Topic: Solved -PJ731- Earl Cyclecar by Herrtage, Holyoake and Co, 1920

[Paul Jaray]

What is this?
I have maker, model and nationality but I suspect they are wrong.
1 point for them or/and  for the correct ID.

[Paul Jaray]

Time to move it?

[Paul Jaray]

Pros?

[ropat53]

Earl cyclecar made in England, I found it in a February 1920 magazine so I imagine it was made in 1919.

[ropat53]

Made by : Herrtage, Holyoake and Co.,of 127-128,. Fleet Street, London, E.C. 4,

[Paul Jaray]

I'm sure you got it right! I'll check it as soon as possible.

[Paul Jaray]

Finally...you found the name I have.
I have 4 makers named Earl, but not this.
It's not reported in any of the books I have and I just took a new book about Cyclecars to check there too...there is not.
Is there anything more about this Earl? I just know it was possible to convert it as a biplace.
Herrtage, Holyoake and Co apparently closed down in 1921.

[ropat53]

I found the puzzle car online at the well known Austrian Automobil magazine, there's a whole page about it, but I find reading German next to impossible, so I have no idea what it says.

[Paul Jaray]

Don't worry, I do not want you to translate it.
My question is: this Earl Cyclecar was featured in different magazines of the time. I took my picture from a French magazine and yours is from Austria. Both articles contain different cyclecars and this one is the only one not reported in any other book...and I'm talking about books about British cars (Culshaw/Horrobin), British cars of those years (Baldwin), books about Cyclecars (Caunter or Worthington/Williams) and of course not a single encyclopedia (Georgano, Beaulieu, Burgess Wise) and so on.
Is it possible that this car was shown at Olympia and was featured only in few foreign newspapers and not a single book?
I have the feeling that is not possible and probably those magazines (that shows the same drawings) just copied and pasted the same info. I also tried to look for similar cyclecars but couldn't find anything like this.
I had also the idea it was the product of a foreign market (American?) but no luck there too.
Your idea?

[Paul Jaray]

I really would like to know if I'm the only one with this doubt.
Could this be a cyclecar like hundreds more out there, but the only one that eluded each and every book & encyclopedia?
Stanleigh Eric Herrtage had at least 3 different companies in 3 years.
The Earl cyclecar and those web nuts are the only product I found, so far.

[Arunas]

Hi!

This is my very doubtful version which more a guess, than something serious.

Could it be, that the company Herrtage, Holyoake and Co. presented only their products - "web nuts" - at Olympia show? "Eric" could have been just a set of drawings to demonstrate application of these tech components they made at the time. Really, if the company has never made any car, why it should be on some encyclopedia? Why its "Eric" is in two foreign magazines but not on any British magazines which would of course, I think, describe their car in at least some sentences. As we see British sources tell us only about products, not cars.

So, to sum up, I have doubts that this Eric cyclecar was ever made in any physical form. Otherwise, if it really was, it would be a strange phantom car completely missed in the history of cyclecars.

[Paul Jaray]

Hi!

This is my very doubtful version which more a guess, than something serious.

Could it be, that the company Herrtage, Holyoake and Co. presented only their products - "web nuts" - at Olympia show? "Eric" could have been just a set of drawings to demonstrate application of these tech components they made at the time. Really, if the company has never made any car, why it should be on some encyclopedia? Why its "Eric" is in two foreign magazines but not on any British magazines which would of course, I think, describe their car in at least some sentences. As we see British sources tell us only about products, not cars.

So, to sum up, I have doubts that this Eric cyclecar was ever made in any physical form. Otherwise, if it really was, it would be a strange phantom car completely missed in the history of cyclecars.

I think that is an interesting theory, and probably they actually built just that example to presents their ...nuts.
I hope there will be other input too, or I'll move it to the solved section next week.

[barrett]

I really would like to know if I'm the only one with this doubt.
Could this be a cyclecar like hundreds more out there, but the only one that eluded each and every book & encyclopedia?
Stanleigh Eric Herrtage had at least 3 different companies in 3 years.
The Earl cyclecar and those web nuts are the only product I found, so far.

I think there are many, many cars - especially cyclecars - that are not in any book. Mike Worthington-Williams has his own, handmade 'encyclopaedia' of makes that do not feature in any of the other books - from what I've seen of it, it's in the hundreds...!

[Paul Jaray]

I really would like to know if I'm the only one with this doubt.
Could this be a cyclecar like hundreds more out there, but the only one that eluded each and every book & encyclopedia?
Stanleigh Eric Herrtage had at least 3 different companies in 3 years.
The Earl cyclecar and those web nuts are the only product I found, so far.

I think there are many, many cars - especially cyclecars - that are not in any book. Mike Worthington-Williams has his own, handmade 'encyclopaedia' of makes that do not feature in any of the other books - from what I've seen of it, it's in the hundreds...!

Thank you Barrett...probably that is the case.
Time to move it and award the point.