Emery Engines - I

Your absorbing article “The Cars of Paul Emery” bears witness to the remarkably inventive talent of Paul Emery. I have always felt that his outstanding contribution was the series of FWD Formula 3 500 cc cars in the early 1950s. These were technically much more interesting than the established Cooper and Cooper-derived designs that dominated racing at the time. The 50 degree vee twin 500 cc engine used was not in fact built by Emery himself from two 250 cc JAP cylinders as suggested in your article. The power unit was one of J. A. Prestwich’s least successful productions. This engine was built for the 1930 Senior Motorcycle TT races and was used in the Cotton team entry, all three of which retired. The 500 cc vee twin JAP was used in one or two other motorcycles (including a lone Brough Superior) before fading from view.

Although so very few examples of this car were produced and although they all look superficially similar, there are in fact a number of fundamental technical differences between the prototype and the last models produced. They all, however, in my view represent the genius of Paul Emery at its highest flowering.

R. F. Read

Olney, Bucks