"One of just 126, the Straight Eight was a George Lanchester design and was based on his very successful six-cylinder design, the 23hp. Just over 100 cars were built although the 1929 financial crisis took its toll and the Lanchester Motor Company was finally sold to Daimler in 1930. Interestingly, it is still a dormant company owned by Jaguar. During the vendor’s ownership, it has been in regular use both for holidays and various motoring events and shows all over the country. This includes the Lanchester Register rally that has taken place in various locations over the years and has been a multiple winner of the Owners Club Shield. Owned since 1994, amazingly there have been only three previous owners and was used only sporadically prior. It was originally owned by a Mrs. Van De Miere who lived in Bournemouth and was one of the very last Straight Eight cars built by Lanchester. It was then sold to a funeral business in Newbury during the war and used as part of a funeral cortège for a number of years. In 1965, the car was bought by the previous owner who was an absolute fanatic for all things Lanchester. He had the car re-bodied as a replica of the car made for Nancy Lanchester using the original factory drawings and owned the car for the next 30 years and, although he completed the bodywork, he sold the car having never driven it on the road. The current vendor bought it in 1994 with a freshly re-built engine but required re-wiring. The headlamps were re-silvered and converted to twin filament bulbs. The Autovac was rebuilt and the fuel system flushed through. The all-weather gear and windscreen were re-manufactured to good effect with the Auster screen fitted at much the same time. The magneto was rebuilt by Martin Percy and the dashboard required a re-fresh to accommodate an original tachometer and period Tapley brake testing meter. The instrument panel is unusual in that it uses edge-lit Perspex working as a light guide for instrument illumination, a technique used in modern fibre optics.
The original spark plug caps on Lanchester cars are unique, they are designed to be easily detachable whilst the engine is running; with only a few original examples remaining, a new complete set were re-manufactured. On the exhaust side, the sleeves were made of a ceramic which was easily broken. These were replaced with PEEK, a high temperature plastic. These are also used by a number of other Lanchester owners. The silencer was also completely re-placed by Franklins of Northampton. The interior baffles were in perfect condition however so only a new outer casing was required. New brake shoes and relined brakes have been installed all round. The crossflow engine has a capacity of 4.4 litres with an overhead camshaft, the petrol pump (Autovac) is original. The radiator has temperature-controlled radiator shutters. The engine uses a dual ignition system with two sets of spark plugs (16 in total) supplied by a British Thomson-Houston magneto and conventional coil and distributor. The brakes are assisted by an original Clayton Dewandre servo under the driver’s seat to assist pedal effort. The ethos regarding the maintenance and restoration of this motor car has always been to use original parts wherever necessary. We are also reliably informed that during the ownership of this charming example, the vendor and his family have enjoyed extensive holidays, car shows and events starting off with the 1995 Lanchester Centenary when it was this very car that appeared on the front page of Classic Car Weekly. Furthermore, the vendor has won the Lanchester Shield on a number of occasions participating in the appropriate register meetings. This is a truly unique motorcar, reportedly huge fun and highly recommended to any future owner.
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