JAP 1906ca 10 HP engine 1262cc 4cyl AIV 3404

JAP 1906ca 10 HP 1262 cc four cylinder AIV tricar engine
For a short period J. A. Prestwich ventured in the tricar market, which blossomed for some years around 1905. Their first tricar was presented in the Stanley Show Forecast issue of The Motor Cycle of November 21, 1904. JAP’s first tricar, the Dual Sociable, was of unconventional design – “built on entirely original lines” The Motor Cycle wrote. The concept of sociable meant that the passenger had a seat next to the driver and was not positioned in front of him, as was usual with most designs. Later versions of this tricar, called the Dual Car, had a 947 cc three cylinder or 1262 cc four cylinder engine with atmospheric intake valves. The latter was offered for the 1907 season. It appears not many of these JAP tricars were sold, and nowadays these engines are significantly rare.
The engine we offer ended up in Australia and we have a letter on file from J.A. Prestwich & Co. Ltd. It’s dated April 2, 1952 and was a reaction to a letter from a Mr. Murray, C/O Technical College, North Wollongong, New South Wales. Mr. Murray apparently asked for information about the four cylinder engine and the company’s reaction was: “We are in receipt of your communication of the 17TH March and we are extremely interested in the photographs of the old J.A.P. engine. Mr Prestwich Senior perused these photographs with much interest and informed the Undersigned that we manufactured ten of these engines in 1902/1903 for installation in a small car that we were making at that time. We originally made a 3 cylinder engine for this Unit but the vibration was bad and the 4 cylinder engine proved an excellent cure. If the occasion arises when you wish to dispose of this Unit we shall be very interested in the purchase of this.”
This very rare engine comes with four original JAP patent oilers and some photostat information on the Dual Sociable tricar ; the carburettor fitted is non-period.