18 October 2023
This is the fourth ‘spin-off’ from my Savoy Exhibit Archival Blog entries where, in addition to providing more details on the vehicles in an exhibit, I included A LOT of information pertaining the era or movement associated with the cars or ‘theme’ of the exhibit. And, truth be told, I’m actually more drawn to the history-aspects of the eras and themes that I am of the vehicles with are merely ‘artifacts’ or by-products of the era, movement or more recently, the personalities behind the movement.
This spin-off is from “The British Invasion” exhibit where I delved into the history of the automaker’s founders for the eight different makes represented. The depth of the background for each varies by quite a bit, as some of the entries on the cars themselves captured a lot of the history which I elected to leave in the original entry.
Linked Index of Automakers
About the Exhibit, from the Savoy: “While serving during World War II, millions of American troops became enamored with British automobiles. Following the war, it became a necessity for Great Britain to restore its economy and one way to do so was through exportation. In 1946, the British government released an animated video via the British Pathé news titled, “Export or Die,” proclaiming, “…we must sell the things we like, to buy the things we life, to buy the thing we need.” The message was received and by 1950, over half-a-million British cars were being produced annually, of which nearly 400,000 were being exported to the United States market. This exhibition features some of the finest examples of British sports cars of the post-war period to “invade” the American automobile market.”
A quick primer on terminology: Without getting into some of the more arcane aspects, I thought I’d share a short list of the terms used for sports car body styles, noting traditional origins have in most cases given way to marketing, i.e., automakers use many of these type names interchangeably, often times further redefining them to suite their business needs.
- Roadster: Pre-dates the horseless carriage, used for a two-place, two-door sports car with additional structure to compensate for the lack of a roof with an optional soft top and side-curtains instead of roll-up windows. And, you’ll also find the term “Open Two Seat” (OTS) used along side some of these terms.
- Spider / Spyder: Like the roadster and cabriolet, the term spider was used before the horseless carriage, generally on a two-seat lightweight model with a top that could be raised, but didn’t otherwise offer much protection from the elements. Current use is generally tied to purpose-built sports cars with a removable roof, rather than one that can be more easily opened and closed on a roadster or cabriolet, and a reinforced structure like a roadster.
- Cabriolet: First applied to small, open horse drawn carriages used as a taxi or cab that could be fitted with a folding top and side curtains, since applied for use on two-door, 2+2 / 4-place coupes with roll up windows.
- Speedsters and the Italian Barchetta: More like the two-place roadster, but more targeted to motorsports often fitted with a smaller top and lower/smaller windscreen. Barchetta is the Italian word for little boat, and once again… a model type used at the discretion of the automaker’s marketing team.
- Phaeton: Similar to the roadster, but used for larger open four-place cars that were generally lighter, faster and more sporty than a touring car. A briefly popular, dual-cowl Phaeton has a bulkhead or cowl and often-times a windscreen between the driver’s compartment and the passenger compartment.
- Drop-Head Coupe: A 2+2 / 4-place, two car with a folding top, often times derived from a two-door, 4-place coupe with a “Fixed-Head,” aka. roof. Once again, these terms have in many cases gone by the wayside, or used interchangeably.
- Convertible: A convertible was traditionally a four seat, two or four door sedan with a soft or hard, fold away top. It has all the attributes of a fixed-roof sedan including wind up windows etc. Over time, a requirement to have roll-over protection, either fixed or that deploys when a roll-over event is detected. However, over time the term has been adopted for just about any type of car with a fold-away top.
- Grand Touring (GT): A GT is generally a high performance car but, a bit larger, heavier and more refined that a pure sports car, with more-comfortable suspension and creature comforts for very long drives. In the example below, a “C” follows the GT to denote it is a convertible.
Some readers will have different takes on the definitions, and I totally get that.
Jaguar Background & Company History
Sir William Lyons was born in Blackpool, son of Irish immigrant William Lyons, who owned a musical instrument shop, and his wife Minnie Barcroft, the daughter of a mill owner. After attending Arnold School, Lyons obtained an engineering apprenticeship at Crossley Motors in Manchester, where he also studied at the technical school. He left Crossley in 1919 to work as a salesman at the Sunbeam dealers Brown and Mallalieu in Blackpool.
In 1921, Lyons met William Walmsley who was converting army-surplus motorcycles for civilian use and making sidecars. Lyons admired the sidecars and bought one. Lyons and Walmsley obtained a substantial £500 bank guarantee from their fathers to go into business. Their plans were delayed as Lyons was under the legal age, but on his 21st birthday he formed a partnership with Walmsley. It was called Swallow Sidecars and had a staff of “three men and a boy”.
The company manufactured stylish sidecars, but after 1927 made increasing numbers of low cost coach-built cars, especially the Austin Seven Swallow which the Blackpool factory produced at the rate of 12 per week.
Following several moves to larger premises in Blackpool, in 1928 Lyons moved the company (and his family) to Coventry. His family home was Woodside, Gibbet Hill, on the fringe of the city. Production increased to 50 cars each week.
In 1931, they began selling the SS1, and in 1933 the company name was changed to SS Cars Ltd. The following year, William Walmsley left the company.
Under the ownership of S. S. Cars Ltd, Lyons extended the business to complete cars made in association with Standard Motor Co, many bearing Jaguar as a model name: Jaguar first appeared in September 1935 as a model name on an SS 2½-litre sports saloon. A matching open two seater sports model with a 3½-litre engine was named SS Jaguar 100.
Following the end of World War II, the company’s name was changed from S. S. Cars to Jaguar Cars in 1945 and, despite five years of pent-up demand, new vehicle production was hampered by shortage of materials, particularly steel, issued to manufacturers until the 1950s by a central planning authority under strict government control.
The core of Bill Lyons’ success following WWII was the twin-cam straight six engine, conceived pre-war and realized while engineers at the Coventry plant were dividing their time between war-time duty fire-watching and designing the new power plant. It had a hemispherical cross-flow cylinder head with valves inclined from the vertical; originally at 30 degrees (inlet) and 45 degrees (exhaust) and later standardized to 45 degrees for both inlet and exhaust.
Jaguar eventually gained its notoriety and reputation by producing a series of successful eye-catching sports cars, the Jaguar XK120 (1948–54), Jaguar XK140 (1954–57), Jaguar XK150 (1957–61), and Jaguar E-Type (1961–75), all embodying Lyons’ mantra of “value for money”. The sports cars were successful in international motorsport, a path followed in the 1950s to prove the engineering integrity of the company’s products.
- Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation in 1966, the resulting enlarged company was renamed as British Motor Holdings (BMH).
- In 1968, BMH merged with Leyland Motor Corporation and became British Leyland, itself to be nationalized in 1975.
- Jaguar was spun off from British Leyland and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984, becoming a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
- Jaguar was acquired by Ford in 1990, after Harold “Red” Polling assumed leadership, and later acquired Land Rover in 2000.
- In 2008, after Allan Mullaly assumed leadership, Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors of India. Tata created Jaguar Land Rover as a subsidiary holding company.
- At operating company level, in 2013 Jaguar Cars was merged with Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover Limited as the single design, manufacture, sales company and brand owner for both Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.
- Since the Ford ownership era, Jaguar and Land Rover have used joint design facilities in engineering centres at Whitley in Coventry and Gaydon in Warwickshire and Jaguar cars have been assembled in plants at Castle Bromwich and Solihull.
