The initials A.B.C. (All British (Engine) Co., Ltd.) are generally associated with that gem of a motor-cycle of the early 1920s, which was years ahead of its time, and to which the German B.M.W. eventually owed its existence. The designer, Granville Bradshaw, was an extremely clever engineer, and although most unconventional at times, he produced many really epoch-making designs. One of the best remembered was the oil-cooled Belsize-Bradshaw light car, and others such as the various motor-cycles produced with Bradshaw oil-cooled engines, notably the Dot, Matador and Zenith, and the little 250-c.c. transverse Vee-twin P. & M. Panthette, which had a four-speed, car-type gearbox.
Just after the Armistice of 1918, Bradshaw evolved an air-cooled, two-cylinder light car called the A.B.C. This car was probably the last air-cooled, twin-cylinder car to be sold in England in any quantity excepting for three-wheelers until it went out of production in the middle 'twenties.
Owing to its extremely light weight and powerful horizontally opposed power-unit, it was capable of a really good performance. The engine had a bore and stroke of 91.5-mm., and the valves were operated by pushrods. It was the valve-gear that killed whatever chance the car had of becoming a best-selling sports car, as it gave constant trouble. Not many people would today know that the motor-cycle also suffered from this affliction, and was only saved from an early demise by the fact that a redesigned rocker assembly was offered by a proprietary firm, which gave the engine a reasonable amount of reliability.
The A.B.C. was a good-looking little car with its highly polished aluminum two-seater body and shapely wings. The projecting of the cylinder heads through the bonnet sides was a feature that appealed to the sporting types who worshipped at the shrine of G.N. The "vertical-gate gear change took a bit of mastering.
A rocker conversion set called the F.E.W. was marketed for the A.B.C. engine which improved reliability. In 1924 the A.B.C. was produced in super-sports form with a bigger engine (1320-c.c.), which was reputed to push out more than 40 b.h.p. This model had a maximum speed of close on 70 m.p.h. and had vivid acceleration. It was a pity that the concern never could quite overcome the prejudice against them, for the later cars were very reliable indeed. The chassis was light yet strong, a four-speed gearbox and dry-plate clutch were standardised, whilst suspension was by means of quarter-elliptic leaf springs, fore and aft.
