Ogle Design was founded in 1954 by David Ogle and based in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. It produced many industrial and household products, including the Bush TR82 portable radio of 1959, and in 1959 became involved in transport design and small-scale car production. Between 1959 and 1962 it built a series of complete cars: the Ogle 1.5, on an extended Riley 1.5 chassis with a fibreglass body, of which eight were made, and the Mini-based SX1000 of 1962, of which about 66 were made, including one bought by Jack Brabham for his wife Betty. The final car, the SX250, an updated Daimler SP250, was sold to Reliant and became the basis of the Scimitar GT of 1964.
David Ogle was killed in 1962 in a crash in one of his SX1000s, and Tom Karen became managing director and chief designer. He led the studio through its best-known designs: the Reliant Scimitar GTE (1968), the Bond Bug (1970), the Reliant Robin (1973), the Raleigh Chopper (1970), coach bodies for Plaxton and Duple, the Lucas electric taxi (1975) and Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder for Star Wars. Separate product and transport divisions were formed in 1974, and the design business was sold to Ogle Noor in October 1999.