Jaguar’s sales slogan for years was “Grace, Space, Pace”, a mantra epitomized by the record sales achieved by the MK VII, IX, Mks I and II saloons and later the XJ6 during the time this slogan was used, but the exact text varied. Jaguar manufactured cars for the Royal Family and British Prime Minister, the most recent in May 2011 that has been replaced a Range Rover.
On 15 February 2021, Jaguar Land Rover announced that all cars made under the Jaguar brand will be fully electric by 2025.
Allard Background & Company History
Sources for this entry include: Wikipedia, Hagerty, Supercars, RM Sothebys and ConceptCarz
Allard founder Sydney Allard raced a Morgan three-wheeler in the early 1930s, then began building his own trials specials, powered by Ford V-8 motors.
During World War II, Sydney Allard’s London-based garage was used to rebuild Ford vehicles for British forces. After the war, the Allard Motor Company was founded in 1946 and approximately 1,900 vehicles were built through 1959, with most being family cars for the domestic market.
In 1946, he began building a line of sports cars bearing his own name, designated J1, K1, L, and M1, in short-, long-wheelbase, four-seater and drop head coupe variants. They carried stark bodywork, an American 221-dic Ford and 239-cid Mercury V-8 engines and their performance was downright frightening. Contributing to good handling was the Allard’s designed and built small-diameter tube frame with swing axle and coil spring front suspension, while the rear had a De Dion tube system with coil springs, inboard brakes (the first British sports car to have this innovation) and a quick-change differential. Allard’s use of the swing axle front suspension earned him success during the pre-war trials, allowing him to traverse difficult terrain with ease.
The first competition car was the J1, of which thirteen examples were built between 1946 and 1948. 151 examples of the K1 Roadster were built over a three-year period, beginning in 1946. Never intended for export, the K1 was offered only in England and Scotland with drivetrains sourced from a stockpile of circa 1937 Ford flathead V8, 85 bhp engines giving the 2,460-pound car a top speed of around 85 mph. The K1 was a two-seater built on a box-section frame with transverse leaf springs.
By 1950 Allard had sold 854 cars and was marketing the J2 and K2 roadsters, and the P2 sedan, in which he won the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally ahead of Stirling Moss, becoming the only man ever to win the event in a car of his own manufacture. The most familiar Allard competition car was the J2X, the follow-on to the J2 on exhibit.
Alvis Company History
Following World War I, naval architect Thomas G. John acquired the small Holley Bros. Carburetor manufacturing company in Coventry, and founded TG John and Co. Ltd., in 1919. In addition to carburetors, the firm originally made stationary engines and motor scooters. Unrelated at the time to T.G. John, in 1914 Geoffrey de Freville founded Aluminum Alloy Pistons, a small engineering firm in Wandsworth, South London. In 1920, Geoffrey de Freville approached T.G. John with advanced designs for a 4-cylinder engine featuring aluminum pistons and pressure lubrication. That design eventually evolved into T.G. John’s first engine and car, the 10/30 that gained a reputation for quality and performance for which the company became renown.
In 1921, the company became the Alvis* Car and Engineering Company Ltd. and moved production to Holyhead Road, Coventry, where from 1922 to 1923 they also produced the Buckingham car.
* It is thought that de Freville proposed the name Alvis combining the words “aluminum” and “vis” (meaning “strength” in Latin), though de Freville always denied it was anymore than a simple name he and Johns came up with that anyone could pronounce and remember. After a trademark challenge from Avro Aviation whose logo was similar to the first Alvis winged triangle, a change was made to the eventual logo, an inverted red triangle incorporating the word ‘Alvis’.
In 1922 George Smith-Clarke left his job as assistant works manager at Daimler and joined Alvis as chief engineer and works manager, along with William M. Dunn, a former Daimler draughtsman, to become chief draughtsman at Alvis. This partnership lasted for nearly 28 years and was responsible for producing some of the most successful products in the company’s history.
Smith-Clarke’s first task was fully developing de Freville’ designs into the 10/30 side-valve engine, and by 1923 it had evolved into famous overhead-valve 12/50 produced until 1932, one of the most iconic vintage sports cars of all time with exhilarating performance and rugged reliability and racing success at Le Mans in 1928.
1927 saw the introduction of the six-cylinder, Alvis 14.75 engine, the basis for the long line of luxurious six-cylinder Alvis cars produced up to the outbreak of the Second World War. These cars were elegant with technical innovations such as independent front suspension and the world’s first all-synchromesh gearbox in 1933 followed by servo assisted brakes. The Alvis 12/75 model introduced in 1928 was also technically-advanced with front-wheel drive, in-board brakes, overhead camshaft and, as an option, a Roots type supercharger.
As with many upmarket engineering companies of the time, Alvis did not produce their own coachwork, relying instead on the many available coachbuilders in the Midlands area. Several Alvis cars also survive with quite exotic, one-off bodywork from designers such as Holbrook, a U.S. coachbuilder.
In 1936 the company name was shortened to Alvis Ltd, and aircraft engine and armored vehicle divisions were added to the company by the beginning of the Second World War. Smith-Clarke designed several new models during the 1930s and 1940s, including the six-cylinder Speed 20, the Speed 25, and the Alvis 4.3 Liter model.
War Years
Car production was initially suspended in September 1939 following the outbreak of war in Europe and the Alvis car factory was severely damaged on 14 November 1940 during bombing raids by Germany thought to have been targeting nearby armaments factory that suffered little damage. Valuable equipment was lost and vehicle production was suspended for the duration of the war, resuming during the latter part of 1946. Despite this, Alvis carried out war production on aircraft engines as a sub-contractor of Rolls-Royce Limited and other aircraft equipment in its shadow factories.
Post-War Struggles Lead To End of Car Production in 1965
Car production resumed in 1946 with the 12/70, Crested Eagle, Speed 25, and 4.3 Liter continued well into 1940 and a new four-cylinder model, the TA 14, based on the pre-war 12/70. A solid, reliable and attractive car, the TA 14 fitted well the mood of sober austerity in post-war Britain, but much of the magic attaching to the powerful and sporting pre-war models had gone. Not only had Alvis lost their car factory, but many of the pre-war coachbuilders had not survived either and those that had were quickly acquired by other manufacturers. The post-war history of Alvis was dominated by the quest for reliable and reasonably priced coachwork.
S.H. Arnolt, Inc. Background & Company History
Stanley H. Arnolt, Jr. was a Chicago industrialist, who began importing foreign cars in the 1950s to the United States. A Russian Jew born to wealthy Chicago parents, he was the black sheep of the family, having changed his name from Aronoff (Aro-noff) to sound less Jewish, and was not a “junior.”
Stanley H. Arnolt Jr seemed taller than his actual five-foot-ten-inch frame, given by his habit of wearing western boots — he had a stable of Tennessee Walking Horses — and manner. He embraced his nickname, “Wacky,” and seemed to try to live up to it in just about every way he could.
By the 1950s, 43-year-old Arnolt had attended the University of Wisconsin where he studied mechanical engineering during the deepest part of the Great Depression before dropping-out, made a fortuitous and lucrative decision in 1939 to buy the rights to build the Waukesha Sea-Mite marine engine — just as World War II was breaking out, as well as everything from bomb racks to spotlights –– and other went to make consumer products for the home and garden in the booming post-war U.S.
