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Ariel was a British Bicycle , Motorcycle and Automobile Marque manufactured in Birmingham . HISTORY Ariel was established by James Starley and William Hillman in 1870. The first products were Penny-farthing bicycles under the Ariel name. In 1885 Starley invented the Rover Safety Bicycle - a rear-wheel-drive, Chain-driven bicycle with two similar-sized wheels, which is essentially the same design still used on bicycles today. By 1896 they had started on motorised transports. The first Ariel Tricycle was used a 2.25 hp De Dion engine mounted at the rear. More Tricycles and Quadricycles were produced and Ariel then moved into car production. Cars were produced over two periods: from 1900 to 1915 , and again from 1922 to 1925 . The first Ariel car was a 10 Hp (7.5 KW ) Twin-cylinder car produced in 1902 . In 1903 , their first Four-cylinder was a 16 hp (11.9 kW) model. Both these vehicles had a leather Cone Clutch that entirely separate from the Flywheel . A Six-cylinder model, built on a seemingly inadequate Tube-frame Chassis , entered production early in 1904 . An entirely new range was announced at the end of 1905 ; called the "Aero-Simplex", these cars were Mercedes -inspired four-cylinder designs of 15 hp (11.2 kW) and 25/30 hp (18.6/22.4 kW) and a six of 35/40 hp (26/30 kW). In 1907 - 08 the company began production of the monstrous 50/60 hp (37/45 kW) six, which offered an engine of 15.9 litres for a Chassis price of £950. In 1907 Ariel sold its Bournbrook , Birmingham factory to the British Lorraine-Dietrich , and thereafter assembled its cars at the Coventry Ordnance Works . Production of a 1.3 litre Light Car was quashed by the outbreak of World War I . After 1918 the company tried one last, abortive attempt to cash in on the Small Car market; the Ariel Nine featured a Flat-twin Air-cooled engine, and was built by A. Harper Sons and Bean . In 1944 Ariel became part of the BSA Group . In the 1960's, to the dismay of some stalwart traditional motorcyclists, Ariel suddenly dropped the whole of its four-stroke engine range and produced basically two models, the two-stroke engined Arrow and Leader models. These engines, completely new to Ariel, were, in fact, copies of the pre-war German Adler models. The designs had been claimed by the Allies as part of war reparations after WW2 in a similar way in which BSA used the German DKW design for their famous Bantam models. To give Ariel credit, the Arrow and Leader models were at least an attempt to bring the company up to date having recognised the threat from the new Japanese imports. The last Ariel was in the 1970s, the "Ariel 3", was a 3-wheeler 50cc 2-stroke Moped different from other mopeds at the time not just for having 3-wheels but because it was a tilting vehicle. The front half of the moped was hinged to the rear and so it could tilt into corners whilst keeping all 3-wheels on the ground. Production of the Ariel 3 was short and the moped was dropped along with the Ariel name shortly afterwards. FAMOUS MODELS
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