Car Manufacturers
Bentley
W. O. Bentley founded Bentley Motors in Cricklewood, north London, in 1919, and his big sporting cars won Le Mans five times between 1924 and 1930. Owned by…
Berkeley
Caravan maker Charles Panter and designer Lawrie Bond created Berkeley in 1956 at Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, building small glass-fibre sports cars with motorcycle engines. About 4,100 were made, including…
Bersey
The Bersey electric cab was London's first motor taxi. Designed by electrical engineer Walter Bersey, it went into service in August 1897, and its fleet of up to…
Bond Cars
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…
Bristol
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…
Brough Superior
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…
Buckler Cars
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…
Calthorpe
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…
Carbodies
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,…
Caterham
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,…
Chambers
Chambers Motors of Belfast was the first car manufacturer in Ireland. Jack Chambers, who had designed the first Vauxhall, built around 500 hand-made cars and commercial vehicles in…
Clan
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…
Clyno
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…
Commer
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…
Costin
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…
Crossley
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…
Daimler
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…
David Brown Automotive
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…
Davrian
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,…
Dax
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,…
