Designers
Roy Axe
Roy Axe became design director at Rootes at 29 and styled the Hillman Avenger and Chrysler Alpine and Horizon, then led styling at Austin Rover, where his studio…
David Bache
David Bache was Rover's first stylist and shaped the P5, the P6 and the SD1, and had a hand in the Range Rover and the Land Rover Series…
Ian Callum
Ian Callum designed the Aston Martin DB7 and, as director of design at Jaguar from 1999, the XK, XF, F-Type and F-Pace. Born in Dumfries, he founded his…
Carbodies
Carbodies of Coventry built standardised bodies for MG, Alvis, Rover and the Rootes Group, then took over the London taxi. It made the Austin FX3 and FX4 bodies…
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…
Frank Costin
Frank Costin, an aircraft engineer at de Havilland, brought aerodynamics and the monocoque to racing cars. He designed the Lotus Mark VIII body, the Vanwall that won the…
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…
Coventry Climax
Coventry Climax built engines for light cars, fire pumps, forklifts and Formula One. Its FW lightweight overhead-cam engine powered Cooper and Lotus to world championships, and the Lotus…
Keith Duckworth
Keith Duckworth of Blackburn designed the Cosworth DFV, the Formula One engine that first won at Zandvoort in 1967 and won races for years afterwards. He co-founded Cosworth…
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…
Freestone & Webb
Freestone and Webb, founded in 1923 at Willesden in north London, built bodies for Rolls-Royce and Bentley. It developed the "Top hat" style and popularised the "Razor Edge",…
Pietro Frua
Pietro Frua of Turin designed the AC 428 Frua of 1965 and the Renault Floride, and led Ghia Design from 1957 to 1960. He also oversaw Pelle Petterson's…
Ghia
Carrozzeria Ghia was founded in Turin in 1916 by Giacinto Ghia. Now owned by Ford, it styled the first Ford Fiesta of 1976, and its name was Ford's…
H. J. Mulliner
H. J. Mulliner & Co. was a coachbuilder at Chiswick in west London. The company was formed in 1897 by Henry Jervis Mulliner, and by the 1930s nearly…
Harold Radford
Harold Radford was a Rolls-Royce and Bentley retailer in South Kensington that built bespoke bodies from the late 1940s. In the Swinging Sixties it became known for luxury…
Walter Hassan
Walter Hassan worked on three great British engines: the Jaguar XK, the Coventry Climax FW and the Jaguar V12. He began at 15 as employee No. 14 at…
Ron Hickman
Ron Hickman styled the Ford Anglia 105E, then designed the Lotus Elan and Europa for Colin Chapman. He is best known outside motoring as the inventor of the…
Hooper
Hooper & Co. was a royal coachbuilder in Westminster, London, from 1805 to 1959. It built the first royal car in 1900, luxury bodies for Daimler and Rolls-Royce,…
Alec Issigonis
Sir Alec Issigonis designed the Morris Minor and the Mini, two of the best-loved British cars ever built. Born in Smyrna, he came to Britain in 1923 and…
James Young
James Young of Bromley built high-quality carriages and, from 1908, car bodies. Bought by Rolls-Royce dealer Jack Barclay in 1937, it built on Bentley and Rolls-Royce chassis until…
Jensen (bodybuilders)
Before and beside its own cars, Jensen of West Bromwich built bodies for other makers: Wolseley Hornet Specials, the Austin A40 Sports and the bodies of the Austin-Healey…
Tom Karen
Tom Karen ran Ogle Design from 1962 to 1999 and oversaw the Reliant Scimitar GTE, the Bond Bug, the Raleigh Chopper and Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder. Born Thomas Kohn…
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…
Raymond Loewy
Raymond Loewy, the Paris-born American industrial designer of the Lucky Strike pack and the Studebaker Avanti, was a design consultant to the Rootes Group. His influence shows most…
