What Classic Car
The story of British classic cars: their makers, designers, owners’ clubs and museums, all in one free guide.
- 132car manufacturers
- 43designers and coachbuilders
- 57owners' clubs
- 18museums
- 170directory listings
What you will find here
What Classic Car brings together the history of British car makers with the people, places and clubs that keep their cars on the road.
British car makers
Histories of more than 130 manufacturers, from household names to one-model wonders: when and where each was built, the cars they made, photographs and sources.
Designers and coachbuilders
The designers, engineers, coachbuilders and studios behind the cars, from Alec Issigonis and William Lyons to Vanden Plas and Pininfarina.
Clubs and museums
Find an owners’ club for your car and museums to visit. Every manufacturer’s page lists the clubs and museums connected with it.
Where they were built
Every manufacturer is placed on the map by its factory town, and each town links on to then-and-now photographs on GhostViewer.
Recently added car makers
Seddon Atkinson
Seddon Atkinson was formed in 1970 when Seddon Diesel Vehicles of Oldham bought Atkinson of Preston, a steam-wagon maker turned lorry builder. It made large lorries for refuse…
Guy
Sydney Guy left Sunbeam to found Guy Motors at Fallings Park, Wolverhampton, in 1914. It built light, tough lorries, the Arab bus chassis and the first British V8…
Thornycroft
Thornycroft, founded by the naval engineer John I. Thornycroft in 1896, built steam vans, lorries, buses and army trucks, and later specialist airport crash tenders, at Basingstoke. AEC…
Scammell
Scammell of Watford built specialist heavy lorries, tank transporters and the little Mechanical Horse, from 1921 until the works closed in 1988. Its articulated six-wheeler let lorries carry…
ERF
ERF was founded in Sandbach in 1933 by Edwin Richard Foden after he left the family firm to build diesel lorries. It bought in its engines, gearboxes and…
Foden
Foden of Sandbach in Cheshire grew from a steam engine builder into one of Britain's best-known lorry makers. Its steam wagons, built for over 30 years, ended in…
See where Britain's cars were built
One pin for every factory town. Click a pin to see the manufacturers built there, with links to their histories and to the town on GhostViewer.
Orange numbers show how many marques were built in a town; dark circles group nearby towns, so zoom in to open them. Click a pin for the details.
The people behind the cars
Designers, engineers, coachbuilders and studios, with their careers, notable designs and the places they worked.
William Lyons
Sir William Lyons, "Mr Jaguar", co-founded the Swallow Sidecar Company in Blackpool in 1922 and led it to become Jaguar. He personally styled every new Jaguar from the…
E. D. Abbott
Abbott of Farnham built bodies from 1929 to 1972, much of it under contract to car makers. It built the Lagonda Rapier bodies from 1934, coupes for Sunbeam-Talbot…
Spen King
Spen King was the Rover engineer behind the Rover P6 and the Range Rover, and later led the Triumph TR6, Stag and TR7 for British Leyland. He pioneered…
Colin Chapman
Colin Chapman founded Lotus in 1952 and led Team Lotus to seven Formula One Constructors' titles. His philosophy was lightness over power: "Adding power makes you faster on…
Cosworth
Cosworth was founded in London in 1958 by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth, both ex-Lotus, and its name is a blend of their surnames. Best known for the…
Park Ward
Park Ward was a coachbuilder at Willesden in north London, founded in 1919. Closely tied to Bentley and then Rolls-Royce, it built all-steel bodies from 1936, was bought…
Clubs, museums and specialists
Find an owners’ club for your car, a museum to visit, or a specialist for parts, servicing and restoration across the UK.
Run a club, a museum or a specialist business?
Add it to the directory so classic car owners can find you, and so it appears on the pages of the marques you cover.
About What Classic Car
What Classic Car is an independent guide to British classic cars. Each page is researched from published sources, which are listed on the page, and the photographs come from Wikimedia Commons and our own collection. Read more about the site.