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
Gordon
The Gordon, built at Bidston by a subsidiary of Vernons Pools from 1954 to 1958, was the cheapest car on the British market at £300. It was a…
Scootacar
The Scootacar was a tall, narrow three-wheeled microcar built in Hunslet, Leeds, by a division of the Hunslet Engine Company, better known for railway locomotives. Nicknamed "the telephone…
Nova
The Nova, a wedge-shaped kit car on a Volkswagen Beetle chassis with a canopy that lifts forward instead of doors, was launched in 1971 by Automotive Design and…
Dax
Dax, founded by Derek Johns in 1968 as DJ Sportscars, was the first British company to make a kit replica of the AC Cobra 427. Its Dax 427,…
Davrian
Davrian was a tiny glass-fibre monocoque coupé designed by structural engineer Adrian Evans and built from 1965, first in Clapham and later in west Wales. Light and agile,…
Ultima
Ultima began in 1983 as a mid-engined sports car designed by Lee Noble, later of Noble Cars. Built at Hinckley in Leicestershire by the Marlow family since 1992,…
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.
Walter Hassan
Walter Hassan worked on three great British engines: the Jaguar XK, the Coventry Climax FW and the Jaguar V12. He began at 15 as employee No. 14 at…
Hooper
Hooper & Co. was a royal coachbuilder in Westminster, London, from 1805 to 1959. It built the first royal car in 1900, luxury bodies for Daimler and Rolls-Royce,…
Zagato
Zagato of Milan, founded by Ugo Zagato in 1919, built lightweight aluminium bodies based on aircraft methods. British marques with Zagato bodies include Aston Martin, AC, Bristol, Frazer…
Ian Callum
Ian Callum designed the Aston Martin DB7 and, as director of design at Jaguar from 1999, the XK, XF, F-Type and F-Pace. Born in Dumfries, he founded his…
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…
Ogle Design
Ogle Design was founded in 1954 by David Ogle at Letchworth, Hertfordshire. After Ogle died in a crash in 1962, Tom Karen led it, and it styled the…
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.