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| Lot number | 7 |
|---|---|
| Hammer value | N/S (est. £900 - £1,200) |
| Description | Coventry Climax FW Godiva Portable Fire Pump Engine |
| Registration | N/A |
| Year | c.1952 |
| Colour | Aluminium |
| Engine No. | FWP4636 |
Founded in Coventry in 1903, Coventry-Simplex built engines for a wide range of light cars throughout the 1920s and 30s, becoming Coventry Climax in 1917.
In the 1930s they branched into water-pumping equipment and then into fire pumps and forklift trucks, ventures which proved so successful that they had more or less given up with car engines by the 1940s. In 1950 they won a lucrative government contract to develop a portable fire pump, their two chief engineers Harry Mundy (ex-ERA, Alvis and BRM) and Walter Hassan (ex-Bentley, Jaguar and ERA) coming up with a superb lightweight machine which could pump twice as much water as any rival product yet weighed less than half as much.
Called the FW (FeatherWeight), the all-alloy engine had the unique ability to run at virtually full throttle from cold without suffering any damage, and also had an extraordinarily high ‘horsepower per pound of weight’. Naturally this soon caught the attention of the racing fraternity, and at the urging of car designers Cyril Kieft and Colin Chapman, they decided to develop their fire pump into the FWA, a featherweight engine for automobiles.
A great success from the outset, Coventry Climax engines soon came to dominate Formula Two and by 1959 Jack Brabham was able to win the Formula One world championship in a Climax-powered Cooper. At the same time the company produced the FWE engine for Colin Chapman’s Lotus Elite and this too enjoyed considerable success in sports car racing, with a series of class wins at Le Mans in the early 1960s. Not bad for a humble fire pump!
This FW Godiva fire pump is in good condition all round and still retains its original carrying frame and instruments. We are told by the vendor that it has not been run for many years but still turns easily on the handle. Although it would need considerable modification to fit into a car, it could be a useful source of spares for a Lotus Elite owner and is also a fine item in its own right that will be of interest to any stationary engine enthusiast.
