Late in 1895 Sir William Arrol, George Johnston, T. Blackwood-Murray, and Norman Osborne Fulton formed the Mo-Car Syndicate for the purpose of building the Arrol-Johnston motor¬car, in that concern's factory at Cam-lachie. Murray and Fulton broke away in 1899 to make the Albion, which was on broadly similar but lighter and even simpler lines. The first few Arrol-Johnstons, of 1899-1900, had one cylinder only, and tiller steering. From 1901 they went over to two cylinders, and wheel steering. The engine was an opposed-piston unit of 12 h.p., each cylinder containing two pistons; a rare feature most familiar in the Gobron-Brillie. Murray's low-tension chain-driven magneto ignition was another unconventional point in a car that was full of idiosyncrasies. Its high wheels, solid tyres, and dogcart body combined to produce an uncompromisingly horseless-carriage aspect at a time when this was out of date, but the Arrol-Johnston's lack of respect for fashion was outweighed by its strength and straightforwardness of construction, which led to reliability and long n'fe. Though the type was both expensive and inefficient, 3 litres of slow-turning engine generating only enough power from 800 r.p.m. to propel over a ton of car at 20 m.p.h., it was made until 1905, by which time it was truly archaic. In the same year, indeed, a new model with a front engine and shaft drive to a live rear axle had appeared alongside it.
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