Fowler Petrol Engine Resources

Dating Guide

The following information is a rough guide to dating the range of 'P' Series engines based on the information from 'Fowler P Type Engines by David Edgington'.

The production run of Fowler P Series engines lasted less than 10 years which, compared to the Lister D, is not long at all yet so many engines survive. Dating information for Fowler engines is not very comprehensive. Unfortunately no factory records are known to exist and any conclusive dates have been confirmed by dated factory engine photographs.

PA Series

The PA range of engines, from collated serial numbers appear to have been manufactured in four (possibly five) production runs as listed below. Speculation surrounds the 14,000 series engines as it was generally believed production stopped at the 13,000 series. This is not true as I know of engine number 14,000 and I have obtained a nameplate for engine 14,029 which proves there were at least twenty nine 14,000 series engines made. I would be very keen to hear of any other 14,000 series engines in existance.

10,000 Series:- 1936 to 1939 approx

11,000 Series:- 1939 to end 1940

12,000 Series:- 1941 & 1942

13,000 Series:- 1943 to 1945 approx

14,000 Series:- Unknown, suspect this was a limited run in the final year of production, c.1945.

PB Series

No dating information available. It is believed more PB engines were built than PA engines, therefore it could be a fair assumption to say that this range was available throughout the production run of PA engines, i.e 1936 to 1945. PB's however seem a rarity and it can only be assumed that the majority were exported.

PC Series

Little is known of this series of engines. Limited number were produced. They may only have been available for a short period after introduction, or could have been built to order for heavy duty applications.

PD Series

It appears the PD range of engines were built in two batches as confirmed by the different serial number ranges.

70,000 Series:- 1936/7 to 1940

0100,000 Series:- 1940 onwards

I would like to hear from anyone who has recovered an engine from a premises where it has originally been installed, there is always a possibility that the original owners will remember the year when an engine was bought, and even better, have the original sales receipt to confirm the date !