The Star Sapphire was easily the best car that Armstrong Siddeley of Coventry ever made, although it was only in production of one year, it is a car that has gone down in automotive history and passed into legend among car enthusiasts. It is one of those vehicles that truly deserve the lable ‘classic’. Derived from the established Sapphire 346 saloons, its dignified ‘six light’ styling concealed an impression new 165bhp version of Armstrong’s hemi head straight six powerplant. Smooth and flexible, this engine gave the Star Sapphire sufficient straight line muscle to challenge the big Jaguars that had taken over its market since the end of the Second World War. It also featured the testing labored saving luxuries, such as power steering and three speed automatic transmission, which, while taken as standard in today’s market, were the cutting edge of technology as the fifties gave away to the sixties. Although the engineering of the star Sapphire was highly conventional, it had a sturdy separate chassis and a beam rear axle, the car really scored with its equipment.
It possessed a beautifully crafted walnut and leather interior. Generously, this featured heating units for both front and rear passengers, and it boasted sumptuous seating for five. Tragically, the Star Sapphire proved to be simply too expensive to have much appeal in the face of cheaper opposition, and the model died along with the Armstrong marque in 1960, with fewer than 1000 cars having been built.
