Amongst the spate of cars which emerged after the Kaiser war, the H.E. was of definite interest to sporting motorists. It was an attempt to produce a car with a reasonably high maximum speed, without the disadvantages of the more Spartan type of sports car. Like the first Aston Martin, it had the unusual rear suspension layout of three-quarter elliptic springs. Final drive was by overhead worm gear and a multiple-plate clutch was used. The gearbox had four ratios, 4.2, 6.2, 9, and 14.4 to 1, but a 3.8 to 1 axle was adopted for the 1922 sports two-seater, which was known as the 14/40.
This car had a dual-coil ignition system, slipper-type aluminium pistons, a compression ratio of 5 to 1, and utilised a Zenith carburetter. A speed of 75 m.p.h. was guaranteed by the makers. A cheaper edition was offered soon afterwards with a bore and stroke of 72.5 x 120-mm., compared with the 75-mm. bore of its predecessors. The engine was still practically unaltered, and was, even at that time, considered to be a slightly outmoded side-valve design. Although the cylinder head was detachable, valve caps were still retained in the manner of the old fixed-head engines. The car had most attractive bodywork, and resembled the Bugatti of a much later period, with its rounded radiator and long, flared wings. An overhead-valve engine was produced in 1923, mainly for Brooklands.
This was a 16-valve effort, and was built into a special short chassis. There seems to be no records indicating that the car attained any success, so presumably it went no farther than the prototype stage. The concern had, during its lifetime as the Herbert Engineering Co., many ups and downs, and cars were produced rather more spasmodically than regularly. In the late 'twenties the cars had grown four-wheel brakes and the lines had been further improved. A curiosity was the fact that the front springs were of the reversed quarter-elliptic pattern; that is to say, the front half of a normal spring had been replaced by a rigid member which pivoted at the dumb-iron. Some sturdy six-cylinder cars were also produced, mostly with saloon or touring bodies. One of the older type H.E. sports cars still appeared in Vintage S.-C. C.'s events after World War 2, and was capable of giving many of the moderns a run for their money. |
