David Napier, second son of the blacksmith to the Duke of Argyll, was born in 1785. While cousins became shipbuilders, he took engineering training in Scotland founded the company in Lloyds Court, St Giles, London, in 1808. He designed a steam-powered printing press, some of which went to Hansard (The printer and publisher of proceedings of the Houses of Parliament), as well as newspapers. They moved to Lambeth, South London in 1830.
Between 1840 and 1860, Napier was prosperous, with a well-outfitted factory and between 200 and 300 workers. Napier made a wide variety of products, including a centrifuge for sugar manufacturing, lathes and drills, ammunition-making equipment for the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and railway cranes. David's younger son James, born 1823, joined the firm in 1837, succeeding him as head of the firm in 1867, and after his father's death in 1873, specialised in beautifully crafted precision machinery for making coins and printing stamps and banknotes. James proved an excellent engineer, but a poor businessman, considering salesmanship undignified. It became so bad, there were as few as seven employees in 1895, and James attempted to sell the business, but failed.
James' son Montague, born 1870, inherited the business in 1895, along with his father's engineering talents. Montague was a hobby racing cyclist, and at the Bath Road Club, he met "ebullient Australian" S. F. Edge (then a manager at Dunlop Rubber and colleague of H. J. Lawson in London, and amateur racer of motor tricycles.) Edge persuaded Montague to improve his Panhard ("Old Number 8", which had won the 1896 Paris-Marseilles-Paris), converting to wheel steering from tiller and improving the oiling.
Dissatisfied, Napier offered to fit an engine of his own design, an 8 hp (6 kW) vertical twin, with electric ignition, superior to the Panhard's hot tube type. Edge was sufficiently impressed to encourage Napier to make his own car, collaborating with Harvey du Cros, his former boss at Dunlop, to form Motor Power Company, based in London, agreeing to buy Napier's entire output. The first of an initial order of six, three each two-cylinder (8 hp) and four-cylinder (16 hp), all with aluminium bodies by Mulliners (Northampton) and chain drive, was delivered 31 March 1900; Edge paid £400 and sold at £500.
In 1912, following a dispute with Edge, Napier bought Edge's distribution and sales company and production rose to around 700 cars a year with many supplied to the London taxi trade. That year, only six models were produced. The last Napier car was designed by A. J. Rowledge, who also designed the Lion (and who went to Rolls in 1921), a 40/50 hp (30/37 kW) 377 cu in (6177 cm³) (102×127 mm, 4×5″) alloy six with detachable cylinder head, single overhead camshaft, seven-bearing crankshaft, dual magneto and coil ignition, dual plugs, and Napier-SU carburettor; it was bodied by Cunard, then a subsidiary. 187 were built in all by 1924, and Napier quit car production with a total of 4258 built.
Outside the racing program, Napier also gained notoriety in 1904 by being the first car to cross the Canadian Rockies, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Glidden (sponsors of the Glidden Tours) covering 3,536 mi (5690 km) from Boston to Vancouver.
Racing
Recognising the value of publicity gained from auto racing, which no other British marque did, in spring, Edge entered an 8 hp (6kW) Napier in the Thousand Miles (1600 km) Trial of the Automobile Club on behalf of Edward Kennard; driven by Edge, with Kennard along, on a circuit from Newbury to Edinburgh and back, she won her class, being one of only thirty-five finishers (of sixty-four starters)and one of just twelve to average the requisite 12 mph (19 km/h) in England and 10 mph (16 km/h) in Scotland.
By June 1900, eight "16 hp"s had been ordered, and Edge entered one in the 837 mi (1350 km) Paris-Toulouse-Paris, with Rt. Hon. Charles S. Rolls (later of Rolls-Royce) as riding mechanic. The 301.6 cu in (4.94 L) (101.6×152.4 mm, 4x6") sidevalve suffered problems with her ignition coils and cooling system, and failed to finish.For 1901, Montague designed a car sure not to lack speed, having a 16.3 liter (995.5 cu in) (165.1×190.5 mm, 6.5×7.5") sidevalve four capable of 103 bhp (77 kW) at 800 rpm, on a wheelbase of 115 inches (2921 mm)with four speed gearbox and chain drive. Called the 50 hp (37 kW), only two or three were completed, including one for Rolls. Edge entered one in the 1901 Gordon Bennett Cup, only able to test it en route (it was completed 25 May, only four days before the event), Montague serving as his riding mechanic; she overpowered her Dunlops, and fitting new (French) rubber led to disqualification, since they were not of the same nation of origin. In the concurrent Paris-Bordeaux rally, she retired with clutch trouble.
