The Lucas "Pedomatic"

Sir,

I was reminded by your recent letters about the “Startix” of another device which I have seen fitted to only two cars of the ‘thirties era—the Lanchester 10 and the Wolseley 9 —although there may have been others. This was the Lucas “Pedomatic”. The organ-type accelerator pedal was connected to a switchbox on the engine bulkhead which carried a lead to the starter-motor and a vacuum pipe to the manifold.

In the days before combined ignition/ starter switches, it was a great advantage to be able to leap in, turn the key, and depress the accelerator to start, the vacuum switch cutting off the starter current as soon as the engine fired! One thus had the use of both hands for gear selection, choke adjustment, etc., while restarting after a stall was just the reflex-action of a jab with the right foot.

In the 20 years of its life this gadget worked perfectly on a Wolseley I once owned, with no attention whatsoever—the only snag being the necessity to tell bewildered garage mechanics where the starter button wasn’t!

Wymondham R. J. Kellie