Anzani

"Alessandro Ambrogio Anzani was born in Gorla, a popular suburb of Milan, on the 5th December 1877. His parents were Angelo and Teldolinda Bruno, a family of modest means. His education was limited due to lack of resources and his own distaste of studying. In spite of this he showed a lively interest and a notable disposition for anything mechanical, and in fact, following his passion he started working at a very early age in a small workshop belonging to his uncle. But Alessandro was a very ambitious young man who perceived his future beyond the smoky walls of a small workshop in Milan at the end of the 19th century.

A fanatic about cycling, and a very good cyclist himself, at a rally in Milan where he was a spectator, he had the pleasure of meeting and becoming a good friend of a French cyclist named Gabriel Poulain. This meeting brought about a sudden and dramatic change in the life of the young Milanese mechanic.

With the help and encouragement of his friend he started racing, with modest success but he didn't feel particularly talented in this field and at the first opportunity he abandoned the sport, because deep down he still had a burning passion for anything mechanical especially engines which were still his main interest.

For the second time his destiny changed when he met a man from Marseilles named Cornet, an amateur engineer who was building motorcycles in a small workshop. To know him and to become his friend was easy because both men were consumed by the same interest. During their conversations Cornet became aware of Anzani's talents and put at his disposal a small workshop where he could work in his spare time to develop a motor cycle engine all of his own. It must be said that Anzani had a strong aptitude in this field because his first task was to build a two cylinder engine lighter in weight and more powerful than any other engine at the time. Having mounted the engine in a motorcycle he raced it with immediate success. The young man won many races and in 1905 established the world speed record of 100 kph for an engine of ? litre capacity and also won the world championship at Ostend in 1906." from britishanzani.co.uk

Alessandro Anzani riding his racing bike in 1906

In 1907, Alessandro Anzani set up a small workshop in Paris with three staff and while they were building his engines, he designed a hydrofoil powered by one of his engines and propellers. He supplied one of his engines to Enrico Forlanini and developed it further into a three-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine ideal for the new aeroplanes. One of the early engines, the 25 hp Anzani W-3 or Fan type, was supplied to Louis Blériot who used it on his successful crossing of the English Channel in 1909.

Demand for the engines continued to grow and the original Paris workshop was replaced by a new factory at Courbevoie, Paris, and one in London was also added as well as licensed production by other makers. Another factory at Monza, Italy was added in 1914.

n 1920, Anzani turned to motor racing and built a small car with one of his 750 cc two-cylinder engines, air-cooled of course, which won several competitions. They also made a 1098 cc cyclecar between 1923 and 1924, as used in the T.B. Sports cyclecar.

On his 50th birthday in 1927, Anzani decided to sell his factories in Paris and London, keeping only the Monza works for sentimental reasons, and managed by Natale Baccanti.

In the UK, British Anzani outsourced the manufacture of their engines to Coventry Ordnance Works Ltd. In the 1920s, it was refinanced as British Vulpine Engine Company, and then again as British Anzani Engineering Company, concentrating on small engines and car and motorcycle powerplants. The British Anzani Group lasted till 1980.