For British manufacturer Armstrong Siddeley the post WW2 period was a time of reflection and pro-active production. The company was the first British maker to launch a new post-war car. When it did launch those vehicles it reflected on its own past and the role the company played in winning the war. Hence the Armstrong Siddeley Whitley.
While many of us have heard of the famous British military aircraft of WW2 - Hurricane, Typhoon, Lancaster and Tempest - the Whitley is not so well known. The name of all these aircraft was used on Armstrong Siddeley cars post-war. Our featured car is the Whitley 18 that has one thing in common with the aircraft, besides the name.
There were not a lot of Whitleys produced either as a car or aircraft. Some 1814 Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley bombers were produced from 1936 for the RAF. The A.W.38 was a twin-engined night bomber that would take part in the first bombing raids over Germany. The Whitley car had a run of 2582 units between 1949 and 1953.
The Whitley was at the luxury end of the scale and was powered by a 2.3 litre in-line six cylinder engine that developed 18 hp. This engine was a development of the 2.0 litre 16 hp engine, itself developed from a pre-war power plant. Interestingly, the Whitley had the same mechanicals as the Lancaster, but sported a much larger boot and in that compromise lost out to space inside the cabin.
There were two gearboxes available and as you can see by our images this car is fitted with the manual floor shifter. Our other featured Armstrong Siddeley - a station coupe - uses the alternative transmission, a pre-selector mounted on the steering column. That story and images may be found in our Classic Cars section.
Pre-selector gearshift below
Whitley was produced between 1949 -53 and came in a number of styles. Perhaps the most significant of these was launched in 1952 when the 6-light body was released. More back seat room was available in both the 4-light and 6-light bodies which came as the Lancaster was phased out. There was also a long wheelbase developed for the production of limousine and landaulette variants although the numbers of these cars manufactured was insignificant at just more than 120 limousines and just a pair of landaulettes. And there was of course the Station and Utility coupes specifically designed and manufactured for the Australian market.
The Whitley fitted the category of large sports saloon which these days we would call a large sports tourer. Only the larger 2309 cc engine was used in Whitley, the same engine as used in export versions of the Tempest. The car had a respectable top speed of around 140 km/h but was not fast off the mark with 0-100 km/h covered in the better past of 20 seconds.
These Armstrong Siddeleys all have a similar front appearance and a distinctly British air about them which loosely resembles Rolls Royce or Jaguar sedans of the late 1940s to early 1950s. The grille is upright, there are prominent front mudguards sweeping down to a running board and then a prominent hip-style rear mudguard or fender also sweeping low towards the rear bumper. Behind the grille with its horizontal bars the bonnet is long and wide giving the cars an air of dignity and grace. Armstrong Siddeley produced their last car in 1960. They were perhaps a victim of not moving with the heady times of the mid 1950s when car designs changed radically and quickly to rounder, more streamlined shapes.
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