1929 Lea-Francis 1½-Litre 12/40hp P-Type Tourer

• History known back to the early 1970s and beyond
• Present ownership since 1982
• An older restoration
• Enthusiastically maintained and campaigned

Already established as a maker of bicycles of the finest quality, Coventry-based Lea-Francis turned to motorcycle manufacture in 1911, proving equally successful in this new enterprise. The company's first venture into motor manufacturing though, was a relative failure, but in 1922 Lea-Francis exhibited a light car powered by an 8.9hp Coventry Simplex sidevalve engine, and this C-type model would be the first produced in significant numbers. The Coventry Simplex was soon replaced by a 1,247cc overhead-valve Meadows unit (on the D-type) while two 12/40hp models powered by Meadows' famous 1,497cc 4ED engine were additions to the range for 1926. More powerful than its predecessors, the 4ED necessitated the introduction of a redesigned chassis, which was longer, wider and equipped with semi-elliptic springing all round, and a stronger, spiral bevel rear axle, both of which arrived in 1927 on the P-Type. The result was one of the finest small sporting cars of the late Vintage period, and the model continues to be raced successfully at VSCC events today.

This P-Type comes with its original buff logbook listing one Maud Wilhelmina Milward-Jones as first owner from 3rd March 1930. According to our vendor, the Lea-Francis was acquired by John Weeks from Cameron Miller in December 1974. Weeks restored the car and ran it until August 1982 when it was sold to the current owner; the car has been active ever since. In March 2017 'UV 273' was involved in a collision that resulted in the front axle needing to be straightened and the offside front mudguard refinished. The vendor describes the car as in good condition throughout and advises us that it no longer has its original engine, while the replacement breathes via an SU carburettor instead of the original Solex.

This pretty P-Type is a useable Vintage motorcar in good running order and with all the usual safety and mechanical checks in place before returning to the road, should provide a new owner with many more happy motoring trips as it has done for the current owner for many years.

The history file contains a fascinating notebook with b/w photographs of the car taken prior to restoration in the 1970s and hand-written records of the work carried out and subsequent journeys and events attended. The last entry is dated December 2024. The file also contains photocopied technical literature; wiring diagrams; various photographs; sundry bills; an instruction book; and a VSCC Eligibility Document.