David Ogle founded Ogle Design in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, in 1954, designing industrial and household products, and turned to transport design and small-scale car production in 1959. The first car, the 1.5, used an extended Riley 1.5 chassis and BMC B-series engine under a glass-fibre four-seat coupé body; eight were made at £1,574.
The SX1000 of 1962 put a stylish glass-fibre coupé body on Mini mechanicals. At first Ogle converted customers’ own Minis for £550; BMC then agreed to supply new parts on condition that the word Mini was not used in advertising, and complete cars with the 997 cc Cooper engine cost about £1,190. Autocar found it could exceed 99 mph. In May 1962 David Ogle was killed when he crashed a lightweight SX1000 on his way to Brands Hatch, and the company decided to stop building cars. Fewer than 70 SX1000s were made, the last leaving the factory in 1963-64. A two-seat SX250 on the Daimler SP250 chassis was sold to Reliant and became the basis of the Scimitar GT.
Under Tom Karen the consultancy flourished, designing the Reliant Scimitar GTE, the Bond Bug and the Reliant Robin, the Raleigh Chopper bicycle, coach bodies for Plaxton and even Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder for Star Wars.
