The Arrol-Johnston was a well-built Scottish car which had many enthusiasts. Although the later history of the Dumfries company does not show much interest in sporting machinery (that is, of course, before they became Arrol-Asters), they were very much to the fore in the very early days. Indeed, the designer, J. S. Napier, drove an Arrol-Johnston to victory in the very first R.A.C. T.T. race, held in the Isle of Man, in September, 1905. A similar car, driven by E. Roberts, was fourth. It was in this race that the very new 20-h.p. Rolls-Royce came into the public eye by achieving second place in its first race.
The old T.T. Arrol-Johnston featured a horizontally opposed twin-cylinder power unit, with two pistons to each cylinder, giving a total capacity of 3733-c.c. (120 x 165-mm.). Oddly enough, each piston had two connecting rods, with a rocking lever interposed between the rods. in the early 'twenties, named the Galloway, which made quite a name for itself in the rugged reliability trials of the period. The fusion of the two Scottish firms of Arrol-Johnston, Ltd., and the Aster Engineering Co., Ltd., resulted in a high-grade car named the Arrol-Aster.
The marque had a fine reputation for reliability, and did very well in the Alpine Trial of 1929, being one of the only British cars to complete that very grueling test. A team of cars was also entered for the T.T. of that year, but beyond displaying their high-speed cruising capabilities, did not figure in the awards list. Two chassis were marketed, the 17/50 six-cylinder car, and the 23/70 eight-cylinder model. Both engines were of the sleeve- valve type, and dimensions were 2361-c.c. (67.5 x 110-mm.) and 3150-c.c. (67.5 x 110-mm.) respectively.
The Arrol-Aster concern was also partly responsible for the assembly of Sir Malcolm Campbell's "Bluebird," which made the fruitless journey to Verneuk Pan, to attempt the world's land speed record. Not many Arrol-Asters were produced, and, as the old Argyll concern found, the difficulties of producing a car in Scotland were many. Consequently the make soon disappeared from the market. People who owned these early Arrol-Asters were full of praise for what was a really first-class engineering job. |
