was moved to the Greek isle of Syros during the oil crisis of 1973, although the vehicles were, according to one report, not up to the expected quality and production was moved back to the Isle of Wight while other that were part built in Syros were sent back to be assembled on the Isle of Wight.[ clarify ] [1] According to other reports, the cars were built on Syros and sent to Britain for installation of the batteries. [2] [3]

Contents

Models

Enfield 465

Enfield 465 publicity photo Evening outing to the London Hilton with an earlier version of the E8000ECC.JPG
Enfield 465 publicity photo

The Enfield 465 was a small 2+2-seater electric car built only in prototype form in 1969. It was equipped with a 48 V, 4.65 bhp (3 kW) electric motor and had an ICI royal plastic body with no metal chassis. It is believed that only three were built but only two remain as one failed the crash testing. The rear axle came from a Bond Bug with the motor parallel to it. [4] [5]

Enfield 8000

The Chairman of the Electricity Council and other EC Board members on the date of signing the contract for the Enfield 8000 The Chairman of the Electricity Council and other EC Board members on the date of signing the contract for the E8000ECC.jpg
The Chairman of the Electricity Council and other EC Board members on the date of signing the contract for the Enfield 8000

The Enfield 8000 (also known the E8000 ECC or "Electric City Car") was similar to the 465, but with an 8 bhp (6 kW) motor and aluminium body. 120 Enfield 8000s were built initially on the Isle of Wight and subsequently in Syros [3] in the mid-1970s, of which 65 were used by the Electricity Council and southern English electricity boards. [6]

The E8000ECC had passed all the necessary tests for production in the United Kingdom and was on its way to be produced in the United States of America. Then Governor of California Ronald Reagan sent a cargo plane to have three E8000ECCs moved to California in support of his Clean Air legislation.[ citation needed ] However, the E8000ECC was never produced in the United States. The unique aerodynamics of the E8000ECC were not based on traditional industry principles and ideas. They were loosely based on designs made by Konstantine Adraktas, the Chairman and Managing Technical Director of Enfield. Most of the electrical systems were designed and built by Dr Peter Botterill. Production of the car was eventually moved to Greece after the company was incorporated into Neorion (also owned by Mr. Goulandris) and renamed Enfield-Neorion. However, soon the whole project was scrapped.

Enfield Runabout and Bicini.

The Runabout Model and the Bicini were produced in very small numbers on the Isle of Wight and in Syros, respectively, and used much of the same running gear as the Enfield 8000.

Enfield 4x4 Vehicles

These vehicles were only prototypes. They were large engine petrol engine vehicles referred to as 'Safari Cars' There was the Enfield Safari (produced on the Isle of Wight), and the Neorion Chicago (produced on the island of Syros; two were built, one Blue and one Red). There was also the Enfield Safari Estate (very much based on the Land Rover Series 3) and one other Safari car was partly built but not finished. this was based on a SWB Land Rover Style it is assumed this was scrapped when the factory in Somerton Isle of Wight closed) The other cars have all survived and are in private collections.

Key Characteristics

  • It had an aluminum body to guard against corrosion. [5]
  • It was available in a "Bicini" version which had a body composed of simple flat panels and was never crash tested.
  • A leather interior was available.
  • Early models no gear lever, reverse was entered with the use of switch.
  • It was based on widely available components and parts for easy maintenance and worldwide replacement part availability.
  • It had an on-board charger (which recharged batteries fully while freewheeling downhill in the Alps.) [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Station wagon</span> Auto body-style with its roof extended rearward

A station wagon or estate car is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door, instead of a trunk/boot lid. The body style transforms a standard three-box design into a two-box design—to include an A, B, and C-pillar, as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down rear seats to prioritize either passenger or cargo volume.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saab 9-3</span> Swedish compact executive car

The Saab 9-3 is a compact executive car initially developed and manufactured by the Swedish automaker Saab.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Motor Company</span> British motor vehicle manufacturer

Morgan Motor Company Limited is a British motor car manufacturer owned by Italian investment group Investindustrial. It was founded in 1910 by Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan. Morgan is based in Malvern Link, an area of Malvern, and employs approximately 220 people. Morgan produce 850 cars per year, all assembled by hand. The waiting list for a car is approximately six months, but it has sometimes been as long as ten years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zeta (automobile)</span> Australian automobile

Zeta is a marque of automobile which was produced in Australia from 1963 to 1965 by South Australian manufacturing company Lightburn & Co.

Noble Automotive Ltd, more commonly known simply as Noble, is an English sports car manufacturer based in Leicester. Noble Automotive Ltd. was established in 1999 by Lee Noble in Leeds, West Yorkshire, for producing high-speed sports cars with a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout. Lee Noble was the chief designer and part owner of Noble. The company was sold in August 2006. He left the company in February 2008 and shortly after announced his new venture, Fenix Automotive in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opel Calibra</span> Coupe produced by Opel

The Opel Calibra is a coupé, engineered and produced by the German automaker Opel between 1989 and 1997. In the United Kingdom, where it remained on sale until 1999, it was marketed under the Vauxhall brand as the Vauxhall Calibra. It was also marketed as the Chevrolet Calibra in South America by Chevrolet, and the Holden Calibra in Australia and New Zealand by Holden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daihatsu Charade</span> Supermini car

