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Anglo-French I -tanner with Front-wheel Drive

21st October 1932
Page 64
Page 64, 21st October 1932 — Anglo-French I -tanner with Front-wheel Drive
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AN interesting light-duty vehicle is being produced in Paris by Automobiles Derby, the maker of the successful Derby front-wheel-drive car. The machine is made in two models, one for the English market, employing a Meadows 11-litre four-cylindered engine, and the other for the French market, with an engine built on the Continent, but exactly similar in all other respects.

The chassis is a robust and workmanlike job, with commendable features. By reason of the special form of suspension employed, a very low load-line has been obtained and the height of the chassis unladen is only 14i ins., the ground clearance being 11i ins.

Accessibility has been carried to a remarkable point. The complete driving unit—engine, gearbox, front axle, radiator, and wheels—can be detached in under half an hour.

Forward transmission arrangements are cleverly carried out. Forked, tubular half-axles are articulated to the chassis and a flat transverse spring completes the ensemble, the spring ends being linked to the wheel holders by short connecting rods. Hardy joints are fitted to the inner ends of the eardan shafts, which * run through the tubular members, whilst large-diameter spherical joints areemployed at the outer ends.

The Derby car has independent suspension all round, but in the commer cial model a solid axle is used at the rear, with long half-elliptic springs. Cable control is employed in the four wheel braking system. The gearbox provides ratios of 18.9, 12, 9.3 and 5.87 to 1 forward, and 21.4 to 1 reverse.

A single-disc dry-plate clutch is em

played and final drive is by helical-cut bevels, with a differential incorporated.

Petrol is gravity fed from a tank under the seat, and a fuel return of about 26i m.p.g. is claimed for the loaded machine. The vehicle is designed for loads up to one ton. The wheelbase is 10 ft. ft ins., and the track 4 ft. 10i. ins., the overall length 14 ft. 94 ins., and the overall width 5 ft. 6 ins.

Our Paris representative made a brief trial of this vehicle and found it pleasant and convenient to handle.

The steering lock is good, and although steering is light and self-centring, road shocks are not transmitted to the steering wheel. Tho new Derby will be handled in England by Morgan Hastings, Ltd., 95, New Bond Street, London, 1.V.1, which concern showed it at Olympia last year. It is marketed in France at 28,000 francs, and Morgan Hastings, Ltd., will later he announcing the price of the English model, which is to be assembled here mainly from British parts.

Tags

Organisations: US Federal Reserve
Locations: Derby, Paris, London

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