Completed as a tribute to a beloved son taken too early, this unique Railton offers an intriguing insight into the short-lived marque
WORDS MICK WALSH PHOTOGRAPHY WILL WILLIAMS
Noel Macklin was a character I’d love to have met. Largely forgotten now, other than to owners of Invicta and Railton cars, Macklin packed his 60 years with a remarkable range of sporting endeavours, innovative design ideas and varied business ventures.
Born in Perth, Australia, to an Irish family, Macklin arrived in England aged 10 with a love for riding, but little academic drive. Early distractions included a pet lion, which he kept on a rooftop in Chelsea, and ice hockey played to international level until a smashed knee curtailed his career. A Malaysian rubber venture made Macklin a fortune, which funded horse-racing, film-making, big-game hunting and motorsport until WW1 changed everything. Concussed by a bomb blast on the Western Front, he was lucky to survive. Post-war, Macklin took up ballooning before moving into the motor industry with a sporty light car christened the Silver Hawk. From his Cobham home his interest grew with first Invicta and, after the Depression, Railton.
From 1925, encouraged and funded by his wealthy friend Philip Lyle, Macklin’s mission was to produce an automobile that required no gearchanges. After investigating steam, he took an unplanned sporty route with Meadows power and the rakish Invicta Low Chassis, but the idea returned with the 1933 launch of Railton.
Having given up movie-making, Macklin needed to fill the empty workshops on his estate with a new venture, and the key spark was the introduction to Britain of the Terraplane, a new model from Hudson’s Essex division with a powerful straight-eight. The development of single-gear drive was partially achieved by employing this smooth, torquey 4-litre sidevalve conceived for long, straight American highways. Macklin was impressed by the Terraplane’s build quality, refinement and performance, but not the American styling. He saw an opportunity for a quality car at a bargain price, launched under a new name and tailored to European tastes with a chrome radiator, lower ‘razoredge’ bonnet, better electrics, improved suspension and traditional English coachwork.
The smooth-talking opportunist was well known among the Brooklands set and managed to engage Reid Railton in the new business. For a royalty on each car, the brilliant engineer even allowed his name to be used. Macklin also talked wealthy aviator and racer Richard Shuttleworth into investing a £10,000 third share to kick-start prototype development. How involv
