The history of Delahaye goes back to the very beginning of the motor industry. Emile Delahaye was a French engineer who bought a factory that manufactured brick kilns and items for the ceramic trade. To help with the industrialisation, he started to work on pumps and engines – both steam and petrol based internal combustion versions. He initially saw this as a way to power his … [Read more...]
Drum Brakes
Drum brakes were the first type of speed reduction on an automobile (apart from engine braking). The design came from the clasp brake that railway locomotives used - the difference being that a clasp brake applies pressure on the outside of the wheel and the drum brake applies it on the inside of the mechanism. It is a very simple design and concept, to reduce speed, the brake … [Read more...]
American Motors
American Motors (AMC) was formed in 1954 by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator and the Hudson Motor Car Company. Nash had recognised that the Big 3 being General Motors, Ford and Chrysler were going to be hard to beat without economies of scale and they found Hudson to be a willing partner to start the process. With the completion of the merger, the new AMC was able to reduce the … [Read more...]
The Datsun name is coming back
I read a fascinating article recently about Datsun. Many readers over a certain age will remember the name. It was the marque that Nissan used in many countries until someone decided that the parent name was better. The iconic Z series started out as a Datsun and the marque had a great name in racing and rallying until the mid 80s when a corporate boffin dropped the … [Read more...]
Superchargers
This technical topic is about the supercharger designed for maximum power from an internal combustion engine, not the "superchargers" that Elon Musk is building to provide fast charging for his Tesla cars. Like many technologies that are in use today, supercharging an internal combustion engine has been around for over 100 years! The concept is quite simple: take an engine … [Read more...]
