BLERIOT WHIPPET, Addlestone, Great Britain, 1920-1927


Even during the First World War, two friends who worked at the Zenith Gradua bicycle factory built for themselves a light microcar with a simple belt variator instead of a gearbox.
In 1920, having decided to start production of their car, they rented the former English BLERIOT workshops in Addlestone. The company they belonged to became part of the aircraft! bands Burney & Blackburne. She insisted that the cars use a lightweight 2-cylinder V-engine "Blackburn" air-cooled in 965 cm3. The first options were equipped with a simple foot-winding device, like motorcycles. Then it was replaced by a long handle standing outside the body to the right of the driver (the engine had a front transverse arrangement).
In 1921, one of the specialists in automatic variators left the company. After that, the variator was replaced by a conventional manual gearbox and a rear wheel chain drive. In 1924, the engine was placed longitudinally and the chain transmission was changed to a conventional cardan.
In 1920-1921, the French company "BLERIOT" also produced a similar microcar model "8/10 CV", which was considered a variant of the English analogue, but had no relation to it.
More sophisticated cars supplied to the market quickly pushed aside the simple "BLERIOT WHIPPET", and in 1927 the company was closed.

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