30 British car makers you might not know

Gone but not forgotten

Cars have been designed and built in the UK since the late 1800s, which is enough time for a great many manufacturers to have come and gone.

If you’re interested in classic cars, you’ll already know about discontinued marques such as Austin, Hillman, Sunbeam and Triumph, so we won’t be considering those here.

Instead, we’re looking at the less well-remembered ones, many of them probably familiar nowadays only to the most dedicated enthusiasts.

From a very large pool, we’ve selected a representative 30, all of which were active in the 20th century, listed in alphabetical order. How many do you remember?

1. Alldays & Onions

Alldays & Onions was formed in 1889 by the merger of two very long-established Birmingham engineering companies founded by William Allday and John Onions.

It produced its first quadricycle in 1899, and continued building cars (including one with a radial engine) into the 1920s.

The product range was extensive, ranging from cyclecars to powerful machines which performed well in competition at Brooklands and Shelsley Walsh.

As well as cars, the company also made vans, ’bikes, tractors and a wide variety of engineering equipment.

2. Arrol-Johnston

Created by engineers Sir William Arrol (who was also a politician) and George Johnston, this company started out as the Mo-Car Syndicate, before being named after its founders in 1905.

Beginning with a primitive ‘dogcart’, Arrol-Johnston went on to build far grander vehicles (such as the 1919 15.9hp Tourer pictured here) in and around Glasgow – and later near Dumfries – before merging with Aster to become Arrol-Aster in 1927.

In 1908, a modified Arrol-Johnston became the first car to visit Antarctica, as part of Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition.

Shackleton believed that the machine would be able to cover 150 miles in 24 hours. On ice, it might have done, but it couldn’t travel any distance at all on snow.

3. Ascari

Although it was named after Italy’s Alberto Ascari, the first double winner of the Formula One World Championship, Ascari was a British company created by expatriate Dutch oil company executive and racing driver Klaas Zwart.

Its first car, and the only model it produced in the 20th century, was the Ecosse, possibly so named because Zwart at one point lived in Aberdeen.

The Ecosse was a development of the FGT concept, which was designed by Lee Noble and powered by a Chevrolet V8 engine. This was replaced by a smaller BMW unit of the same layout for production.

Ascari produced several more road and racing cars before closing in 2010.

4. Atalanta

At least three British car companies were called Atalanta in the last century, and it was also briefly used as a model name by Armstrong Siddeley.

The Atalanta we’re interested in here is the one which built sports cars from 1937 to 1939 in Staines, Middlesex.

Of the estimated 20 vehicles it produced, most had four-cylinder engines, but some were powered by the Lincoln-Zephyr V12.

A new company, Atalanta Motors, has been created to build ‘perpetuations’ (rather than facsimiles or recreations) of the original design.

5. Bean

After making a lot of money producing armaments during the First World War, Bean diversified into the motor industry in 1920 with its 11.9hp (pictured), an update of a model previously manufactured by Perry.

Bean is estimated to have built 7500 11.9s by 1924, despite a break of more than a year caused by the first of many financial difficulties. No future Bean was manufactured in such large numbers.

Now under new ownership, the company abandoned car production at the end of the decade and moved on to other things.

One of its later projects was the construction of George Eyston’s formidable Thunderbolt, powered by two supercharged 37-litre Rolls-Royce aero engines. Eyston raised the Land Speed Record three times with this monster, eventually reaching a speed of 357.5mph.

6. Beardmore

Although he was born in London, William Beardmore grew up in Glasgow, where he established what would become an enormous industrial enterprise in 1886.

Over the years, Beardmore & Co built ships, aeroplanes, airships and railway locomotives. It was also a very successful manufacturer of taxicabs, which were still being produced into the 1960s.

Beardmore himself was an early investor in Arrol-Johnston. His company also briefly produced passenger cars under its own name, including the 1925 12/30hp pictured here.

The year before that car was built, Cyril Paul demolished the outright record at the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb in a modified Beardmore, beating the previous mark set by Raymond Mays in a Bugatti by 1.9 secs.

7. Belsize

By the time Ford opened its first UK factory at Trafford Park, Manchester in 1911, Belsize had been building cars just a few miles away (initially under the name Marshall & Company) for 14 years.

Ford was always the more successful of the two manufacturers, but Belsize did very well for several years, producing 3000 cars in 1913 alone.

Its first post-war model was the 15 (pictured), which appeared well into the second half of Belsize history.

