What Classic Car
The story of British classic cars: their makers, designers, owners’ clubs and museums, all in one free guide.
- 132car manufacturers
- 43designers and coachbuilders
- 57owners' clubs
- 18museums
What you will find here
What Classic Car brings together the history of British car makers with the people, places and clubs that keep their cars on the road.
British car makers
Histories of more than 130 manufacturers, from household names to one-model wonders: when and where each was built, the cars they made, photographs and sources.
Designers and coachbuilders
The designers, engineers, coachbuilders and studios behind the cars, from Alec Issigonis and William Lyons to Vanden Plas and Pininfarina.
Clubs and museums
Find an owners’ club for your car and museums to visit. Every manufacturer’s page lists the clubs and museums connected with it.
Where they were built
Every manufacturer is placed on the map by its factory town, and each town links on to then-and-now photographs on GhostViewer.
Recently added car makers
Frazer Nash
Archie Frazer-Nash founded the company at Kingston upon Thames in 1922, and its chain-drive sports cars became favourites of pre-war competition drivers. Run by the Aldington brothers from…
Princess
British Leyland's wedge-shaped 18-22 series, designed by Harris Mann, was launched in March 1975 as an Austin, Morris and Wolseley, and became a marque in its own right,…
Swallow Doretti
Built by the Swallow Coachbuilding Company in Walsall in 1954 and 1955, the Swallow Doretti was a handsome two-seater on Triumph TR2 mechanicals, designed for the American market.…
Rochdale
Rochdale Motor Panels and Engineering built glass-fibre sports car bodies and complete kits in Rochdale from 1948 to 1973. Its GT body was the best seller, and the…
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…
Peerless
The Peerless GT, built at Slough from 1957, was a four-seat glass-fibre grand tourer on Triumph TR3 running gear, and a works car won its class at Le…
See where Britain's cars were built
One pin for every factory town. Click a pin to see the manufacturers built there, with links to their histories and to the town on GhostViewer.
Orange numbers show how many marques were built in a town; dark circles group nearby towns, so zoom in to open them. Click a pin for the details.
The people behind the cars
Designers, engineers, coachbuilders and studios, with their careers, notable designs and the places they worked.
Clubs, museums and specialists
Find an owners’ club for your car, a museum to visit, or a specialist for parts, servicing and restoration across the UK.
Run a club, a museum or a specialist business?
Add it to the directory so classic car owners can find you, and so it appears on the pages of the marques you cover.
About What Classic Car
What Classic Car is an independent guide to British classic cars. Each page is researched from published sources, which are listed on the page, and the photographs come from Wikimedia Commons and our own collection. Read more about the site.