It’s been a long time coming but to the Card family it has never been gone, under the wing of Alec Card
who in his lifetime was second to none on the JAP front after acquiring the company some 2 decades ago,
has built a number of engines – all documented and on the company register.
However with his
engineering skills and knowledge of what makes things go bang better, the new engine is testament to his
lifetime’s work.
What we have now is exactly what a JAP V Twin would have been in those lost few years of the company.
Unfortunately Mr. Alec Card passed away on the 8th May 2010, but his work and commitment will be carried on by his family
So this great new name and engine will continue to stay in the motorcycle and
three wheel car industry.
ALL NEW JAP TWIN
HISTORY OF JAP
JA Prestwich Industries, was an English engineering company named after founder John Alfred Prestwich, which produced cinematographic equipment, internal combustion engines (for which the company was generally abbreviated to “J.A.P.”), and other examples of precision engineering.
J. A. Prestwich, an engineer, founded the company in 1895, when he was in his early twenties, initially behind his father’s house at 1 Lansdowne Road, Tottenham. By 1911 he had moved to a new plant at Tariff Road, Northumberland Park, Tottenham. Prestwich came to be known as much for his creation of cinematography projectors as his engines. He worked with S.Z. de Ferranti and later the cinema pioneer William Friese-Greene.
The engines were used in many famous motorcycle marques and other devices, such as early aeroplanes, chainsaws, cultivators such as those produced by Howard Rotovators,and light rail maintenance trucks.The motorcycle engines were associated with racing success and were still used in speedway bikes well into the 1960s. During the Second World War Prestwich produced around 240,000 industrial petrol engines in support of the war effort, together with millions of aircraft parts, fuses, etc
After 1945 production was taken over by Villiers Ltd.and the company was completely absorbed by the Villiers Engineering Company in 1964 just as Villiers itself was to be taken over by Manganese Bronze Bearings.
The company’s engineering works in Northumberland Park closed in 1963.ProductsAircraft engines
Early aircraft were light and basic, and need a reliable and lightweight engine to power them. JAP motorcycle engines were often used in this application. A JAP engine was used in A V Roe’s 1909 triplane, regarded as the first all-British aircraft, and for a while Prestwich and Roe had a partnership. JA Prestwich at first would deliver the same engine to the aircraft manufacturer, allowing them to make local modifications – mainly larger venturi tubes for the carburettor, to allow for greater air intake at altitude.But in the late 1920s/early 1930s JA Prestwich produced various heavier engines under licence, including those for the UK market for Aeronca.Cinema
Cinematographic equipment including cameras, printers, mutoscopes, cutting and perforating machines, and projectors (eg the Bioscope projectors for the Warwick Trading Companyand Charles Urban) were produced by the company in the early part of the 20th century.Motorcar engines
1934 Morgan Super Sport with JAP engine
In light of JAP’s development of high powered but light engines for speedway, some low volume pre-war car manufacturers, including theMorgan Motor Company and Reliant, used JAP engines to power their vehicles.
This use of the JAP extended into motor racing after the Second World War, with most were used in specialist UK lightweight formulas, or more extensively in Formula 3 racing after developments by John Cooper.
In its later life, JA Prestwich also produced components for other vehicle manufacturers, including the cylinder head for the Lotus Cortina and the early versions of the Ford-based Lotus Elan engine.[edit]Motorcycles
From 1904 to 1908 complete motorcycles were produced from the development of the first overhead valve motorcycle engine to be produced in the UK.
After that the factory concentrated on supplying its engines to other manufacturers, including
Brough Superior,
Triumph Motorcycles,
A. J. Stevens & Co. Ltd, and HRD Motorcycles,
the forerunner of Vincent Motorcycles.
Machines that incorporated its engines included theAJS Model D, fabricated for the Russians in the First World War.
JAP exported significant numbers of engines to foreign motorcycle manufacturers including Dresch and Terrot in France, and Ardie, Hecker and Tornax in Germany.
Latterly, JAP engines (under Villiers control) were used in motorcycle racing, and most commonly speedway or dirt track
1950 Rotrax JAP Speedway, National Motor Museum Monorail in Beaulieu
To Have one of these built contact
SOURCE:
Grease n Gasoline 