Luxury / Prestige
Alvis
T. G. John founded Alvis in Coventry in 1919, and its 12/50 and Speed 20 made it one of Britain's most respected makers of quality sporting cars. Car…
Armstrong Siddeley
A Coventry maker of dignified, well-engineered luxury cars, Armstrong Siddeley grew out of the same Siddeley-Deasy business that also built aircraft engines, and its cars shared some of…
Aston Martin
Founded in London in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford, Aston Martin grew from a small maker of sporting light cars into Britain's best-known builder of luxury…
Atalanta
Atalanta Motors of Staines built about 20 advanced, expensive sports cars between 1937 and 1939, with tubular chassis, all-round independent suspension and a choice of twin-cam four or…
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…
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…
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…
Gordon Murray Automotive
Gordon Murray Automotive was founded in 2017 by Gordon Murray, designer of the McLaren F1 and Brabham Formula One cars. Its V12 T.50 supercar, with a fan borrowed…
Gordon-Keeble
John Gordon and Jim Keeble combined a Chevrolet V8 with a spaceframe chassis and a Giugiaro-designed body to create the Gordon-Keeble, a fast, well-equipped four-seat grand tourer. About…
Humber
Thomas Humber's cycle company began building cars in 1896 and grew into a respected maker of solid, comfortable upper-middle-class cars. As the senior brand of the Rootes Group…
Invicta
Noel Macklin founded Invicta at Cobham, Surrey, in 1925 with backing from Oliver Lyle of Tate & Lyle, building fast, well-made sporting cars such as the 4½ Litre…
Jaguar
Britain's best-known luxury sports and saloon car maker, founded in Blackpool as a motorcycle sidecar business before becoming one of Coventry's defining marques. Renamed from SS Cars in…
Jensen
A West Bromwich coachbuilder turned specialist manufacturer of hand-built, Chrysler V8-powered grand tourers, Jensen is best remembered for the Interceptor and its pioneering four-wheel-drive FF sibling. The company…
Lagonda
American-born former opera singer Wilbur Gunn founded Lagonda at Staines in 1906, naming it after the Shawnee settlement of Lagonda near his home town of Springfield, Ohio. Lagonda…
Lanchester
The three Lanchester brothers built one of Britain's first petrol cars in Birmingham in 1895 and founded their company in 1899, becoming famous for inventive engineering, including the…
Leyland
Leyland Motors, the Lancashire lorry and bus maker, built one of the most ambitious British luxury cars ever, the Leyland Eight of 1920-23. Designed by J. G. Parry-Thomas…
Napier
D. Napier & Son, a London precision engineering firm founded in 1808, built some of the fastest and finest cars of the Edwardian era between 1900 and 1924.…
