Invicta 2½ Litre History

The first Invicta, launched in 1925, used a Meadows overhead-valve straight-six of 2½ litres mounted in a chassis with semi-elliptic springs all round, priced from £595. Noel Macklin's design philosophy was simple: cars should combine genuine sporting performance with the flexibility to pull from walking pace in top gear, eliminating constant gear-changing.

The engine was enlarged to 3 litres in 1926, strengthening performance further. The cars were sold as the SC (small chassis, 9-foot-4-inch wheelbase) and LC (large chassis, 10-foot wheelbase) variants. By the time production finished in 1929, approximately 200 had been made.

An early highlight was Violette Cordery's victory in the half-mile sprint at Brooklands in 1925, followed by a string of long-distance endurance records at Monza and Linas-Montlhéry in 1926–27, earning Invicta the Dewar Trophy — first-class advertising for a new marque.