In 1975 or thereabouts, I owned a Lanchester "10" of 1947 vintage.
Although a quality car of it's time, such things as a heater were not standard!
the opening windscreen was useful on frosty mornings, peering , watery-eyed thriugh the resulting "gun slit" to make progress.
a party-trick with the Preselector, was to drive into a filling-station, stop, reverse, all without taking a hand off the steering-wheel
Daimler buses of the era were also fitted with the Wilson 'box - any attempt to move the selector -lever whilst the gear- change pedal (clutch -equivelent ) was depressed, was rewarded with a mule-kick from said pedal....the selector would need to be moved and the engagement-mechanism reset with a stout push on the pedal.....fine on the cars, but commercial drivers who survived this, without their upper-leg being broken on the underside of the steering -wheel, usually had to stand with both feet on the pedal and use the steering-wheel for a purchase to get the beggar re-latched.
A fascinating system, and though the fluid flywheel was
not a torque-multiplier, it did enable slippage so engine-revs would come up on the power-band. the 3-speed and reverse Epicyclic gearbox design is a clear relative of the modern auto-transmission.
Daimler, Lanchester and BSA cars (among others) all used the Wilson transmission and a thriving owners' club serves those three makes.
Frederick Lanchester was a brilliant engineer.
Thanks, Gents for these reminiscences which bring the past so alive.
I still chuckle at the thought of all those rotting poisoned birds!