After buying his first American luxury car — a Lincoln Continental in 1941 — in 1949 Arnolt took delivery of an MG TC. He was so impressed that by the end of 1950 he’d set up a dealership in Chicago to sell British marques including Morris, MG, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and Bristol. Knowing Morris producing Minors faster than they were being sold, Arnolt ordered 1,000 of them and became the largest Morris –– later, British Motor Corporation, aka, BMC — dealer in the Midwest. Arnolt also bought a sports car accessories company, and became a common face at Midwestern sports car races.
However, as a mechanical engineer, Arnolt always fancied being a car designer and wanted to have his own name on a car the public could buy. However, his true skills were in doing deals, which now positioned him to pursue his goal. The desire of Arnolt to develop and market his own series of imported sports cars in the early 1950s had far-reaching consequences that would affect important players in the automotive industry.
The European Connection
On the other side of the Atlantic, it was still a desperate time for post-war Europe. Auto makers and coachbuilders were struggling with rampant inflation in the wake of the Second World War, as well as global steel and aluminum shortages caused by the outbreak of the Korean Conflict: many struggled to stay in business.
The 1952 Turin Motor Show
The Arnolt Bertone relationship as well as the Arnolt-MG brand were both established in April 1952 during the Turin Motor Show at the Fattori e Montani display, a Rome-based firm that imported and sold the recently formed British Motor Corporation (BMC) MG brand. Fattori e Montani had an MG TD-based coupe and convertible on display with ultra-modern bodywork preserving only the front grille, instead of the now stodgy pre-war styling, built on speculation by Grouppo Bertone who was on the verge of insolvency, the Italian industrial design firm specializing in automotive styling, coachbuilding and manufacturing. Note: Many styling firms produced custom coachwork for the MG TD.
Bertone also had a display at Turin with the exotic, Franco Scaglione-penned Abarth Fiat 1500 that would inspire the 1953-’55 Alfa Romeo Berlina Aerodinamica Technica (B.A.T.) 5, 7, and 9: the 1500 was 180-degrees from the conservatively elegant Bertone MGs.
Arnolt on his quest to establish his own marque, attended show and shocked coachbuilder principal Nuccio Bertone by offering to purchase the two MGs, plus a further 100 of each body style, at a time when Bertone was getting-by designing and building one-offs and low-series-production autos that could not sustain the business long term.
As shared in one, colorful account, legend has it: “Arnolt went to the Turin Auto Show dressed in a cowboy hat and boots, not at all usual for him. Bertone was showing the cars in hopes of landing other styling jobs, not selling the cars themselves, was pleased when Arnolt strode up and said, “I want to buy these cars.” Arnolt, sensing that Bertone had misunderstood, interjected, “No, no. You don’t understand, I want to buy 100 of them.”
The Arnolt-MG
Starting in late 1952, Arnolt and Bertone were able to secure the purchase of 200 rolling MG TD frames to be shipped to Bertone’s factory in Turin as quickly as the new body shells could be produced: chassis was used wholesale, complete with the engine, transmission, steering, brakes and suspension, while the car’s body was bespoke. The finished cars were then exported to the U.S. and delivered to Arnolt’s dealership in Chicago.
Given the economic times, exchange rates and logistics costs associated with this arrangement, the coupé sold for $2,995, while the cabriolet was listed at $3,145 while quite high for the average car, the Arnolt-MG was the least expensive, custom coachmaker-built auto for sale in the U.S..
Despite the Arnolt-MG’s overall high-price, impressive build quality and user-friendly design, sales were hard to come and in 1953 MG replaced the TD with the substantially redesigned TF, at which point BMC elected to discontinue providing Arnolt & Bertone with the rolling chassis.
MG delivered its last TD chassis to Bertone in May 1953, after a total of 67 of coupes and 36 convertibles (36) were built, for a total production run of 103 Arnolt-MGs.
However, the end of the Arnolt-MG was not the end of Arnolt’s pursuit of his dream to built, sell and race cars under his own brand. As noted at the outset of this article, the 1952 Arnolt-MG was the first of four collaborative efforts between Arnholt’s U.S. automotive business, S.H. Arnolt Inc., Grouppo Bertone, and other British automakers. Subsequent endeavors, while also not even as successful as the Arnolt-MG, did produce cars and keep him involved in the automotive industry beyond the retail level.
More specifically, there were subsequent collaborations between .H. Arnolt Inc., Grouppo Bertone, Aston Martin, Bentley, and Bristol that extended his hybrid, British-Italian-American enterprise until 1968.
Arnolt-Bentley, One-Off
In 1953, Arnolt had Bertone design and build custom coachwork for a collaboration with Bentley for a one-off for Arnolt’s personal use, which resembled a larger version of the Arnolt-MG Coupé as it too was penned by Giovanni Michelotti, still working for Bertone. It was based on using the Bentley, 1953 R Type Continental chassis. Arnolt had the car fitted with monogrammed flasks and glasses, and a special cosmetics compartment for Mrs. Arnolt, and it was originally painted gold and fitted with tan hides.
Arnolt-Aston Martin (More info at Supercar Nostalgia & CarStyling)
Arnolt met with Aston Martin in early 1953 to discuss the purchase of seven running DB2/4 chassis to be delivered to to Bertone for bodywork. Aston Martin agreed. There were purportedly three Arnolt-Astons designed by Bertone’s fresh new designer, Franco Scaglione (chassis numbers LML50/502, LML 50/505 and LML 50/507). There was purportedly a fourth, LML/503, possibly a coupe and LML-/504 another coupe but that’s where it gets a bit fuzzy. It’s reported the Arnolt-Aston was stopped by Aston Martin after the three race cars were built.
All looked very much like Scaglione’s subsequent Arnolt-Bristol, having sharply creased fender lines, and were open cars without hardtops. There were four additional Bertone Astons that were commissioned at Arnolt’s request and went through Arnolt’s hands. However, these four cars are sometimes mistakenly referred to as Arnolt-Astons, but are not. Again, these were purportedly 3 roadsters and 1 coupé. Through time LML/503 has gone missing. There were two others, LML/762 and LML/765. But, experts are not in agreement as to whether or not they were merely Aston Martins or Arnolt-Aston Martins. For your viewing pleasure.
It’s said, seven Arnolt-Astons still exist. One article refers to a possible eighth car, perhaps destroyed in the Chicago fire at Arnolt’s factory. The cars were fitted with Aston’s 125 hp, 2580cc engine.
Arnolt-Bristol (See Below, for Complete Arnolt-Bristol History)
In 1954, Arnolt arranged the purchase of 200 Bristol 404-series chassis and the 1971-cc, six-cylinder 130 bhp engines from the earlier 403 model. Arnolt did so as a way of meeting his 200 unit obligation to Bertone after MG proved unable to fill the original order for 200 cars. A total of 142 Arnolt-Bristols were built for America. All were open-air roadsters, except for two (or three) coupes, noting 12 Arnolt-Bristols were destroyed in an Arnolt warehouse fire.
Morris Garage, aka., MG Background & Company History
Sources for this entry include: Wikipedia, Concept Carz, Classics World and MG Motors, Wikipedia
William Morris started building bicycles in Longwall Street, Birmingham. By 1911 Morris had turned his attention to motor cars and was selling and repairing various makes from the rebuilt premises, now renamed Morris Garages.
Morris Garages (1911-35)
In 1922 William Morris appointed his head salesman, a young Cecil Kimber as general manager. As well as running the showroom and garage, Kimber was also designing special bodywork. The MG name, based on the initials of the garage, first appeared in 1923 on a Kimber bodied bull nosed Morris Cowley special in which Kimber won gold in the Land’s End Trial.
