1913 Lady’s Grande Premier No. 2
The Premier Cycle Co changed its name to Coventry Premier Ltd in 1914, so this 1913 Lady’s Grande Premier is one of the last to bear the original company name. It has a 24 inch frame, cottered bottom bracket, full chain case and 17 inch handlebars.
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PREMIER HISTORY
The company can trace its origins back to 1876 when the Hillman and Herbert company was founded as bicycle makers. William Hillman went on to set up his own Hillman car company in 1907.
Hillman and Herbert changed its name to the Premier Cycle Company in 1892 and, by 1896, the company was the largest cycle manufacturer in the world, with an output of 20,000 units per year.
Up to this time, Coventry had been the centre of bicycle production. Soon after, though, the boom in bicycle market was followed by recession, and Birmingham took over as Great Britain’s bicycle manufacturing centre.
Premier introduced its first motorcycle in 1908. It had a White & Poppe side valve engine and Chater-Lea front forks. The company made their first V-twin in 1909, followed by a 499cc single cylinder machine in 1910, and a cyclecar in 1912: this had a 998 cc air cooled V-twin engine and chain drive to the rear axle. A proper light car designed by the works manager G.W.A. Brown, who had been with Talbot, was added in 1914 with four cylinder engine of 1592 cc and shaft drive.
The company changed its name from Premier to Coventry Premier Ltd in November 1914. Testing of the 4 cylinder car continued during the war but when peacetime production restarted in 1919 it did not appear. Brown had moved to Arrol-Johnston in 1917. Instead the company launched the 8 hp Super Runabout two seat, three wheeled cyclecar with 1056 cc, water cooled, V twin engine, shaft drive to a rear mounted gearbox and chain drive to the rear wheels. Motorcycle production was not resumed after WW1 (although Premier motorcycles were produced under licence in Czechoslovaki throughout the 1930s).
In 1921 Coventry Premier was bought by Singer and the three wheeler was replaced by a four wheeled version using the same engine but now having the gearbox combined with the rear axle eliminating the chain drive. In 1923 the badge appeared on a basic version of the Singer Ten. About 500 three wheel and 1200 four wheeled cars were made.
The name was no longer used on cars from 1924 but bicycle making continued for a few more years.
“Ask your cycling friends what they think of the Premier”
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I’ve identified the model name of this Premier on the basis of the distinctive chain case. It is the only model in the catalogues that has this particular style. Compare the catalogue picture above (which I’ve taken from the 1908 catalogue) with the photo above that.
The 1907 catalogue contains some interesting insight into the company…
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1918 Premier
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1919 Premier
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1920 Premier
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