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
- 170directory listings
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
Ineos
Ineos Automotive was set up by Sir Jim Ratcliffe to build a spiritual successor to the original Land Rover Defender. Its Grenadier, named after his favourite London pub,…
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…
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…
Ashley
Ashley Laminates of Essex made glass-fibre bodies and chassis for home-built specials from 1955 to 1962, based on Austin Seven and Ford parts. Its 1172 body went on…
Tornado
Tornado Cars of Rickmansworth made glass-fibre sports car bodies and chassis for Ford-based specials from 1957, starting with the Typhoon. Its handsome Talisman 2+2 coupé of 1962 was…
Ogle
Ogle Design of Letchworth, founded by David Ogle in 1954, built a small number of its own cars between 1959 and 1964, most famously the Mini-based SX1000 coupé.…
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.
Alec Issigonis
Sir Alec Issigonis designed the Morris Minor and the Mini, two of the best-loved British cars ever built. Born in Smyrna, he came to Britain in 1923 and…
Ghia
Carrozzeria Ghia was founded in Turin in 1916 by Giacinto Ghia. Now owned by Ford, it styled the first Ford Fiesta of 1976, and its name was Ford's…
Spen King
Spen King was the Rover engineer behind the Rover P6 and the Range Rover, and later led the Triumph TR6, Stag and TR7 for British Leyland. He pioneered…
Roy Axe
Roy Axe became design director at Rootes at 29 and styled the Hillman Avenger and Chrysler Alpine and Horizon, then led styling at Austin Rover, where his studio…
Cosworth
Cosworth was founded in London in 1958 by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth, both ex-Lotus, and its name is a blend of their surnames. Best known for the…
Coventry Climax
Coventry Climax built engines for light cars, fire pumps, forklifts and Formula One. Its FW lightweight overhead-cam engine powered Cooper and Lotus to world championships, and the Lotus…
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.