By 1924 a range of rebodied Morris and MG badged models were being sold as ‘Kimber Specials’ and an overflowing order book resulted with MG assembly taking place at the Alfred Lane works, and later at a larger premise in Barton Road. Further expansion saw fledging MG production being transferred to a separate factory in Edmond Road in Cowley close to the main Morris works.
In 1928 a Kimber bodied 2.4-litre MG Six was displayed at that year’s London Motor Show and not long after, MG production was transferred to an old leather works in Abingdon.
In 1930, the year MG went racing, the MG Car Company Ltd was incorporated and although William Morris personally owned the company, he eventually sold his holdings in MG to Morris Motors in 1935, the lead company in the Morris Organization.
Morris Motors Ltd – (1935-52)
Before MG became part of Morris Motors, the Abingdon based MG Car Company had produced a string of successful models that included several Midgets, K-Type Magnette plus the L and M-Type Magnas. One of the first models to be built after MG came under the control of Morris Motors was the 1936 TA Midget, the first of the company’s T-Series sports cars. By the time the Second World War broke out in late 1939, Morris Motors and its MG, Riley, Wolseley and SU Carburetor subsidiaries had all become part of Morris’ Nuffield Organization.
MG relocated to larger spaces and also underwent many changes in ownership over the years. Morris’s Nuffield Organization merged with Austin to create the British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC) in 1952.
BMH, BLMC… SAIC – (1966-Present)
BMC merged with Jaguar Cars in September 1966, and that December, the new company was named British Motor Holdings (BMH). BMH merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968 to form British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC). The MG marque continued to be used by the successors of BLMC: British Leyland, the Rover Group and, by the start of 2000, the MG Rover Group, which entered receivership in 2005.
The MG marque along with other assets of MG Rover were purchased by Nanjing Automobile Group, which merged into SAIC in 2007. MG production restarted in 2007 in China, and the first new MG model in 16 years, the MG 6, was launched in the UK on 26 June 2011. The marque continues to be owned by Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor Corporation Limited.
Healey Background & Company History
Donald Healey’s Amazing & Long Bio, but it explains a lot given his many partnerships
Donald Healey was born in in 1898 at Perranporth, Cornwall, to Frederick and Emma Healey who ran a general store. Healey became interested in all things mechanical at an early age, most particularly aircraft. He studied engineering while at Newquay College, followed by an apprenticeship with Sopwith Aviation Company in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. He joined Sopwith in 1914, while continuing his engineering studies at Kingston Technical College, noting Sopwith had sheds at the nearby Brooklands aerodrome and racing circuit.
Aged 16 when WW1 started, Healey volunteered in 1916 before the end of his Sopwith apprenticeship for the Royal Flying Corps and earned his “wings” as a pilot. After being shot down by British anti-aircraft fire on one of the first night bombing missions of the war and a further series of crashes, his “wings” were rescinded and he spent the rest of the war checking aircraft components for the Air Ministry.
The Start of Racing
After the Armistice he returned to Cornwall, took a correspondence course in automobile engineering and opened his first garage in Perranporth in 1920. However, Healey found rally driving and motor racing more interesting than his garage, its car hire business and used the garage to prepare cars for competition.
Healey first entered the Monte Carlo Rally in 1929 driving a Triumph 7, but in 1931 Healey won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a 4½-litre Invicta and was 2nd overall the next year. Now in demand as a competition driver, he sold the garage business, moved to the Midlands to work for Riley Motors but soon moved to the Triumph Motor Company as experimental manager. The next year he was made technical director and responsible for the design of all Triumph cars.
- Healey created the Triumph Southern Cross and then the Triumph Dolomite 8 straight-eight sports car in 1935 following his class win, and 3rd overall, in the 1934 Monte Carlo Rally in a Triumph Gloria of his own design — the previous year a train demolished their Dolomite on a foggy level crossing miraculously sparing Healey and his co-driver.
- Triumph went into liquidation in 1939 but Healey remained on the premises as works manager for H M Hobson making aircraft engine carburetors for the Ministry of Supply.
During World War II, he worked with Humber on armored cars and developed an interest in building his own cars, planning post-war sports cars with colleague and chassis specialist Achille Sampietro.
The Donald Healey Motor Company
In 1945 he formed the Donald Healey Motor Company Ltd with Sampietro and Ben Bowden, housed in an old RAF hangar at Warwick. Their first endeavors were expensive, high quality cars, the first of which appeared in 1946, the Healey Elliot. It was a saloon with a Riley engine, developed by Dr J.N.H Tait: he won races with the Elliot in the 1947 and 1948 alpine rallies and the touring class of the 1948 Mille Miglia.
The Nash-Healey
Next was a high-performance sports car, the Silverstone which appeared in 1949. The Silverstone was so successful it led an agreement with George W. Mason, president of Nash Motors, to build a Nash-engined Healey sports car.
- The first series of the 2-seaters were built in 1951, designed by Healey with styling and aerodynamic input from Benjamin Bowden. The same all-enveloping theme was used by Bowden on the Zethrin Rennsport one year later.
- The Nash-Healey’s 6-cylinder engine was the one used for the Nash Ambassador , the body was aluminium, and the chassis was a Healey Silverstone.
- Pininfarina restyled the bodywork for 1952 and took over the production of its new steel body.
- A Nash-Healey driven by Donald Healey at Le Mans in 1950 with team members Duncan Hamilton & Tony Rolt’s car finished 4th overall after suffering serious mechanical damage when hit from behind by a brakeless Delage.
- Healey also drove a Nash-Healey in the Mille Miglia 1950 to 1952, finishing 1st in class in over 2000cc open category and was presented with the Franco Mazzotti Trophy Coppia Del Mille Miglia.
The Austin-Healey’s
Given all the cars produced by Healey thus far had been expensive, he wanted to produce a comparatively inexpensive sports car with 100 mph performance.
- Healey developed the Austin-Healey 100 using an Austin instead of the Tait developed Riley 2.5-litre engine and gearbox displaying it first at the October 1952 Earls Court motor show in London.
- The Morris-Austin merger had brought on the British Motor Corporation’s (BMC) decision to phase out the Morris Riley unit. His new factory at Cape Works, could not support the demand, so Austin-Healeys were manufactured under a licensing arrangement with BMC at their Longbridge works.
- A total of 74,000 Austin Healey 100s were built, more than 80% for export.
- Donald Healey formed a design consultancy in 1955, one of the results was the Austin-Healey Sprite which went into production in 1958.
Healey’s Time at Jensen & Jensen-Healeys
Healey’s production arrangement with BMC ended in 1967, and in 1970 Healey became chairman of Jensen Motors with the enthusiastic backing of key US based Austin-Healey distributors.
This was a long and fruitful relationship for Healey, in part because Jensen had been making body shells for Austin-Healey since the 1952 demise of the similar Austin A40 Sports.
- Healey’s first project with a Jensen was re-engineering the Jensen 541S with a V8 engine in 1961, the resulting car being a personal favorite of Healey’s.
- Ten years later, Healey helped design the Lotus-engined Jensen-Healey together with Lagonda designer William Towns, to replace the Austin-Healey, which BMC were discontinuing.