The 15’s 2.8-litre engine was replaced by a 3.1-litre unit in 1923, but that wasn’t enough to save the company, which folded two years later.

8. Clan

The only car produced by the original Clan company, based in Washington, Tyne and Wear, was the Crusader (pictured), a tiny sports car with a glassfibre monocoque and fitted with the engine, gearbox and suspension of the Hillman Imp.

The three dedicated competition versions were extremely light, and performed very successfully in both rallying and circuit racing.

In its first form, Clan survived only from 1971 to 1973. In the 1980s, a restyled version of the original model (no longer called Crusader) became one of the very few roadgoing cars manufactured in Northern Ireland.

The new company also developed another Clan called the Clover, which had an Alfa Romeo engine and gearbox, but financial troubles brought the project to an abrupt halt after only a couple of dozen had been built.

9. Clyno

After a successful period building ’bikes, Wolverhampton-based Clyno produced its first car in 1922.

The company’s policy was to undercut rivals such as Morris wherever possible. This made its cars popular – more than 13,000 are believed to have been built in 1926 alone – but not particularly profitable.

By the time the 12hp pictured here was manufactured in 1927, Clyno was already in financial trouble.

Two years later, a receiver was appointed, and the company which might otherwise have achieved so much was wound up.

10. Crossley

Crossley, like Belsize, was based in Manchester, and started out as a division of the Crossley Brothers engine manufacturer before becoming a separate brand in 1910.

Its cars, such as the 1912 15hp pictured here, were aimed at the upper end of the market, which largely explains why it took more than 30 years to build around 19,000 of them.

Crossley also produced buses, as well as commercial and military vehicles. The bus part of the business was the most successful and lasted from 1926 well into the 1950s, two decades after the last Crossley car was built.

By that time, Crossley Motors had become part of Associated Commercial Vehicles, which was in turn taken over by Leyland Motors in 1962.

11. Davrian

Like the rival but shorter-lived Clan Crusader, the eight generations of Davrian sports cars (Mk8 pictured here) were glassfibre monocoque sports cars.

They were mostly powered by Hillman Imp engines, though others were also available, and they performed extremely well in various forms of motorsport.

Davrian started out in London, but moved to Wales in 1976, and was still there when it went into administration seven years later.

That was the end of the Davrian name, though not the story. The assets were transferred to Corry Cars in Northern Ireland, and later back to Wales, where the descendant of the original company has produced cars called Darrian.

12. Deep Sanderson

Most of the Deep Sandersons designed by Chris Lawrence were single-seat racers, which would not qualify for inclusion in a list of roadgoing production models.

The DS301 was different. Designed for road use (though there were also racing versions), it was one of the first independent cars fitted with the engine and gearbox from a Mini.

Since these components were mounted over the rear axle rather than the front, the DS301 was also an extremely early example of a mid-engined road car, preceded only by the Renault-powered Matra Djet.

A race-prepared DS301 completed the 1963 Le Mans 24-hour race, but did not cover enough distance to be classified as a finisher.

13. Dellow

Dellow Motors (a name derived from those of its founders, Ken Delingpole and Ron Lowe) produced dual-purpose cars which could be driven on the road but also in competition – predominantly, though not exclusively, in trials.

Throughout the 1950s, there were six models, generally powered by Ford engines.

By the end of the decade, the initial appeal had worn off, partly because more modern British sports cars were becoming available. Production ended in 1957 after nearly 300 examples had been built.

A great many of them still survive, and they have an enthusiastic following today.

14. Galloway

Galloway was a subsidiary of Arrol-Johnston managed by Dorothée Pullinger, the daughter of Thomas Pullinger, who performed a similar role at Arrol-Johnston itself.

Production of the Galloway 10/20 (pictured) began at a former munitions factory at Tongland, Kirkcudbrightshire.

Most of the employees were women, and the car was largely intended to appeal to female drivers, who were assumed to want more practicality than men were prepared to put up with.

A more powerful model followed and production was moved to another Arrol-Johnston factory in Dumfries.

The Galloway brand existed for most of the 1920s, but had gone by the start of the following decade.

15. Gilbern

Created by Welsh butcher Giles Smith and expatriate German Bernard Friese, Gilbern built cars in the village of Llantwit Fardre from 1959 to 1973.

The GT was available with various BMC four-cylinder engines, but Gilbern switched to the Ford ‘Essex’ V6 for the later Genie (pictured) and its updated version, the Invader.