For the 1902 Gordon Bennett, Girardot (CGV), Fournier (Mors), and René de Knyff (Panhard) contested for France, leaving Edge's Napier the sole British entrant. This was a three-speed, shaft-drive 6.44 litre (392.7 cu in) four (127×127 mm, 5x5") of 44.5 hp (33 kW) (though described as a 30 hp). Piloted by Edge and his cousin, Cecil, she wore what would become known as British racing green, and won at an average 31.8 mph (51.2 km/h) (though by default, since the French entrants all fell out). It was the first British victory in international motorsport, and would not be repeated until Henry Seagrave took the French Grand Prix in 1923.
Napiers also inspired Charles J. Glidden to create the Glidden Tours in upstate New York, which in turn persuaded Napier to build a factory in Boston. It, along with the Genoa factory (managed by Arthur McDonald), which built Napiers under licence as San Giorgios from 1906-9, was not a success.
Production reached 250 cars in 1903, overwhelming the Lambeth factory, so a move was made to a new 3.75 acre (1.5 ha) plant at Acton, north west London. On 16 October that year, Napier announced a six-cylinder car for 1904, and became the first to make a commercially successful six, a "remarkably smooth and flexible" 18 hp (13kW) 301 cu in (4.9 liter) (101.6×101.6, 4×4″) with three-speed gearbox and chain drive. Within five years, there were 62 makers of six-cylinder cars in Britain alone, including Ford's 1906 Model K.
Napier's 1902 win brought the Gordon Bennett hosting duties to Britain, and the 1903 event was held south of Dublin, with three shaft-driven Napiers defending British honour, all in the (later famous) green: a brace of 470 cu in (7708 cm³) 45 hp (33.5kW) fours of Charles Jarrott and J. W. Stocks (with McDonald, the Genoa plant manager, his riding mechanic), and an 80 hp (838 cu in, 13,726 cm³), the Type K5, of Edge; Jarrott and Stocks wrecked, while Edge was disqualified for receiving outside assistance (onlookers helped throw buckets of water over the wheels to cool the tyres). It was a bad year for Napier's racing program; a 35 hp (26kW) in the hands of Lt. Col. Mark Mayhew in the Paris-Madrid rally lost its steering hit a tree. Edge (again with McDonald) fared no better with the K5 in the 1904 Gordon Bennett in Germany, but a new 920 cu in (15 litre; 158.7×127 mm, 6.25×5″) six, the L48, with an external radiator reminiscent of the Cord 810, set the fastest time at the Velvet Strand speed trials at Portmarnock, Ireland, in September, piloted by McDonald.
In January 1905, the L48, again with McDonald in the seat, took the mile (1.6 km) record at Ormonde Beach at 104.65 mph (168.41 km/h); though shortly broken by Bowden's Mercedes, this run was later disallowed. The versatile McDonald ran the L48 in the 1905 Gordon Bennett qualifying event at the Isle of Man, taken over for the race by works driver Clifford Earp, who placed ninth.
Edge's secretary, Dorothy Levitt, drove a 100 hp (74.6 kW) development of the K5 at the Blackpool and Brighton Speed Trials in 1905, and the next year, ran the L48 at the Blackpool Speed Trials, showing talent by equalling Edge's speed and setting a women's record in the flying kilometer of 90.88 mph (146.25 km/h).
By 1907, 1200 people were employed and were making about 100 cars a year. They were aided by continuing racing success. Brooklands opened that year, where Napier engineer H.C. Tryon won the first ever event in a 40 hp (30 kW), and Edge made a famous 24-hour run in June, covering 1,581 miles (2544km)[19] at an average 65.905 mph (106.06 km/h) in a 60 hp (44.7kW) 589 cu in (9,652 cm³) (127×127 mm, 5×5″) six, a record which stood 18 years. The L48, nicknamed Samson, became famous there in the venue's first two years; in 1908, Napier's Frank Newton turned a half-mile (800 m) at 119.34 mph (190.05 km/h) in a stroked (178 mm, 7″) L48.
The company's last race win was a four-cylinder at the 1908 Tourist Trophy under an alias, Hutton, to preserve the reputation of the sixes, in the hands of Willy Watson, while at the French Grand Prix, officials showed the perverse reasoning for which they became notorious, claiming removable wire wheels were an unfair advantage.
Napier expanded into marine engines as well, their 1905 boat Napier II setting the world water speed record for a mile at almost 30 knots (56 km/h).
Also, while Napier was no longer in racing, their Lion aeroengine was used by several land speed record contestants: Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird IV of 1927 and Bluebird VII of 1931, Seagrave's Golden Arrow of 1929, and John Cobb's Napier-Railton and Railton Mobil Special, which held the record from 1939-1964.
