A Find ? What Is This ? HELP REQUIRED

[vintageman]

Please assist with identifying the chassis in the photographs , the chassis came with the steering handle , I do not know if it goes with the chassis or it is from a different machine.







The Steering Handle ??

[karlosdeville]

Im afraid that is going to be very very difficult to identify. Try contacting the victorian and edwardian car clubs in the uk and elsewhere. All the best!

[awini]

should not be too difficult to identify if you ask the right questions,to the right people abroad who deal with such cars on a regular basis. the tubular chassis makes me think humberette but the humberette had half ecliptic springs at the rear not quarter,and it had a steering wheel the front transverse spring and the tiller is familiar but i cant place it right now.dont think its rover, rover didnt have tube chassis if i remember right, could it be something american? early locomobile perhaps?then again, the tiller may not belong to the chassis all together

[vintageman]

For all interested in the outcome - here is an update from prewar car.com regarding the chassis found in Lucknow.

Quote

We seem to get an abundance of unidentified chassis these past few weeks. This one comes from Lucknow in India . This one seems like a very light chassis, made of tubes. It has quarter elliptics at rear and in our view a very fragile set-up at the front. With the chassis came a tiller but we do not know if the two belong together. Still, the tiller might provide a clue as there is a label with a maker’s name on it: “Donald Sessions Co. Ltd.” and “DWS”. Supposing the D and S stand for Donald Sessions, then what does the W mean? Who can help us identify this tubular chassis? (RB)

Update IV by Graeme Jarrett: “This is a modified Humberette cyclecar chassis circa 1912-14 which normally had a vee-twin engine - either air or water-cooled. The central coil spring between the front axle and chassis is a non-standard modification. The A-bars are missing from the front axle which makes it look flimsy and unsupported. Humberettes were known to have been exported to India and it does not surprise me that this one should emerge. It may have made more sense to the Cyclecar fraternity if it was photographed the right way up - shown upside down. The tiller (so -called) is not a part of this car fitted as standard.”
Update III: Joe Dwyer reports that Donald Sessions patented this jacking system and afterwards moved to Cork in Southern Ireland where he established the Crosshaven boatyard (Still in existence under different ownership.) Among other projects he intended to produce pedalos for the resort trade. Several of these were fitted with wheels and took part in a St Patrick's day Parade in Cork in the late fifties or early sixties!
Update II by Brendan Boyle: “Some large chassis in the mid thirties eg Rolls-Royce 20/25 had fitted jacks made by DWS. The handle was like a tiller and had, in the middle, a label like the one illustrated.”
Update I: David Manson suggests that the handle might work for a D.W.S. jacking system, which is much later in date than the chassis illustrated?

Unquote

Further to above Harit from Mumbai has an interesting photograph in pre war car .com of the actual car in the 70's and judging by the other cars at the site - in the same yard where the chassis was located.

[iraghava]

So Awini was partly right in his guess eh!

[Julian UK]

Having just seen this thread my 2 cents worth
The jacking system the handle comes from was fitted to most 1930s small Daimlers, small horsepower Rolls Royces (20/25 and 25/30, BRG 1 has it) and Derby Bentleys ( BRG 484 has it too). Lots had the jacking handle screwed to the bulkhead, some in the boot (sorry, the dickey)
Oddly enough, though the chassis isn't, The front and rear suspension are very similar to that of the good old Austin seven, quarter eliptics at the rear and the same linkage system at the front, though I think the central coil spring has been added afterwards.

Quote from prewar.com: Update II by Brendan Boyle: “Some large chassis in the mid thirties eg Rolls-Royce 20/25 had fitted jacks made by DWS.



20/25 a large chassis???!! It was the smallest!
Large? Think Phantom II, Massive.
Ahem!