The Invader, launched after the company had been sold to a manufacturer of slot machines, was offered as both a saloon and an estate, the latter a rival to the similarly powered Reliant Scimitar GTE.

Gilbern also developed a remarkably low-slung sports car called the T11, but this never made it past the concept stage.

16. James and Browne

This London-based manufacturer built cars of wildly varying prices and engine sizes throughout the first decade of the 20th century.

At least three were exhibited in 1906, but only two examples out of the entire production run are believed to exist today.

The earlier of these – now known as Boanerges II, or Bo’ for short – was made in 1902 and bought by three students of Imperial College London in either 1933 or 1934 (accounts vary even on the Imperial website).

The car has remained there ever since, maintained through the ages by members of the City and Guilds College Union, and has taken part in the annual London to Brighton Run many times.

17. Marauder

Frustrated by Rover’s refusal to build a sports version of the 75, two employees left the company to develop one of their own.

The Marauder, based on a shortened 75 chassis and using a modified version of Rover’s engine, was officially announced in August 1950.

As the work of a small company rather than a major manufacturer, it was inevitably rather expensive, and was about to become far more so. In April 1951, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Gaitskell, announced that Purchase Tax on cars would double from 33% to 66%.

When this was implemented, the price of the Marauder rocketed to unsustainable levels, and the marque folded in 1952 after only around 15 cars – mostly roadsters, but including one coupé – had been built.

18. Marendaz

After a briefly successful period as the co-owner of the Marseel (later Marseal) brand, Captain Donald Marendaz created his own company in 1926.

Its first product was a sports car with a 1.5-litre Anzani engine. A long series of later models followed, powered by both smaller and larger units.

In 1932, Marendaz moved to a facility in Maidenhead in Berkshire known as ‘the jam factory’, the last resting place of what Lord Montagu of Beaulieu described in 1960 as several ‘lost causes’ of the UK motor industry.

The final models included the 15/90 (pictured), which had a 2.0-litre Coventry Climax straight-six engine. It was very fast for its time and racked up many good results in motorsport events, but the curse of the jam factory struck only a few months after it went into production.

19. Midas

In each of its three generations, the original Midas was a glassfibre monocoque kit car with Mini mechanicals, built initially in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and later in Corby, Northamptonshire.

Quality was very high, and the cars received excellent coverage even in the mainstream motoring press.

Most of them were coupés, but a convertible (pictured) was added to the range in 1989, the same year that the company folded as the result of a factory fire.

Rights to the design were passed on several times in the following years, most recently to Alternative Cars Ltd.

20. Napier

Napier started out building printing machinery in 1808, and is now a manufacturer of turbochargers.

The company’s exceptionally long and varied history also includes a period in the motor industry.

Its portfolio featured both luxury and high-performance cars, such as the 1911 15hp Victoria (pictured) and the racing car which won the 1902 Gordon Bennett Cup.

Napier’s last model was produced in 1924. Seven years later, the company attempted to buy Bentley, but was outbid by Rolls-Royce.

21. Paramount

Paramounts were built consecutively by three different companies at three different locations in England (Swadlincote and Melbourne in Derbyshire, and Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire) from 1950 to 1956.

At the start of this short but eventful history, the Paramount was a well-equipped but, for its time, very heavy roadster powered – quite inadequately – by an 1172cc Ford sidevalve engine.

This was later replaced by a 1.5-litre Ford unit which improved the performance, but not by very much.

After the final failure, a London dealer bought the remaining 26 unsold cars (around a third of the entire production run) and offered them for sale at a substantial discount.

22. Peerless

Originally intended to be called Warwick, the Peerless was a four-seat sports car with a spaceframe chassis, a glassfibre body, and the engine and gearbox from a Triumph TR3.

Despite a respectable run in the 1958 Le Mans 24 Hours (in which a race-prepared car did not win its class, despite claims to the contrary), production of Phase 1 and later Phase 2 versions lasted only until 1960, when the company folded.

A revised Peerless was briefly produced under the Warwick name by another company, but this soon collapsed, too.

The Peerless chassis was later used as the basis of the Chevrolet-powered Gordon-Keeble from 1964 to 1967.

23. Railton

Although it was named after Reid Railton, famous for designing several Land Speed Record cars, this was in fact the fourth car company established by Noel Macklin, after the short-lived Eric-Campbell and Silver Hawk, and the far more successful Invicta.