- He designed this new Jensen-Healey using Vauxhall running gear and prototyped it using Vauxhall and Ford engines, which either had insufficient power, did not fit the sloping bonnet, or were unable to comply with the emission standards set in place in USA.
- Ultimately, he settled on the all-aluminum 4-valve, twin overhead cam Lotus 907.
In 1961 Healey bought the 27 acres Trebah Estate, near Falmouth, Cornwall and carried out many ambitious projects in his later life, and passed in 1987 at the age of 89, seven years after his wife passed in 1980.
AC Cars, Ltd. Background and History
Acedes Holdings, LLC and AC Cars was originally founded as Autocars and Accessories in 1904, and is one of the oldest independent automakers founded in Britain, having produced vehicles since 1903. It survived several financial crises, liquidations and ownership by various different entities and owners.
AC Cars currently remains a going-concern under the parent firm Acedes Holdings LLC, established and incorporated in St Kitts by South African businessman Alan Lubinsky.
Lubinsky had previously acquired AC Cars Group in 1996 and established AC Motor Holdings Ltd. in Malta, then entered into an agreement too co-produce Shelby/AC Cobras with Carroll Shelby International: the results were not as hoped by any of the parties.
In 2022, a new corporate leadership began production of AC Cobra models, with a slightly modified structure to adapt it to modern safety and technology requirements needed to obtain the European road homologation certificate.
Acedes Holdings, LLC and AC Cars is currently producing chassis in South Africa, bodies in Coventry and — for gas-powered cars –– uses engines such as a supercharged Ford 4942cc, (aka, 302 cid small blocks) for the coupé version of the Ace.
Detailed History of AC & Key Developments
I’ve attempted to capture the AC Cars history below based on what I’ve found at sites like Wikipedia, you can also find a very succinct and image-rich history at the current, AC Cars Website, noting they even maintain a Facebook Page, but is not all that current.
It is a very interesting history, with many changes of ownership, products and a very dynamic, recent history, that now focuses on production of bespoke low-production, hand-made cars that diverge from the historic formula.
As an example, AC Cars introduced the AC Cobra Le Mans electric in 2020, 12 unique cars that recreate the 1963 AC factory Le Mans automobiles the company describes as, ” …keeping AC’s proud heritage of power and even though the cars are electric, they will still have 460kw of power and 1000 NM of torque, around 617bhp and 738-lb/ft. The cars will be true recreations of the cars that achieved the highest goal in sports car racing, a win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1963.”
In the Beginning
The first car produced by what eventually became the AC Motor Company was a Weller, 20 bhp touring car displayed at the Crystal Palace motor show in 1903.
The Weller brothers of West Norwood, London, planned to produce an advanced 20 bhp car. However, their financial backer and business manager John Portwine, a butcher, thought the car would be too expensive to produce and encouraged Weller to design and produce a smaller delivery three-wheeler.
Autocars and Accessories
In 1904, Weller Brothers Ltd changed its name to Autocars and Accessories and began production of the three-wheeled Auto Carrier, named the Auto Carrier. Based on the success of the 3-wheel Auto-Carrier (AC), in 1907 they created a passenger version called the Auto-Carrier Sociable, where seat replaced the cargo box at first, and front side-by-side seating followed. The single rear wheel on both machines contained a two-speed hub, and the single-cylinder engine was mounted just in front of it, with rear chain drive. Cars then followed.
Auto Carriers Ltd., aka AC
The company became Auto Carriers Ltd. in 1911 and moved to Ferry Works, Thames Ditton, Surrey, and adopted the famed “AC” roundel logo. They continued to produce the commercial 3-wheeler tricars and the A.C. Sociable now frequently referred to in their adverts as the Mighty Atom. Production of a sporty two-seater with a gearbox on the rear axle –– the first AC four-wheeled car –– began briefly in 1913, before World War I broke-out.
At the end of the war, Auto Carriers started making motor vehicles again and by 1919 John Weller designed a new overhead-cam six-cylinder engine: the Weller engine would be produced until 1963.
In 1919, British businessman, racing driver & cyclist Selwyn Edge (an interesting figure in his own right) returned to industry — after sitting out seven years as part of a non-compete agreement from the sale of a prior automotive business — and bought shares in AC Cars Ltd. Edge acquired a majority stake and took over the business in 1922 as governing director: the firm’s name changed again to AC Cars Ltd.. Edge did not get along with Weller or Portwine, and both resigned less than a year later.
AC Cars Ltd.
Common at the time, Edge sought publicity for the company through motoring competition. AC cars had success In 1923 and 1924 at the Brighton Speed Trials, the Montlhéry near Paris, where one broke the 24-hour record in a 2-litre AC, fitted with special streamlined bodywork, covering a distance of 1,949.3 miles, In 1926 when a 2-Liter AC won the Monte Carlo Rally and again when setting the 10-day endurance record at Montlhéry, driving an AC Six. Nevertheless, as the world was plunging into recession ahead of the great depression, the sales continued to fall.
AC (Acedes) Ltd.
Edge finally bought AC Cars Ltd outright for £135,000 in 1927, and re-registered it as AC (Acedes) Ltd. Sales continued to decline, the company was consumed by the stock market crash of 1929 and went into voluntary liquidation. Production ceased, and AC Cars was sold to the Hurlock family haulage business: they wanted the High Street factory to use as a warehouse — noting the Ferry Works was not acquired –– but allowed the auto service side of AC to continue. A single car was made for William Hurlock in 1930 and he liked it enough to restart limited production of AC Cars Ltd., primarily using components left over from previous models.
By 1932, a new range of cars was launched and production continued on a small scale, averaging less than 100 vehicles per year, until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The final pre-war car was delivered in June 1940, after which the factory was fully involved with war production. It ending up being the long-running, World War II contract with the UK government for the production of the Invacar, a three-wheeled invalid carriage, that did much to establish the company’s financial stability over the next 30-years.
Production of cars resumed in 1947 with the 2-Litre, 1991cc engine from the AC Model 16. The 2-Litre used an updated version of the pre-war, underslung chassis, fitted with the AC straight-six engine and traditional ash-framed and aluminum-paneled coachwork, available in saloon or convertible styles. They also built an aluminum-bodied three-wheeled microcar, the 3-wheel Petite, as well as “Bag Boy” golf carts during this post-war era.
The AC Ace
In 1953, the firm began production of the AC Ace, based on a lightweight chassis designed by John Tojeiro and hand built aluminum body designed and built by Eric George Gray with the venerable Weller-designed 2-Liter engine.
For 1954, a new aluminum-bodied closed coupe was unveiled at Earls Court, the AC Aceca — pronounced ‘A-seek-a’ — that was only slightly heavier than the convertible Ace, and because of better aerodynamics was actually slightly faster.
In 1956, buyers had the option of fitting Bristol Cars’ two-liter 120 bhp, straight-six with 3 downdraught carburetors and a four-speed gearbox. Top speed increased to 116 mph with 0–60 mph in the nine second bracket. Overdrive was available from 1956-on and front disc brakes were an option from 1957-on, although they were later standardized.
There was a demand from some customers for a larger four-seater car, for whom AC produced the Greyhound in 1959. This was built on a stretched Ace chassis with coil suspension all around and a 2.2-litre Bristol engine.
