Richard Henry Lea and Graham Francis founded Lea-Francis in Coventry in 1895 to make bicycles, and began building cars in 1903. The company’s cars and motorcycles earned a reputation for quality, and in the 1920s it built well-engineered light cars and sports cars.
The Hyper, the first British supercharged production car, made the marque’s name when one won the 1928 Ulster Tourist Trophy, watched by around 250,000 spectators. But Lea-Francis struggled financially through the Depression, and car production stopped for a time in the 1930s.
After the Second World War Lea-Francis built 14hp and 18hp saloons and the 2½-litre Sports, but production halted again in 1954. A last attempt, the Ford Zephyr-engined Lynx roadster unveiled at the 1960 Motor Show, found no buyers; only three were made, and car manufacture ended in 1962. The name was later revived in small numbers, including by A. B. Price Limited from 1980 and with the abandoned 30/230 prototype of 1998.
