Paramount Cars

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The Paramount Cars was a British automobile manufacturer. Two-door convertibles were built there from 1950 to 1956

Paramount Cars
legal form
founding 1947
resolution 1956
Seat Lens drawer
Branch Automotive industry

history

In the late 1940s, Sam Underwood and Bill Hudson met. Underwood was a trained mechanic. During the Second World War he was employed as a soldier in a managerial position in a ship engine factory. When the conflict ended, he took a position as director of a large automobile repair shop in Derbyshire . There he also met Hudson, who was a police officer at the time.

Both decided to found a joint company, the aim of which was to produce mid-range vehicles. In 1947 they registered the Paramount Cars in the commercial register. Since they did not have the financial means for their actual project, they started a used car dealership in Swadlincote . Economic success allowed them to turn to their real plans relatively quickly. A first prototype was realized on the chassis and with the engine of an Alvis 14 at the end of the 1940s . The car was named "The pig" by its developers; a designation that was certainly already problematic from a marketing point of view and also hit the point from the essence of the charisma of your creation. The body lacked the filigree that was common at the time and, with its very wide dimensions, was rather unusual for the British market. The specialist press assessed the car critically as unsaleable. More benevolent judgments named the body line as transatlantic. Unfortunately, export to the USA was not planned at that time.

Further work on this project has therefore been discontinued. As a result, the two company founders developed a more sporty vehicle on the mechanical basis of the Alvis Eagle . But this concept was also rejected again. The first model that should really go on sale was a two-door convertible that used the technical elements of the Ford Ten . The shape, however, was reminiscent of the Austin Atlantic A 90, which was successful at the time . An elaborately made steel body was built on a stable tubular frame with leaf-sprung wheels (lengthways at the back, crossways at the front). The side-controlled four-cylinder in-line engine had a displacement of 1726 cm³, the 31 HP (22.8 kW) with a compression of 6.1: 1, or 36 HP (26.5 kW) with a compression of 7.0: 1 developed. The wheelbase of the 4216 mm long and 1676 mm wide car was 2438 mm, its track width was 1295 mm. The car was named MkI and sold for £ 494.

Underwood and Hudson planned to build at least five vehicles a week. However, this goal was never achieved. Only seven units left the factory between 1950 and 1952. The financial problems grew and ultimately a bankruptcy could only be averted by a sale to the Meynell Motor Co. However, the new owners did not revive the business either, although they tried to change the situation with a relaunch . The car presented as MkII was slightly redesigned on the outside and received a radiator grille that was reminiscent of the BMW kidney. As an option, compressor engines from Wade or Shorrock or an engine equipped with SU twin carburetors were available. But since the price for the basic version was increased to 1000 pounds, there were only a few buyers. Today (as of August 30, 2012) it is assumed that only between seven and nine interested parties have signed a purchase agreement. An older source gives exactly 72 vehicles.

Therefore, Meynell Motor Co. separated from this business and sold the company to Camden Motors. This changed the again the body and is now installed the 1.5-liter engine of Ford consul 47 hp (34.5 kW) at 4400 min -1 . In addition, the platform has been extended by 15 cm. From 1955 the car was called Paramount 1½-liter. But even so, there was no economic success. In 1956 the company was therefore dissolved.

Models

model Construction period cylinder Displacement power wheelbase
MkI / MkII 1950-1955 4 row 1172 cc 31–36 bhp (22.8–26.5 kW) 2438 mm
1½ liter 1955-1956 4 row 1508 cc 47 bhp (34.5 kW) 2591 mm

literature

  • David Culshaw, Peter Horrobin: The Complete Catalog of British Cars 1895-1975. Veloce Publishing plc., Dorchester 1999, ISBN 1-874105-93-6 .
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 3: P – Z. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 . (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georgano: The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile.
  2. ↑ La saga des petits constructeurs britaniques, in: Gazonline, issue 08 / August / September 2012, 18th volume, Pixel Press Studio, Bailly, pp. 52–53.