The AC Ace-Era One-Offs
The 1958 AC Ace LM Project was a one-off from the year 1958 with the unusual chassis number LM5000, which John Tojeiro designed on behalf of the brothers Hurlock specifically for the AC factory and long-distance racing at the 24 Hours of Le Man . The vehicle was only 737 kilograms (1,625 lb) and differed fundamentally from the standard model:
- It had a load-bearing, lightweight, tubular steel frame without the massive ladder structure,
- a new front axle with single wheel suspension, this time in the form of upper and lower triangular steering with coil spring / shock units, and
- a newly designed pendulum axle at the rear.
- The open aluminum body was much flatter, with larger overhangs at the front and rear and aerodynamically rounded with a lowered down front and high tail.
- It was designed by the body builder Cavendish Morton.
- The engine/ transmission unit, a tuned production unit, came from the Bristol Type 100D2 / S.
In 1958, after a test ride on the Brooklands circuit, just a few kilometres from the AC factory, the prototype, which was not yet mature, it was used in two events:
- In June it competed as a factory car in the Le Mans 24-hour race.
- In September it competed in the Rudac Racing Team at the RAC Tourist Trophy at the Goodwood Circuit.
- Due to changes in the regulations, the car was no longer able to compete in the next-class category in the FIA – Sportscar World Championship. The car was sold without the engine & drivetrain, and later rebuilt. It still exists today as a collector’s item.
The “AC Ace Bristol Zagato” was another one-off designed and built by Zagato in 1958. Conceptually, the Berlinetta resembles the two-seat factory coupe ‘ ‘AC Aceca’ ‘, but on chassis number BEX 477 of a left-steered’ ‘AC Ace Bristol’. The idea came about at the Geneva Motor Show in 1957 during a meeting between Hubert Patthey, then AC and Aston Martin importer for Switzerland and Elio Zagato.
The original vehicle from 1957 was delivered to the Swiss company Pattheys in 1958; Who commissioned the Grouppo Zagato to produce a single, individual car body for the vehicle to be used at local races and the Pescara rally. Pattey sold the finished vehicle to an Englishman and later racing driver Jo Siffert acquired the car and used it at different racing events and historical races like the Mille Miglia. On the circuit, the car took part only in a well-known race, on 5 October 1958, at the Coupes du Salon, where it won the class in the class up to 2000 cc. The vehicle is now owned by an American collector.
The ‘AC Ace-Aigle’ was an aerodynamically improved single-piece AC Ace Bristol-based vehicle with the BEX289 chassis number designed specifically for the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1960. The inspiration came from the Swiss AC importer Hubert Patthey, as was the case with ‘AC Ace Bristol Zagato’ in 1958, but was conceptually much easier.
A very similar “Ace Bristol” with chassis number BEX1192 appeared in Le Mans in 1962, at the same time the last Le Mans appearance of an “AC Ace” before the “AC Cobra” from 1964 was used. The car suffered accident damage the previous year and had been returned to the “AC” factory, where it received a special lightweight body with an aerodynamically favorable front in the style of the “Jaguar E-Type” / “Ace-Aigle”.
The AC 2.6 Ruddspeed Ace
Soon after, car dealer and racing driver Ken Rudd fitted his own competition Ace with a pre-war BMW-designed, Bristol-produced 135 bhp six-cylinder engine. This combination was put into production as the AC Ace-Bristol in 1957. In this form, the car raced at Le Mans in 1957 and 1958.
The 1958 production model of the Ford Zephyr I6 engine-powered AC Ace 2.6 , considered one of the best-looking and rarest with only 37 examples built after the Bristol motors were no longer available. To fit the Ford Zephyr engine, AC had to modify the frame, relocate the steering box and completely change the nose of the car. These changes are often mistakenly attributed to Carroll Shelby.
Rudd’s 2.6-litre, straight-six engine option used three Weber or SU carburetors and either a ‘Mays’ or an iron cast head. This setup boosted the car’s performance further, with some versions tuned to 170 bhp, providing a top speed of 130 mph, and 0–60 mph in 8.1 seconds. However, it was not long before Carroll Shelby drew AC’s attention to the Cobra, so only 37 of the 2.6 models were made. These Ford-engined models had a smaller grille which was carried over to the Cobra.
The Shelby AC Cobra
In September 1961, AC was approached by Carroll Shelby who proposed to use a small block Ford Windsor V8 engine in the Ace chassis, which became the original AC Cobra, as Shelby needed a car that could compete with the Chevrolet Corvette in US sports car racing. Only a single example was built (CSX 2000) using a Ford 221 Windsor V8.
Aside from slightly thicker main chassis tubes and modified engine mounts, few changes were initially made by AC Cars to the prototype Cobra chassis, which would hopefully accommodate additional V8 horsepower. By late 1961 AC Cars installed the Ford 221 cid engines in CSX 2000 and tested the car at the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) track in central England. After many test laps and a superficial evaluation, minimal modifications were deemed necessary with the car’s suspension components.
It was Ford’s 289 cid engine that powered the winning car in the 1964 GT class at Le Mans, at which time the Shelby-produced AC Cobra 427 was the fastest “production” car in the world. There’s far more to the AC Shelby Cobra story, that that will have to wait until an AC-based Cobra finds its way to the Savoy Automobile Museum.
The Dissolution of AC Cars
In 1984, after selling the historic High Street works for redevelopment, AC Cars continued to operate a service operation in the “21st Century” works on Summer Road until the Hurlock family finally sold their holdings to William West later in the year.
After some complex machinations, the company was split between property interests and the car brand; the former was renamed and the latter was acquired by C.P.Autokraft’s owner, Brian Angliss.
The Autokraft years
In 1982, Brian Angliss was running Autokraft, a Cobra restoration shop, parts supplier and replica manufacturer in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. To support his business, he acquired some of the AC Cars tooling from Thames Ditton and created the Mk IV; an AC Cobra look-alike with US-spec 5 mph bumpers, a US-regulation emissions compliant engine, and a larger interior with modern switchgear. About 480 cars were produced in the now Autokraft-owned Brooklands factory. He also produced a lightweight European model which was more in tune with the original Cobra spirit, though it could not be exported to the US. These early “replicas” were sold as Autokraft Mk IV, but eventually Angliss acquired the rights to use the AC name and set up a new AC company as a joint venture with Ford, who had also recently bought Aston Martin. However, by 1996, Angliss became over-extended while developing and selling 50 editions of a new “Ace” and went into receivership.
AC Car Group Ltd.
In March 1996, the residual assets of Autokraft’s AC endeasor were sold by the receivers to South African businessman Alan Lubinsky in December 1996, who continued car production in Weybridge, Surrey, under the name of AC Car Group Ltd. Lubinsky produced and sold both the Cobra Mk IV and the Ace, and soon a ‘CRS’ version of the Mk IV was announced with a carbon fibre body shell, a 212 S/C version with Lotus twin-turbo V8 power, as well as the AC Superblower with a supercharger Ford V8. Two Aceca coupes (in closed version of the Ace) were also made.
AC Motor Holdings Ltd.
In August 2002, Lubinsky established and incorporated AC Motor Holdings Ltd. in the small, Mediterranean island nation of Malta. In 2003, Carroll Shelby International and AC Motor Holdings Ltd. announced joint production of an authentic Shelby/AC Cobra, with the production vehicle arriving at dealers in July 2004. Initially, available models included Shelby AC 427 S/C Cobra and Shelby AC 289 FIA Cobra, which would be branded as the CSX 1000 and CSX 7500 Series, respectively.
