Perry
Car : Perry
Year : 1914
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke : 69×120 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1796 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 28
Maximum speed : 55 mph
Wheelbase : 8 ft 6 ins (2.59 m)
Suspension : front and back : semi-elliptic leaf- springs
In retrospect Perry can be seen to have traced the progress of many other English companies in the first twenty years of this century. It began in 1912 with a cyclecar powered by a twin-cylinder 875 cc engine. However it had previously earned a reputation as a steel producer, and as a bicycle manufacturer. Before 1912, as experiments, it had built a tricycle and a carriage, both motor-powered.
Only a few hundred (700, it is estimated) cars of the kind illustrated here were built–but this does not mean it was unsuccessful. Built together with a twin cylinder 875 cc model (with water-cooled engine in block, a 3-speed transmission, magneto ignition, and maximum speed of around 35 mph) it was considered one of the toughest cars of its time. Perry always proceeded with great caution in its car manufacture, and the decision to sell the production rights of this model to Bean Cars Ltd illustrates its fear that it could never complete with Austin and Morris. Its relationship with the 1919 Bean can be seen by radiator. Bean had different ideas about the car’s potential. It intended, after slight modifications and of course rechristening, to make 50,000 a year. These plans turned out to be somewhat over-ambitious, however.