Railtons generally used Hudson technology. The most powerful model was the Eight (pictured with Ranalah bodywork), of which more than a thousand are believed to have been built.

After six years, Macklin sold the business in 1939.

Not much came of it after that. The same applies to another, much later Railton company, which was set up to produce rebodied Jaguar XJS convertibles.

24. Rochdale

Rochdale cars were built in the town of the same name in Greater Manchester from 1952 to 1973, following a four-year period when the company built only bodies.

Its most famous model was the Olympic. Introduced in 1960, it was a very early example of a car based on a glassfibre monocoque.

According to the Rochdale Owners’ Club, most surviving cars produced by the marque are Olympics, but the GT (pictured) was built in far greater numbers.

Estimated production of this model was 1350, a figure which easily exceeds that of all other Rochdales put together, though only 80 are believed still to exist.

25. Sheffield-Simplex

A century has passed since the last Sheffield-Simplex was built, but in its day the marque was considered a rival to Rolls-Royce.

Its cars were luxurious and had large, powerful engines which gave them a formidable ability to climb hills.

This was the case even with the LA2 (pictured), which was intended to be driven only in one gear, though a lower one was available if the going became really tough.

Only three Sheffield-Simplexes are known to survive today, one in its home city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and another in Australia.

26. Straker-Squire

Bristol-based Straker started out building steam engines in 1893, and moved on to producing complete steam wagons a few years later.

In 1906, it diversified into cars, which were known as Straker-Squires. The first model was a French Cornilleau-Ste Beuve built under licence, but a self-developed model was introduced in 1907.

Except for the war years, successors continued to appear over the next two decades. The 15bhp was particularly long-lived, being produced in three generations, each version larger than the one before, from 1910 until 1922 (1912 Mark 2 pictured).

Car production came to an end in 1926, seven years after a move to London, though Straker-Squire continued to build bus and truck chassis for a little longer.

27. Squire

After working at Bentley and then MG, Adrian Squire established a car company under his own name while still in his 20s.

The Squire was a low-slung sports car with a supercharged, twin-overhead-camshaft 1.5-litre British Anzani engine.

Extremely well designed and built, and very fast, it was also hugely expensive, which drastically affected its sales potential. Only seven were produced in 1935 and 1936 before Squire left to work for Lagonda.

Another two, or possibly three (the first of them, with unique Corsica bodywork, pictured), were later assembled from leftover parts by Valfried Zetherin.

Adrian Squire, who might have gone on to become a major figure in the British motor industry, was killed in a Second World War air raid at the age of just 30.

28. Unipower

Unipower was rare, though not unique, among manufacturers of Mini-based sports cars in putting the tall engine/gearbox combination at the back.

For that reason, the Unipower GT was unusually elegant, and featured a low nose which would otherwise have been impossible.

At its introduction in 1966, the car was manufactured by Universal Power Drives (of which the Unipower name was a contraction), which normally built trucks. Later examples were produced by a new company created for that purpose.

This arrangement did not last long and the Unipower project came to an end in 1969, long before production had a chance to reach 100 cars.

29. Vulcan

Thomas and Joseph Hampson built their first Vulcan in Southport, Merseyside, in 1902, and quickly found that they needed larger premises in order to meet demand.

They therefore moved into a former drill hall, where they continued to develop what has been described as ‘practically the first industry of a manufacturing nature’ in the town.

Sales and profits continued to rise, and in 1919 the aforementioned Bean took a majority shareholding in the company.

Bean’s collapse a decade later brought Vulcan car production to an end, though Vulcan trucks and buses continued to be made, under new management, into the 1950s.

Photo: 1922 Vulcan Tourer

30. Wilson-Pilcher

Wilson-Pilcher was named partly for its founder, Walter Gordon Wilson (later credited as a co-inventor of the tank, and perhaps most famous in the motoring world today for his preselector gearbox), and partly as a tribute to aviation pioneer Percy Pilcher, who worked with Wilson on the design of an aeroplane engine.

Two years after Pilcher’s death in a hang-gliding accident in 1899, Wilson moved into the car business.

Two highly regarded models were built and sold under the Wilson-Pilcher brand – one (pictured) with a 2.7-litre four-cylinder engine, the other with a 4.1-litre straight-six – until 1904.

At this point, production was taken over by Armstrong Whitworth, which later became Armstrong Siddeley.