England

Discontinued 1949 – 1974 Mainstream & Utility Sports & Specialist

Bond built quirky three-wheeled Minicars in Preston, Lancashire, from 1949, followed by small sports cars, before Reliant took the company over in 1969. Its best-known model, the wedge-shaped…

Discontinued 1945 – 2020 Luxury / Prestige Sports & Specialist

Bristol Cars began in 1945 as the car-making arm of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, building hand-made grand tourers to aircraft standards near Bristol. Famously private and selling from…

Discontinued 1935 – 1939 Luxury / Prestige Sports & Specialist

George Brough, maker of the Brough Superior motorcycles dubbed "the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles", also built about 85 fast Brough Superior cars in Nottingham between 1935 and 1939, using…

Discontinued 1947 – 1965 Sports & Specialist Kit Car

Buckler chassis and running gear were used by amateur and semi-professional racers throughout the 1950s, and the former Crowthorne and Reading factory sites both carry blue plaques marking…

Discontinued 1904 – 1932 Mainstream & Utility

Calthorpe of Birmingham made quality light cars, as well as bicycles and motorcycles, from 1904. Its 10 hp Minor was admired as a large car in miniature, but…

Discontinued 1919 – 2013 Mainstream & Utility

Carbodies of Coventry built bodies for MG, Alvis, Rootes and others, then became the home of the London black cab. It built the Austin FX4 for decades and,…

Active 1973 – present Sports & Specialist Kit Car

Caterham Cars has built the Seven, the lightweight sports car it took over from Lotus in 1973, ever since. Founded by Graham Nearn, a Lotus dealer in Caterham,…

Discontinued 1969 – 1987 Sports & Specialist Kit Car

A group of former Lotus engineers led by Paul Haussauer founded Clan in 1969 at Washington, County Durham, to build the Crusader, a small glass-fibre monocoque sports car…

Discontinued 1909 – 1929 Mainstream & Utility

Clyno began with motorcycles in 1909 and moved to Wolverhampton in 1910. Its cheap, reliable light cars made it Britain's third-largest car maker in 1926, behind only Austin…

Discontinued 1905 – 1979 Mainstream & Utility

Commer, founded in Luton in 1905 as Commercial Cars Ltd, was one of Britain's first specialist commercial-vehicle makers. Bought by Humber in 1926 and so by the Rootes…

Discontinued 1970 – 1972 Sports & Specialist

Frank Costin, the aircraft engineer who shaped the Vanwall and early Lotus racing cars and co-founded Marcos, built his own road car, the Costin Amigo, from 1970 to…

Discontinued 1904 – 1958 Mainstream & Utility Luxury / Prestige

Crossley Motors of Manchester, an offshoot of the gas-engine makers Crossley Brothers, built about 19,000 quality cars between 1904 and 1937, thousands of staff cars for the Royal…

Discontinued 1896 – 2009 Luxury / Prestige

One of Britain's oldest car makers, Daimler was founded in Coventry in 1896 to exploit the British rights to Gottlieb Daimler's engine patents. It became the marque of…

Discontinued 2013 – 2026 Luxury / Prestige

David Brown Automotive, founded in Coventry in 2013, built hand-made modern interpretations of classic cars: the Aston Martin DB6-inspired Speedback GT and the Mini Remastered. It moved to…

Discontinued 1965 – 1983 Kit Car Sports & Specialist

Davrian was a tiny glass-fibre monocoque coupé designed by structural engineer Adrian Evans and built from 1965, first in Clapham and later in west Wales. Light and agile,…

Active 1968 – present Kit Car Sports & Specialist

Dax, founded by Derek Johns in 1968 as DJ Sportscars, was the first British company to make a kit replica of the AC Cobra 427. Its Dax 427,…

Discontinued 1895 – 2020 Mainstream & Utility

Dennis Brothers of Guildford began by making bicycles in 1895 and became famous for fire engines, buses and dustcarts, all built to order and more strongly than mass-produced…

Discontinued 1970 – 1989 Kit Car

Dutton Cars of Worthing, founded by Tim Dutton-Woolley in 1970, was by number of kits sold the largest kit-car maker in the world. Its Escort-based Phaeton roadster and…

Discontinued 1955 – 1968 Sports & Specialist

Frank Nichols founded Elva in 1955 at Bexhill-on-Sea, taking the name from the French elle va, "she goes". Elva built successful small sports-racing cars and the Courier road…

Discontinued 1969 Mainstream & Utility

Enfield Automotive of the Isle of Wight built the Enfield 8000, a two-seat electric city car launched in 1973, with 65 of the 120 made going to the…