It is ironic that the best and most handsome of all Armstrong-Siddeley saloons was also the last car it ever made. In the UK, the market for large, middle class machines was increasingly dominated by Jaguar, and though the Sapphire and Star Sapphire types had fine engines and attractive styles, they could not compete on price.
From the 1920s to the 1950s, Armstrong-Siddeley had built a series of well engineered, dignified, but essentially mainstream middle class cars. Then, buoyed up by the profits from their successful aero-engine business, they invested in a new and more advanced range of cars, the Sapphire.
This car had a separate chassis frame and would retain the pre-selector type of transmission for which the marque was noted, but there were two other major innovations. One was that Armstrong-Siddeley elected to assemble their own smart new four-door body shells, and the other was that they designed a new six-cylinder engine, with part-spherical combustion chambers and complex valve gear. The Sapphire of 1953, originally with its 125 bhp/3.4-litre six-cylinder engine, could reach more than 90 mph, and went on sale for £1,728, intending to capture sales in the Jaguar Mk VII market sector. Complete with its noble radiator shell and emblem, and elegant four-door styling, it was a fine machine. With the 150 bhp engine which was also available, it could just reach the magic 100 mph mark. |
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Right from the start, however, the Sapphire had to face formidable competition, not only from Jaguar, but from Alvis and Daimler. Easier availability, lower prices and a bit more performance would all have helped, but Armstrong-Siddeley’s Coventry factory was not capable of mass production, and the Sapphire became rather an exclusive car.
A massive limousine version was soon made available, but it was the much-improved Star Sapphire, built from 1958 to 1960, which was the star of this range. Looking like, but not identical, to the original car, the ‘Star’ had a 165 bhp/ 4-litre version of the engine, Borg Warner automatic transmission, power-assisted steering and front wheel disc brakes, in what was a very appealing package.
The price of this most comprehensively equipped car, unhappily, had shot up to £2,646, which was too costly to sustain high sales, and although it was a nicely-built, well equipped and very capable saloon, demand slowly ebbed away. Rootes, in the meantime, had copied the engine for a new Humber Super Snipe, in return for letting Armstrong-Siddeley build Sunbeam Alpine sports cars.
In 1960 Armstrong-Siddeley decided to concentrate on making aircraft engines, and pulled out of the car business completely. Between 1953 and 1960, 8,568 cars in this family were produced.
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