This 5 cc English diesel first appeared in October 1948. It was a product of the K Model Engineering Co. of Gravesend in Kent, England. This company had taken over the assets of the former Kemp Engines operation, also of Gravesend.

The Vulture was both light and powerful by the standards of its day. It was offered in glow-plug form as well as its normal diesel configuration. However, the original Mk. I version (of which the illustrated model is an example) suffered from a number of structural inadequacies, principally the crankshaft and conrod designs. This led to a significant number of failures in service.

The engine was quickly re-designed to address these issues, resulting in the appearance of much improved Mk. II and Mk. III variants. However, the damage to the Vulture's reputation (and that of its manufacturer) had been done. Consequently, the Vulture never achieved the market prominence that it might otherwise have done given the fact that it was actually a very good runner, if a little cantankerous to start. In particular, the final mid-1949 Mk. III version which appears in the subsidiary illustration was an excellent engine from which virtually all of the design flaws had been eliminated.

Despite this, sales did not recover. Consequently, manufacture of the Vulture ceased in late 1949 after some 2,300 examples had been produced over a period of just over a year. The company itself only survived until late 1950.

For a full account of the rather sad story of the K Vulture, see my in-depth article to be found elsewhere on this website.