An image of Reid Railton with his parents depicted the engineer at the time of his decision, supported by Henry Spurrier III, to design and produce an automobile of his own conception.
In the midst of Britain’s post-war turmoil engineer Reid Railton was freshly out of a job at the beginning of 1923. So was his friend Henry Spurrier III, although he was still working at Leyland Motors but on a reduced salary. Born in June of 1898, Henry Spurrier “Junior” was three years less eight days younger than Reid Railton. “A great deal of both work and leisure time was spent in each other’s company,” wrote Hugh Tours. Spurrier and Railton, close in years, became life-long friends.
Unfinished business remained at Leyland. The company’s directors, wrote Miles Thomas in The Motor, “have come to the decision to investigate the question of the market for a small and cheap chassis suitable alternatively for a light car and a 10 to 15 cwt. van. It is intended at first to produce the chassis in very small numbers in the experimental shops of the company.”
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