Mainstream & Utility

Discontinued 1912 – 1979 Mainstream & Utility

AEC (Associated Equipment Company) built London's buses, from the B-type to the Routemaster, and was Britain's biggest wartime lorry maker. Started in 1912 by the Underground Group, it…

Discontinued 1899 – 1972 Mainstream & Utility

Albion was founded in Glasgow in 1899 by two former Arrol-Johnston engineers. It built sturdy cars until 1915, but made its name with lorries and buses, built at…

Discontinued 1899 – 1932 Mainstream & Utility

By the mid-1900s Argyll was Scotland's biggest car maker, with a vast, palatial factory at Alexandria near Loch Lomond. It never filled the works, and after two collapses…

Discontinued 1895 – 1931 Mainstream & Utility

One of Britain's very first car makers, founded in Glasgow in 1895 by the engineer George Johnston with backing from Sir William Arrol, builder of the Forth Bridge.…

Discontinued 1905 – 1987 Mainstream & Utility

Herbert Austin left Wolseley to found the Austin Motor Company at Longbridge, south-west of Birmingham, in 1905. The little Austin Seven of 1922 put Britain on wheels, Austin…

Discontinued 1919 – 1931 Mainstream & Utility

Bean Cars, made by the Black Country ironfounders A. Harper Sons & Bean in Dudley and Coseley, briefly outsold Austin and Morris in the early 1920s. Car production…

Discontinued 1919 – 1966 Mainstream & Utility

Beardmore, the Clydeside shipbuilding and engineering giant, built cars and, from 1919 to 1966, the rugged Beardmore taxi, nicknamed "the Rolls-Royce of taxicabs". Production moved from Paisley to…

Discontinued 1931 – 1990 Mainstream & Utility

Bedford Vehicles was set up by Vauxhall in 1931 to build lorries, vans and buses, and grew into one of Britain's leading commercial vehicle brands. The wartime MW…

Discontinued 1901 – 1925 Mainstream & Utility

Belsize Motors of Clayton, Manchester, grew out of Marshall & Company, probably Manchester's first car maker. Before the First World War it employed 1,200 people and built cars,…

Discontinued 1897 – 1899 Mainstream & Utility

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…

Discontinued 1949 – 1974 Mainstream & Utility Sports & Specialist

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…

Discontinued 1904 – 1932 Mainstream & Utility

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…

Discontinued 1919 – 2013 Mainstream & Utility

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,…

Discontinued 1904 – 1929 Mainstream & Utility

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…

Discontinued 1909 – 1929 Mainstream & Utility

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…

Discontinued 1905 – 1979 Mainstream & Utility

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…

Discontinued 1904 – 1958 Mainstream & Utility Luxury / Prestige

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…

Discontinued 1895 – 2020 Mainstream & Utility

Dennis Brothers of Guildford began by making bicycles in 1895 and became famous for fire engines, buses and dustcarts, all built to order and more strongly than mass-produced…

Discontinued 1969 Mainstream & Utility

Enfield Automotive of the Isle of Wight built the Enfield 8000, a two-seat electric city car launched in 1973, with 65 of the 120 made going to the…

Discontinued 1933 – 2007 Mainstream & Utility

ERF was founded in Sandbach in 1933 by Edwin Richard Foden after he left the family firm to build diesel lorries. It bought in its engines, gearboxes and…