In February 2004, the first handcrafted aluminum body shell was built at Frimley works. In 2004, a new manufacturing plant was opened in Malta and production of the carbon-fibre-bodied AC MkV began. However, due to problems with the factory building, production ceased in 2007, the factory was abandoned and many debts were never repaid.
Acedes Holdings LLC
In August 2008, Lubinsky established and incorporated a new entity, Acedes Holdings LLC in St Kitts,, parent company of AC Cars. AC Cars subsequently announced a joint venture with Brooklands Motor Company (the spiritual successor of Autokraft) in Weybridge, Surrey, UK and confirmed plans for the continuation of the traditional AC designed tubular chassis and aluminium-bodied models.
- In April 2009, a joint venture in Germany was announced to manufacture the new AC MKVI. Following a supply deal with GM, the AC Mk VI had a novel spaceframe chassis, 6.2-litre V8 engine and 6-speed manual transmission, and new Corvette brakes, retaining the original shape in lightweight composite material with the mold taken from an original AC Mk III body. The car went into series production in July 2012 after two years of intense prototyping and development.
- In 2010, AC announced a joint venture with the USA-based company Iconic which resulted in the design of the ultimate “Cobra”: the “Iconic AC Roadster”.
- At the Geneva Motor Show in 2012, AC Cars showed three different models: the AC MK VI, AC MK II Classic, and AC 378 GT Zagato.
- In 2020, AC Cars announced that they will be building a zero-emission version of the Cobra called the Series 1 Electric. 58 of these electric sports cars will be built alongside a 2.3-litre petrol version called the AC Cobra 140 Charter Edition.
- In 2022, the new corporate structure began the production of 663 new AC Cobra models, with a slightly modified structure to adapt it to modern safety and technology requirements and obtain the European road homologation certificate.
Lotus Background and Company History
Summary
Lotus Cars Limited is a British automotive company headquartered in Norfolk, England which manufactures sports and racing cars noted for their light weight and fine handling characteristics. Lotus was previously involved in Formula One racing, via Team Lotus since the 1950’s, which we don’t delve into here, as that’s a massive history and story unto itself.
Lotus Cars was founded in 1948, first incorporated in 1952, re-organized several times but always owned from 1952 to 1982 by Colin Chapman. After his death and a period of financial instability, it was bought by General Motors, then Romano Artioli and DRB-HICOM through its subsidiary Proton. It is currently majority owned by Chinese multinational Geely, with Etika Automotive as a minority shareholder.
The engineering consultancy firm Lotus Engineering, an offshoot of Lotus Cars, has facilities in the United Kingdom, United States, China, and Malaysia. Notable Lotus cars from it’s long and distinguished road-car production history include the Lotus Seven, Elite, Esprit and the Elan.
How It All Started: The Lotus Mark 1 (Mk 1)
It was 1947 and England was on the verge of recovery after the very tough times of the Second World War and Colin Chapman and Colin Dare, two young civil engineering students at London University, had started a small business buying and selling second-hand cars that was becoming lucrative. Chapman persuaded his girlfriend and future wife Hazel’s father to rent him space in a small garage behind his home to initially store material for the auto sales business.
Chapman had a natural gift for finding, fixing and re-selling cars, while his friend and partner left the business to concentrate on his studies. Chapman faced yet another challenge when fuel rations in England were reduced that killed the demand for used cars and he opted get out of the used car business, selling all of his cars with the exception of a fabric-bodied, 1930 Austin Rover Seven that he decided to tinker with.
Still using his future father-in-law’s small garage, the young engineer and Hazel spent their free time modifying the old Austin and the car intended for daily use, evolved in to a Trials car that competed in cross-country, dirt-road timed events on old, abandoned airfields, a popular motor sports pursuit at the time.
As he modified the little car, reducing weight became an obsession which he combined with what he was learning after enlisting in the London University Air Squadron of the RAF, reshaping and adding rigidity to eliminate the inherent flex of the little car, then suspension and engine modifications to the little four cylinder, along many other little changes in what became the very first in a very long, sequentially-numbered series of cars that grew to 90-designs by the time of his passing at age 54 in 1982: the Lotus, the Mark I. Colin and Hazel started to get some good results in the trial events they entered, making further changes like wider rear wheels to gain more traction and and a front independent suspension instead of the original rigid axle version.
The Mark 1 shifted Chapman’s focus from a future designing bridges, tunnels and buildings to the design of racing cars with perfect timing.
Lotus Cars in the Early years
Links to interesting sites detailing Lotus locations with photos: Hornsey-Lotus, Lotus-Places, Lotus-Factories and Lotus_Heritage
The company was formed in 1952 as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineers Colin Chapman and Colin Dare, after both graduated from University College, London; however, I’ve been able to find scant information on Dare beyond that point, as well as Chapman’s follow-on Company partners, the Allen Brothers, who likewise aren’t mentioned further in most of the Lotus history.
From an article written about the Allen Brothers in 1988, it was noted: “But for Michael and Nigel Allen, it is possible that Colin Chapman’s name would mean nothing today. Until he met them, Lotus was merely his spare time passion, a hobby rather than a business. With their enthusiasm and hard work, however, LMU 3’s racing success was achieved, leading to the creation of the Lotus Engineering Co Ltd.” Nigel Allen on his recollection of Chapman from the 1988 article:
- “He was never short of ideas,” Nigel recalls. “There’s no doubt that he was very clever. He was a brilliant mathematician and a good stress engineer. He was also a very good driver and had to win, so much so that he took risks. I remember going to the Nurburgring for the first time, Colin and I, with two MkVIIIs, Colin’s lighter and faster than mine. He was determined to get to know the course, so my wife traveled with him in the back of a Ford Anglia and wrote down everything he said as he drove round the 14 miles. He memorized it overnight, and next day led his class until the car broke.”
- “He badly wanted to be successful too, and that made him ruthless. He really did use people: it was fine for people drawn into the excitement to come and work for nothing, but as soon as anyone started to make a fuss someone else would be found instead. But then most successful businesses need a dictator at the top. In the early days there was always an unending crowd of people willing to work for nothing, just for the glamour of it. This is really how Lotus Engineering took off.”
While Lotus founder Colin Chapman was born in Richmond, West London, he was brought up in Muswell Hill, North London. His father ran The Railway Hotel on Tottenham Lane, next to the train station in the nearby suburb of Hornsey.
Having outgrown his future father-in-law’s small garage where Chapman built his first three cars — the Lotus Marks 1, 2 and 3 — he moved the workshops into the old stables behind the Railway Hotel and pub in Hornsey, North London shortly after he and Colin Dare founded the Lotus Engineering Company on 1 January 1952. The business quickly grew and to accompany the manufacturing area a new showroom with a drawing office on the first floor was built next door.
The Lotus Group of Companies was formed in 1959. One company was Lotus Cars Limited which made road cars. The other company was Lotus Components Limited which worked on customer race cars. Lotus Components Limited became Lotus Racing Limited in 1971 but stopped building cars in the same year.
With popularity of his cars growing Chapman moved the firm to a purpose built factory at Cheshunt in 1959, and since 1966 the company has occupied a modern factory and road test facility at Hethel, near Wymondham in Norfolk. The site is a former World War II airfield, RAF Hethel, and the test track uses sections of the old runway.
In its early days, Lotus sold cars aimed at privateer racers and trialists. Its early road cars could be bought as kits, in order to save on purchase tax.
