[4] It was the first British car with a straight-eight engine and Leyland managing director Henry Spurrier II (d.1942) told the company's board that it was better than a Rolls-Royce in every respect.
[5][6] The engine, with cylinder block and upper crankcase cast in one piece, had a single centrally mounted overhead camshaft,[5][7] hemispherical combustion chambers,[2] and an 89 mm (3.5 in) bore.
[5] At the front semi-elliptical springs were used with radius arms controlling fore and aft movement of the axle.
[5] Factory-made bodies were available in open tourer style with either two or five seats and chassis were also supplied to customers for their choice of coachbuilders which included Vanden Plas and Windovers.
[1] Since Leyland was severely short of cash due to other problems, Spurrier reduced the launch production target to one hundred; by 1923, the car was produced only for firm orders, which were discouraged.
[8] After amicably leaving Leyland in 1922 J. G. Parry-Thomas moved to premises at Brooklands race track taking with him at least three chassis and a large quantity of spares.