Villiers Ltd

Walter racing machine with 175 cm³ Villiers engine

Villiers was an English manufacturer of internal combustion engines .

In about 1898, John Marston started the Wolverhampton Villiers Street factory as a subcontractor for Sunbeam. The Sunbeam time -Werke presented bicycles , brass - and Hardware ago. Sunbeam later expanded the range and built cars and motorcycles .

In the beginning, bicycle pedals for the Sunbeam bikes were made in Villiers Street , later free-wheel hubs were added. Sir Charles Marston, the son of John, later took over the company. In 1912, Villiers Engineering Co. Ltd. founded. Even before the First World War , the production of small two-stroke engines for installation in motorcycle chassis began. Over the years, built-in engines of various cubic capacity classes , mainly in the 100  cm³ to 250 cm³ range in large numbers, were produced not only for motorcycles but also as stationary engines and were also exported to other European countries.

The classic Villiers engine of the 1920s had an external flywheel magnet ignition with ignition adjustment by a large lever. During these years, the very fast 175 cm³ racing two-stroke vehicles made Villiers famous outside of England. For example, Monet et Goyon won the French championship in the class up to 175 cm³ in 1924.

Web links

Commons : Villiers  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Villiers, a short history of the company