Scott Sociable

Alfred Angas Scott was born in Manningham, Bradford, in 1874 or 1875; the sources differ by a year.source 1source 2 He studied engineering at Abbotsholme School in Uttoxeter, served an apprenticeship in steam marine engineering, and became the pioneer of the water-cooled two-stroke motorcycle. Along the way he patented an early calliper brake in 1897, triangulated frames, rotary induction valves and unit construction.source 1source 2 His slogan of 1909 was “two-stroke, two-speed and two cylinders”.source 2 The Scott Engineering Company of Bradford moved to Saltaire as the Scott Motor Cycle Company, and Scott machines won the Isle of Man TT in 1912 and 1913.source 1 The Engineer’s obituary says that Scott won both races himself; it was his motorcycles that won them.source 1

A gun on three wheels

In 1915, with Britain at war, Scott turned his mind to weapons.

An order for 300 of the gun outfits followed, but technical problems kept them out of service.source 2 From those sidecar gun carriers Scott developed a three-wheeled gun car for the army. The orders never came, so he made it a civilian car, and in 1916 it was announced as the Sociable.source 3source 4 Grace’s Guide, captioning the car at Mulhouse, says it was made to carry cannon; the other accounts all say machine guns, which fits what Scott had demonstrated.source 4source 3source 1

Wartime restrictions held production back until 1921.source 3 By then Scott had sold his shares in the motorcycle company, and the car was built by the Scott Autocar Company, which he formed for it, at Clayton Road, Lidget Green, in Bradford.source 3source 4source 2

Lopsided by design

The Sociable kept the bones of a motorcycle and sidecar. A front wheel and a rear wheel ran in line, as on a motorcycle, and a third wheel was set alongside the rear one, where a sidecar’s wheel would be. All three hung on a triangulated frame of tubular steel.source 3 The engine was Scott’s own water-cooled 578 cc two-stroke twin, driving the offside rear wheel by shaft through a three-speed gearbox with no reverse.source 3source 2 The steering, unlike the frame, came from the car world: rack and pinion.source 3 The two seats sat side by side, and the car Mulhouse shows is a two-seater cabriolet with a hood.source 4 It is counted among the cyclecars of the early 1920s, and it is one of the odder three-wheelers. It was nicknamed “The Crab”.source 2

The brakes were its weak point. They worked on the rear wheels only, and separately: a hand lever braked the driven wheel, a pedal the other. Stopping hard at speed was dangerous.source 3 No period road test has been found, and no figures for the car’s size, weight, power or speed. Timothy Jacobs later put it in his book Lemons: The World’s Worst Cars.source 3

Price cuts, and the end

The Sociable cost £273 in 1921. By 1924 the price had come down to £135.source 3 Scott did not see the end of it. He died of pneumonia on 11 August 1923, aged 48, and in October that year the motoring press was still listing Sociable models, prices and specifications.source 4source 1source 2 Production ended at about 200 cars, in 1924 by English Wikipedia’s account and in 1925 by Grace’s Guide and The Classic MotorCycle.source 3source 4source 2 It is not to be confused with the AC Sociable.

Sociables survive in museums. The Bradford Industrial Museum, in the city where the cars were built, has one that Grace’s Guide dates to 1919 and describes as designed as a gun car for the First World War. The Cité de l’Automobile, the national motor museum at Mulhouse in France, has a 1923 two-seater cabriolet.source 4 How many survive is not known, and no recent auction result was confirmed.