Lea-Francis

The Hyper, also called the S-type, was the first British supercharged production car with a 1.5 litre Meadows engine, and in 1928 a Lea-Francis Hyper won the Ulster TT, a 30-lap race on the 13.5-mile (21.7 km) Ards circuit on the roads of Northern Ireland driven by race car driver Kaye Don.

The company was re-formed in 1937 under the chairmanship of George Leek with other ex-Riley Motor men such as R.H. Rose who designed a new engine for Lea-Francis having a similar layout to the Riley 12/4.

[2] Connaught developed a Formula 2 racing engine for their "A" type single seater which was based on the Lea-Francis design.

The company had a chequered history with some notable motorcycles and cars, but financial difficulties surfaced on a regular basis.

The Hillfields site was abandoned in 1937 when it was sold by the receiver and a new company, under a slightly different name, moved to Much Park Street in Coventry.

The Lynx, a tube-framed 2+2 roadster with a Ford Zephyr 2.6 litre inline-six engine, was the final model produced by Lea-Francis.

A total of almost 10,000 Lea-Francis vehicles were made until production ceased due to the Lynx's failure to capture the buying public's attention.

[5] Lea-Francis also dallied into starting production of the Fuldamobil Nobel bubble car to keep busy but it proved a frivolous plan and had competition from the famous Mini that was introduced in the late 1950s.

The motor manufacturing parts of the company passed into the hands of the receiver in 1962, leaving Lea-Francis to continue with their engineering business.

Share of the Lea-Francis Cars Ltd., issued 30. September 1961