About Lea-Francis
Lea-Francis was a motor manufacturing company that began life building bicycles.
Richard Henry Lea and Graham Ingoldsby Francis started the business in Coventry in 1895.
They branched out into car manufacture in 1903 and motor cycles in 1911. Lea-Francis built cars, under licence, for the Singer company. In 1919 they started to build their own cars from bought in components.
From 1922 Lea-Francis had a tie up with Vulcan of Southport sharing manufacturing and dealers. Vulcan supplied bodies to Lea-Francis and in return got gearboxes and steering gear. The association finished in 1928 when Vulcan stopped making cars.