The Daihatsu Charade is a supermini car produced by the Japanese manufacturer Daihatsu from 1977 to 2000. It is considered by Daihatsu as a "large compact" or "supermini" car, to differentiate it from the smaller kei car compacts in its line-up, such as the Daihatsu Mira. In Japan, it offers buyers more interior space and a larger engine that allows for the car to also be used outside of urban areas. It replaced the Daihatsu Consorte, although the Charmant took over from the bigger-engined Consortes, and didn't share a platform with a Toyota product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan 4/4</span> Roadster

The Morgan 4/4 is a British motor car which was produced by the Morgan Motor Company from 1936 to 2018. It was Morgan's first car with four wheels, the name indicating that the model has four wheels and four cylinders. Early publicity and advertising material variously referred to the model as "4/4", "4-4", "Four Four", and similar names, but from the outset the factory designation was always "4/4".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autocar Company</span> American truck manufacturer

The Autocar Company is an American specialist manufacturer of severe-duty, Class 7 and Class 8 vocational trucks, with its headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama. Started in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in October 1897 as a manufacturer of early Brass Era automobiles, and trucks from 1899, Autocar is the oldest surviving motor vehicle brand in the Western Hemisphere.

Smith & Mabley was an American veteran era importer of European automobiles and produced the American C. G. V. automobile in 1902, and the S & M Simplex automobile from 1904 to 1907, in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the automobile</span>

Crude ideas and designs of automobiles can be traced back to ancient and medieval times. In 1649, Hans Hautsch of Nuremberg built a clockwork-driven carriage. In 1672, a small-scale steam-powered vehicle was created by Ferdinand Verbiest; the first steam-powered automobile capable of human transportation was built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769. Inventors began to branch out at the start of the 19th century, creating the de Rivaz engine, one of the first internal combustion engines, and an early electric motor. Samuel Brown later tested the first industrially applied internal combustion engine in 1826. Only two of these were made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enfield 8000</span> British battery-electric city car

The Enfield 8000 is a two-seater battery-electric city car, introduced in 1973 and developed in the United Kingdom by Isle of Wight company Enfield Automotive, owned by Greek millionaire Giannis Goulandris. The car was designed by a group of Greek and British engineers headed by Constantine Adraktas with John Ackroyd as project designer, who later went on to the Thrust 2 project. The prototypes and initial production were built at the Somerton Works in Northwood, near Cowes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Studebaker-Garford</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

Studebaker-Garford was an automobile produced and distributed jointly by the Garford Company of Elyria, Ohio, and the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, from 1904 through 1911. During its production, the car was sold as a Studebaker, per the marketing agreement between the two firms, but Studebaker collectors break the vehicles out under the Studebaker-Garford name because of the extent of Garford components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neorion</span>

Neorion is one of the oldest Greek heavy industries, located in Ermoupolis, on the Greek island of Syros. Today, it is one of the few remaining major industrial corporations in what used to be the industrial and commercial center of Greece, before being eclipsed by Piraeus in the late 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chevrolet Europe</span> Former subsidiary company of GM Korea

Chevrolet Europe GmbH was a subsidiary company of GM Korea, founded in 2005, with headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland. It provided Chevrolet brand automobiles, most of which were made in South Korea for the European market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Range Rover Evoque</span> British subcompact luxury crossover SUV

The Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, also known as the Range Rover Evoque or the Land Rover Evoque, is a subcompact luxury crossover SUV developed and produced by Jaguar Land Rover under their Land Rover marque. The original Evoque was a development of the Land Rover LRX concept vehicle, which was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in January 2008. The first generation Evoque was produced from July 2011 until 2018 in three and five-door versions, with both two-wheel and four-wheel drive. The second generation of the car went into production in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cunningham Car Company</span>

The Cunningham Car Company was a pioneering American production automobile manufacturer. Theirs was one of the earliest vehicles of the automotive age. Cunninghams were produced from 1896 to 1931 in Rochester, New York by James Cunningham, Son and Company who had been in the carriage manufacturing business since 1836.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Range Rover</span> Series of SUV models

The Land Rover Range Rover, generally shortened to Range Rover, is a 4x4 luxury SUV produced by Land Rover, a marque and sub-brand of Jaguar Land Rover. The Range Rover line was launched in 1970 by British Leyland and is now in its fifth generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neorion Chicago</span> Motor vehicle

The Neorion Chicago is a 4-door luxury sedan with sport utility vehicle-like characteristics and capabilities. Produced in 1974 by the Greek industrial group Neorion, only two examples of the car were fully built and sold before the project was terminated in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Brown Automotive</span> British Coach Builder (Aston Martin Mini)

David Brown Automotive is a British coachbuilder and manufacturer of limited production cars based in Silverstone, England. The company was founded in Coventry in 2013 by British businessman David Brown to create modern interpretations of classic vehicles. Its first model, the Speedback GT was launched in 2014.

References

  1. 1 2 Prest, David (28 November 2013). "The Enfield Thunderbolt: An electric car before its time". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  2. "Άλλο ένα Enfield 8000 γύρισε πίσω στην Ελλάδα (one more Enfield 8000 returns to Greece)". Syros Agenda. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  3. 1 2 Stavropoulos, Michalis (2014). "Ανάμεσα σε δύο νησιά (A Tale of Two Isles) Documentary about the Enfield Electric Car".
  4. "Enfield". Auta 5P (in Czech). Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  5. 1 2 "Overview of Enfield Automotive" . Retrieved 6 August 2007.
  6. Buckley, Martin (4 April 2006). "Enfield Electric Car". The Independent. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2011.