The story
History
Opperman had cut gears since 1862, when it was founded as Opperman Sons & Taskers. As S. E. Opperman Ltd, from 1934, it made aircraft components (see aircraft makers), and before the war it built the 60 hp Walter Mikron aero engine under licence.source 1source 2 In 1942 it built the prototype of the Scorpion, an eight-wheeled amphibious scout car, and from 1946 to 1958 it made the Motocart, a tractor that ran on a single big wheel.source 1 Then, says the Weiner museum, it saw how well the Bond Minicar was selling and decided to build a small car of its own.source 3
Motor Sport said in 1958 that the design had been laid down, inevitably, by Laurie Bond
, and developed over 56,000 km (35,000 miles) of testing; RM’s catalogue credits either Bond or George Trolley (see the designers).source 4source 5 The Unicar was shown at the London Motor Show in October 1956, and was the cheapest car there.source 3source 5 Motor Sport wrote two years later that it was making its first appearance at the show, perhaps because it had been outside the main hall in 1956; the record does not say.source 6
A saloon in miniature
It looked like a larger saloon scaled down.source 3 The body was a two-door glass-fibre saloon on a glass-fibre platform with bonded metal side members, with rear-hinged doors and sliding windows.source 4 Neither the bonnet nor the boot opened: the spare wheel lived under the dashboard and came out through the passenger door, and the spark plugs were changed from inside the car through a hatch.source 3source 4 Two adults sat on a bench, and two small infants’ seats flanked the engine cover behind them.source 3source 4
The engine sat across the car at the back, almost amidships, and drove by chains to a solid rear axle with no differential. To make that work the rear track was 12 inches narrower than the front, which was done by fitting the rear wheels inside out; some dealers turned them the “right” way round, and the tyres scrubbed.source 4 The first version, the Model A, had a 322 cc British Anzani twin. The Model T used Excelsior’s 328 cc Talisman Twin, giving 18 bhp at 5,000 rpm, and the T stood for Talisman, not, Motor Sport insisted, for Ford.source 4source 5
In June 1958 it cost £399 10s, or £427 17s as a De Luxe, and it was also sold as a kit, which avoided purchase tax.source 4source 3source 5 Motor Sport called it the least expensive true four-wheeler on the British market. That was also its weakness: as a four-wheeler it paid full road tax, while its three-wheeled rivals paid less.source 4source 3source 5
A modern cyclecar
Bill Boddy drove one for more than 800 km (500 miles) for Motor Sport, and placed it in a long line.source 4
It is fair to describe the Unicar as a modern cyclecar, descendant of the Bedelias, Rollos and G.N.s which proved commendably economical, if not particularly reliable.
He meant the cyclecars, the Bédélia and the GN among them. On a three-hour run to Peterborough the Unicar averaged 64 km/h (40 mph) and time and again passed and out-accelerated ordinary cars. It cornered flat and steered accurately, though it would oversteer when pushed; the ride was hard, the car wandered, and the brakes were just adequate. The gear change, Boddy thought, would delight an enthusiast. Driven fast, it was so loud that he suggested ear-plugs or Anadin be supplied with it.source 4 He listed the faults, crude trim, sharp edges, a cracked door pull and no fuel gauge, and concluded that it was worth considering as a second car or for the shopping, and that Opperman’s initiative deserved support.source 4 Seven years later he remembered it less fondly: he would not care to drive one any great distance, and it had done 53 mpg against the 75 claimed.source 7
The end
At Earls Court in October 1958 the Unicar stood unchanged beside a new and larger coupé, the Opperman Stirling.source 6source 8 In 1959 Opperman was bought by E. V. Industrials, which had no interest in cars, and car making stopped.source 1source 2 About 200 Unicars had been built.source 3source 5
