In 1919 the
inclined valve and head design was used for a V8 engine, the first of its type produced in England. The
engine was fitted into a handsome Guy open touring car which had the three-point suspension and exceptionally long semi-elliptic springs. The car was
remarkable too in that it incorporated the first automatic chassis lubrication system. Deliveries began in 1920, some cars being fitted with an attractive
Guy Motors open touring body and other with coupé and cabriolet coachwork by specialists.
Two
smaller cars, with 4-cylinder engines and without automatic lubrication, were added to the range in 1921; and at Olympia in 1923, a saloon car made its
appearance. This was the 1945 cc “13/36” model, fitted with a Coventry Climax engine, and which had the then-revolutionary feature of four-wheel braking.
Car production
ceased in the mid-1920s, however, due to the general world slump when, as Sydney Guy himself commented, “…one could hardly give away a second-hand car, let
alone sell a new one”. It is thought that some 150 examples of the splendid V8 touring car were
manufactured, and Sydney Guy recalls with pleasure King George V’s visit to the 1920 Olympia show, when His Majesty displayed a lively interest in the
car’s unique specification and in its beautifully machine-turned semi-polished aluminium body.
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Guy Motors History
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V8 Tourer
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Guy Buses
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Guy Gas Producer
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Guy Military Vehicles
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Guy: The Final Years