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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car - quite a lot of wood

Name: Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car 1951
Brand: Lea-Francis

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Created on May 24, 2020

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

Archiv

Daniel Reinhard

Archiv

Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - with upright radiator grille, but already with integrated headlights

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - two Woodies in front of a wooden house - in the background a 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - on the road in an early estate car

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - two station wagons from two countries, a 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster in the back

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - rather angular rear end

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - the Lea-Francis looks slimmer than its American brother Chevrolet Fleetmaster

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - when woodworking companies were still building car bodies

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - is it about to overtake?

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - good all-round visibility, relatively compact dimensions

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - rare encounter

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - Wood as a theme

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - wood became car bodies, with all the advantages and disadvantages

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - real woodwork, LF together with Chevrolet Fleetmaster from 1948

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - will it ever become a body? Probably not ...

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - parallels and differences - the LF has a four-cylinder engine, the 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster has a six-cylinder engine

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - from 1950 the 14 HP estate car models also had integrated headlights

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - cannot deny its pre-war affinity

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - Wood on the car, wood on the house facade

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - seen through a 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - six doors

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - two large gullwing doors at the rear

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - the open swing doors give access to a large trunk

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - Driver's workplace

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - large spring-spoke steering wheel

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - a clock is on board, a rev counter is not

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - speedometer up to 100 miles per hour, but it really didn't run 160 km/h

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - Control center

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - four gears, the top three are synchronized

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - leather-covered seats

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - Bodywork from the wood specialist

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - the camshafts are positioned high on both sides of the engine and allow overhead valves

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - Four-cylinder in-line engine, longitudinally mounted

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - the covers do not conceal the camshafts, but only the valve mechanism

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - trademark on the radiator grille

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - the front doors open backwards

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - even the rear doors are lockable

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - external hinges

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - Combination of wood and sheet steel

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - fuel filler neck integrated in the rear fender

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - Door opener like on a piece of furniture

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - LF initials on the wheel covers

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - Door locks from the cabinet maker?

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Four Light Saloon (1947) - the saloon with two side windows each

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Four Light Saloon (1953) - the variant with two side windows each

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Lea-Francis 14 hp Saloon (1946) - View through the car (see-through drawing)

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Lea-Francis 14 HP (1950) - Illustrations from the operating instructions

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - as a station wagon

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - Gullwing doors at the rear

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - good use of space

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Westland Coupe (1949) - with two-door bodywork

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Lea-Francis 18 HP (1949) - at the London Motor Show 1949

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Lea-Francis 18 HP (1949) - taken at the London Motor Show 1949

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Lea-Francis 18 HP Six Light Saloon (1953) - the saloon with three side windows and the 2.5-liter engine

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Lea-Francis 18 HP (1949) - with larger engine and independent front suspension

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Lea-Francis 14 HP (1951) - the independent front suspension (from 1949)

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Lea-Francis 18 HP (1949) - view into the engine (see-through drawing), the engine of the 14 HP was of similar design, but there are small differences

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Lea-Francis 18 HP (1949) - the new 2.5-liter engine

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Lea-Francis 14 HP Estate Car (1951) - I wonder how many trees it took to make one body?

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Summary

The Lea-Francis brand was once one of the famous British car manufacturers, but the proud company almost went under before the Second World War. After the war, however, new models were introduced early on and the 14 HP was also offered as an estate car. A good quarter of production left the factory with six doors, and today there are only a few survivors. This vehicle report is about one of the rare "Woodies" from Lea-Francis and shows it in current and historical pictures as well as in the sales literature of the time.

This article contains the following chapters

A new start after the war
Improved engine
New gearbox
Optimized chassis
Independent saloon construction
Exceptionally roadworthy
The estate version
Modernization in 1949
Rustic
A comparison of the 12/14 HP models

Estimated reading time: 7min

Preview (beginning of the article)

The era of the car manufacturer Lea-Francis actually came to an end in 1937, as everything was lacking and production had been stopped. But two car enthusiasts named George Leek and Hugh Rose with a shared history at Sunbeam and Riley bought the rights to the name and took over the entire inventory of design plans from almost 20 years of automobile production. And they immediately began developing a new car under the company name "Lea-Francis Engineering", which they named "Twelve" (1496 cm3) and "Fourteen" (1629 cm3) in reference to the engine size. Based on Riley's experience, the previous four-cylinder engine was modified with two high side camshafts and, with 48 or 53 bhp, offered quite competitive performance values. The bodies came from various coachbuilders.

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