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
Lotus
Founded by engineer and racing driver Colin Chapman, Lotus built its reputation on lightweight construction and Formula One success before becoming one of Britain's most respected specialist sports…
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…
Reliant
Best known for the three-wheeled Regal and Robin, which briefly made it Britain's second-largest British-owned car manufacturer, Reliant also built the Ford- and Ogle-styled Scimitar sports estate, famously…
Land Rover
Britain's defining off-road and utility marque, launched by the Rover Company in 1948 and built at Solihull ever since. Land Rover has become shorthand worldwide for rugged, go-anywhere…
Triumph
A Coventry marque with roots in Victorian bicycle manufacturing, Triumph became one of Britain's best-loved sports car makers through the TR series and Spitfire, alongside mainstream saloons like…
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…
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.