Invicta - The History Of The Marque | Part Two

Later models were fitted with 3-litre and 4.5-litre engines. This 4.5 engine had such enormous reserves of torque that drivers could select top gear (4th) at just 6 mph and accelerate cleanly and rapidly all the way to its 90 mph plus, top speed.

Disregarding vehicle cost, Macklin insisted that the quality of Invicta cars should match Rolls-Royce and their performance should challenge Bentley.

Early in the marque’s life, Macklin was confident that those two goals had been met, so the Invicta became the only other British car to have a three-year chassis guarantee – just like Rolls-Royce – and to highlight the car’s remarkable combination of performance and durability, a series of endurance runs was undertaken.

Miss Violet Cordery (Macklin’s sister-in-law) was a talented and tenacious driver. Piloting an Invicta she set record-breaking performances in Britain, France, Italy and around the world. In Paris, her 3-litre Invicta averaged 70.7 mph during an RAC-observed 5,000 mile endurance run. In Italy, she broke four world and 33 Italian records at Monza. In 1927 she made a round-the-world trip at an average speed of 25 mph. With her sister Evelyn, she covered 30,000 miles in 30,000 minutes (averaging 61.57 mph for almost 21 days) driving a standard 4.5-litre Invicta tourer at Brooklands in 1928.

The public began to lose interest in endurance runs and Macklin knew that Invicta had to compete on the race track and in rallying. It did both with considerable success. Standing in for the scheduled driver at the last minute, motoring writer Tommy Wisdom completed 30 laps of the 13.75 miles road-racing circuit at Ards in Northern Ireland to win his class in the 1931 running of the famous Tourist Trophy race at an average speed of 70.04 mph.

"At the 1930 Olympia Show a considerable sensation was caused by the latest low-chassis 4.5 sports model, one of the most striking cars exhibited and something to make the sportsman’s mouth water."