The kit car era ended in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Lotus Elan Plus Two being the first Lotus road car not to be offered in kit form, and the Lotus Eclat and Lotus Elite of the mid-1970s being offered only in factory built versions.
After the Lotus Elite of the 1950s, which featured a complete fibreglass monocoque fitted with built-in steel pickup points for mounting major components, Lotus found critical and sales success in the 1960s with the 1963 Lotus Elan two seater later developed to two plus two form. Lotus was notable for its use of fibreglass bodies, backbone chassis, and overhead camshaft engines, initially supplied by Coventry Climax but later replaced by Lotus-Ford units using a Ford block, Lotus head and twin cam valve gear. Lotus also worked with Ford on the Lotus Cortina, a successful sports saloon.
Another Lotus of the late 1960s and early 1970s was the two seater Lotus Europa, initially intended only for the European market, which paired a backbone chassis and lightweight body with a mid mounted Renault engine, later upgraded to the Lotus-Ford twin cam unit as used in the Elan.
The Lotus Seven, originating in the 1950s as a simple, lightweight open two seater continued in production into the early 70s. Lotus Cars then sold the rights to produce the Seven to Caterham, which has continued to produce the car since then.
By the mid-1970s, Lotus Cars sought to move upmarket with the launch of the Elite and Eclat models, four seaters aimed at prosperous buyers, with features such as optional air conditioning and optional automatic transmissions. The mid-engined line continued with the Lotus Esprit, which was to prove one of the company’s longest lived and most iconic models. Lotus developed its own series of four cylinder Dual Overhead Cam (DOHC) engines, the Lotus 900 series, and later a V8, and turbocharged versions of the engines appeared in the Esprit.
Variants of the 900 series engine were supplied for the Jensen Healey sports car and the Sunbeam Lotus “hot hatchback”. In the 1980s, Lotus Cars collaborated with Vauxhall Motors to produce the Lotus Carlton, the fastest roadgoing Vauxhall car.
1980’s Financial troubles & Death of Chapman
By 1980, Lotus Cars was in financial trouble, as the world once again found itself in the middle of an economic recession and sales in the key United States market had virtually collapsed: production dropped from 1,200 units per year to 383.
In early 1982, Chapman and Toyota made and agreement to exchange intellectual property and applied expertise. This initially resulted in Lotus Engineering helping to develop the 1982 Toyota Supra Mk2, and enabled Lotus to launch the new Lotus Excel to replace the ageing Lotus Eclat, a hybrid using drivetrain and other components from Toyota Supra Mk2 to sell the Excel for £1,109 less than the Eclat it replaced.
Looking to re-enter the North American market, Chapman was approached by young law professor and investment banking consultant, Joe Bianco, who proposed a new and separate United States sales company for Lotus. Formed in 1982, Lotus Performance Cars Inc. (LPCI), was able to provide fresh capital to the Lotus Group in the United Kingdom, former Ferrari North America general manager John Spiech was brought in to run LPCI, which imported the remarkable Giugiaro-designed Turbo Esprit for the first time, and US sales began to quickly jump into triple digits annually.
Chapman died of a heart attack on 16 December 1982 at the age of 54, having begun life as an innkeeper’s son and ended a multi-millionaire industrialist in post-war Britain. At the time of his death, the car maker had built thousands of successful racing and road cars and won the Formula One World Championship seven times.
At the time of his death, both Chapman and Lotus Engineering were linked with the DeLorean Motor Company scandal over the use of UK Government subsidies for the production of the DeLorean DMC-12, for which Lotus eventually designed the chassis.
Chasing large sums of money which had disappeared from the DeLorean company, Lotus was besieged by Inland Revenue inspectors, who imposed an £84 million legal “protective assessment” on the company.
More Trivia: While some suggest the Lotus connection drove the design of the DeLorean DMC-12 and explain it’s appearance. I disagree, and would first off note both were designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign, and that both are consistent with most of Giugiaro’s “wedge-shaped” designs, e.g., the DeTomaso Mangusta, BMW M-1, Maserati Boomerang and AMC AMX/3 concept.
With the Lotus Group near bankruptcy in 1983, David Wickins, the founder of British Car Auctions, agreed to become the new company chairman, through an introduction from his friend Mark Thatcher. Wickins oversaw a complete turnaround in the company’s fortunes, which resulted in him being called “The saviour of Lotus”.
Ownership Moves to GM, Back to Europe then Asia & China
In January 1986, Wickins oversaw the majority sale of the Group Lotus companies and 100% of North American–based LPCI to General Motors, noting engineer and then-president of GM Europe Bob Eaton was a Lotus car enthusiast. After four months’ control of Group Lotus by the co-owners GM and Toyota, the latter sold GM its stake. By October 1986, GM had acquired a 91% stake in Group Lotus for £22.7 million, which allowed GM to legally force the company buyout.
Seven years later, on 27 August 1993, GM sold the company, for £30 million, to A.C.B.N. Holdings S.A. of Luxembourg, a company controlled by Italian businessman Romano Artioli, who also owned Bugatti Automobili SpA. In 1996, a majority share in Group Lotus was sold to Proton, a Malaysian car company listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.
On 24 May 2017, Chinese multinational Geely announced that was taking a 51% controlling stake in Group Lotus. The remaining 49% was acquired by Malaysia-based Etika Automotive, a holding company of Proton’s major shareholder Syed Mokhtar Albukhary.
In January 2021 Group Lotus’ parent company Geely announced a joint venture with Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance and their Alpine division to develop a range of electric performance cars sharing some of their future platforms. In April 2021 Group Lotusannounced plans to produce only electric cars by 2028 and increase production numbers from around 1,500 per annum to tens of thousands. Geely and Etika Automotive provided two billion pounds (US$2.8 billion) to fund the changes.
Formula One and Motorsport Bolsters the Lotus Brand
Wikipedia articles: Team Lotus, Team Lotus (2010–2011), and Lotus F1
In the 1950’s, Chapman & Lotus encouraged customers to race its cars. Shortly after Lotus Engineering in 1954 was formed, Team Lotus was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954. A new Formula Two regulation was announced for 1957, and in Britain, several organizers ran races for the new regulations during the course of 1956. Most of the cars entered that year were sports cars, and they included a large number of Lotus 11s, the definitive Coventry Climax-powered sports racer, led by the Team Lotus entries for Chapman, driven by Cliff Allison and Reg Bicknell.
Lotus entered Formula One through its sister company Team Lotus in 1958. A Lotus 18 Formula One car driven by Stirling Moss won the marque’s first Grand Prix in 1960 at Monaco, entered by privateer Rob Walker. Major success came in 1963 with the Lotus 25, which – with Jim Clark driving – won Team Lotus its first F1 World Constructors’ Championship. Clark’s untimely death – he crashed a Formula Two Lotus 48 in April 1968 after his rear tyre failed in a turn in Hockenheim – was a severe blow to the team and to Formula One. He was the dominant driver in the dominant car and remains an inseparable part of Lotus’s early years. That year’s championship was won by Clark’s teammate, Graham Hill.
Team Lotus is credited with making the mid-engined layout popular for IndyCars, developing the first monocoque Formula One chassis, and the integration of the engine and transaxle as chassis components. Team Lotus was also among the pioneers in Formula One in adding wings and shaping the undersurface of the car to create downforce, as well as the first to move radiators to the sides of the car to aid in aerodynamic performance and inventing active suspension.
Current & Past Exhibits at the Savoy Museum 
.jpg){kind=link}