Oxfordshire
Austin-Healey
Austin-Healey was born at the 1952 Motor Show, when Austin's Leonard Lord saw Donald Healey's Healey Hundred and agreed to build it as the Austin-Healey 100. The big…
MG
MG grew out of Morris Garages, William Morris's Oxford dealership, where Cecil Kimber began selling tuned, specially bodied Morrises in the early 1920s. Built for half a century…
Midas
The Midas, a rust-free composite coupé on Mini and later Metro parts, was launched in 1978 by Harold Dermott, who had taken over the Mini Marcos. With aerodynamic…
Mini
Alec Issigonis's Mini was launched by BMC in 1959, badged as the Austin Seven and the Morris Mini-Minor, and became a marque in its own right under British…
Morris
William Morris, later Lord Nuffield, turned an Oxford cycle and garage business into Britain's biggest car maker of the 1920s and '30s. Morris merged with Austin in 1952…
Princess
British Leyland's wedge-shaped 18-22 series, designed by Harris Mann, was launched in March 1975 as an Austin, Morris and Wolseley, and became a marque in its own right,…
Riley
The Riley family's Coventry cycle business turned to cars at the end of the 1890s and became known for well-engineered, fine-handling sporting cars such as the Nine and…
Rover
Rover grew from a Coventry bicycle business into one of Britain's most respected makers of dignified family and executive saloons, from the P4 and P5 to the P6…
Squire
Adrian Squire, formerly of Bentley and MG, founded his car company in Henley-on-Thames while still in his early twenties. The Squire, a Grand Prix car turned road car…
Westfield
Westfield Sportscars, founded by Chris Smith in 1982, builds Lotus Seven-inspired two-seaters as kits and complete cars. A Westfield XTR2 once beat a Pagani Zonda round the Top…
Designers and coachbuilders connected with Oxfordshire
- Ian Callum Designer born 1954
- Alec Issigonis Designer 1906 – 1988
- Harris Mann Designer 1938 – 2023
- Vanden Plas Coachbuilder founded 1870
Museums near Oxfordshire
- Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum about 10 km away
Run by a charity founded in 1998, the museum opened in 2002 in a 15th-century barn built by the monks of Dorchester Abbey. The collection runs…
Website