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
Beardmore
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…
Carbodies
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,…
Enfield
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…
Sinclair
Sinclair Vehicles was set up by Sir Clive Sinclair in 1983 to bring electric vehicles to the masses. Its only product, the C5 electric tricycle of 1985, with…
Tourette
The Tourette was a rounded three-wheeled microcar built by Carr Brothers, later the Progress Supreme Co, of Purley, south London, between 1956 and 1958. Only 26 are believed…
Frisky
The Frisky was a British microcar built at Henry Meadows' engine works in Wolverhampton from 1958. Its gull-winged prototype was styled by Giovanni Michelotti of Vignale, but the…
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.
Jensen (bodybuilders)
Before and beside its own cars, Jensen of West Bromwich built bodies for other makers: Wolseley Hornet Specials, the Austin A40 Sports and the bodies of the Austin-Healey…
William Lyons
Sir William Lyons, "Mr Jaguar", co-founded the Swallow Sidecar Company in Blackpool in 1922 and led it to become Jaguar. He personally styled every new Jaguar from the…
Pietro Frua
Pietro Frua of Turin designed the AC 428 Frua of 1965 and the Renault Floride, and led Ghia Design from 1957 to 1960. He also oversaw Pelle Petterson's…
Keith Duckworth
Keith Duckworth of Blackburn designed the Cosworth DFV, the Formula One engine that first won at Zandvoort in 1967 and won races for years afterwards. He co-founded Cosworth…
Frank Costin
Frank Costin, an aircraft engineer at de Havilland, brought aerodynamics and the monocoque to racing cars. He designed the Lotus Mark VIII body, the Vanwall that won the…
James Young
James Young of Bromley built high-quality carriages and, from 1908, car bodies. Bought by Rolls-Royce dealer Jack Barclay in 1937, it built on Bentley and Rolls-Royce chassis until…
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.