Wolseley Motors

Wolseley Motors

Wolseley Motors

Industry	Automotive
Fate	Merged
Successor	British Motor Corporation
Founded	1901
Defunct	1975
Headquarters	Birmingham, England
Key people	Thomas and Albert Vickers Herbert Austin J D Siddeley A J McCormack W R Morris

Wolseley Marque

Product type	Automotive marque
Owner	SAIC Motor
Discontinued	1987
Previous owners	Vickers, Sons and Maxim(1901–1927) W R Morris (1927–1935) Morris Motors Limited (1935–1952) BMC (1952–1967) British Leyland (1967–1986) Rover Group (1986–1988) BAe (1988–1994) BMW (1994–2000) MG Rover (2000–2005) NAC (2005–2007)

Wolseley Motors Limited owned a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers armaments combine in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range topped by large luxury cars and dominated the market in the Edwardian era. The Vickers brothers died and without their guidance Wolseley expanded rapidly after the war, manufacturing 12,000 cars in 1921, and remained the biggest motor manufacturer in Britain.

Over-expansion led to receivership in 1927 when it was bought from Vickers Limited by William Morris as a personal investment and years later moved into his Morris Motors empire just before the Second World War. After that its products were “badge-engineered” Morris cars. Wolseley went with its sister businesses into BMC, BMH and British Leyland, where its name lapsed in 1975.

Founding 1901

Herbert Austin (1866–1941) in 1905

Colonel Thomas Vickers (1833–1915)

Sir Hiram Maxim (1840–1916) caricature by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1904

Colonial tourer 1912

The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company Limited

Hiram Maxim, inventor of the machine gun that bears his name and by then a member of the combine Vickers Sons & Maxim, had consulted Herbert Austin at Wolseley in the late 1890s a number of times in relation to the design of flying machines, which he was developing and constructing. Maxim made use of a number of suggestions made by Austin in Maxim’s activities at his works in Crayford, Kent. Once the sheep-shearing company had decided they would not pursue their automobile interest an approach was made and agreement quickly reached.

The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company of Adderley Park Birmingham was incorporated in March 1901 with a capital of £40,000 by Vickers, Sons and Maxim to manufacture motor cars and machine tools. The managing director was Herbert Austin. The cars and the Wolseley name came from Austin’s exploratory venture for The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited, run since the early 1890s by the now 33-year-old Austin. Wolseley’s board had decided not to enter the business and Maxim and the Vickers brothers picked it up. After his five-year contract with The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company ended Austin founded The Austin Motor Company Limited.

Austin’s Wolseley cars

 10hp 2-cylinder tonneau 1903

 20hp shooting brake 1903

Austin had been searching for other products for WSSMC because sale of sheep-shearing machinery was a highly seasonal trade. About 1895–96 he became interested in engines and automobiles. During the winter of 1895–96, working in his own time at nights and weekends, he made his own version of a design by Léon Bollée that he had seen in Paris. Later he found that another British group had bought the rights and he had to come up with a design of his own, having persuaded the directors of WSSMC to invest in the necessary machinery.

In 1897 Austin’s second Wolseley car,

the Wolseley Autocar No. 1 was revealed. It was a three-wheeled design (one front, two rear) featuring independent rear suspension, mid-engine and back to back seating for two adults. It was not successful and although advertised for sale, none were sold.

The third Wolseley car, the four-wheeled Wolseley “Voiturette” followed in 1899. A further four-wheeled car was made in 1900.

The 1901 Wolseley Gasoline Carriage featured a steering wheel instead of a tiller. The first Wolseley cars sold to the public were based on the “Voiturette”, but production did not get underway until 1901, by which time the board of WSSMC had lost interest in the nascent motor industry.

Thomas and Albert Vickers, directors of Vickers and Maxim Britain’s largest armaments manufacturer had much earlier decided to enter the industry at the right moment and impressed by Austin’s achievements at WSSMC they took on his enterprise. When Austin’s five-year contract officially ended in 1906 they had made more than 1,500 cars, Wolseley was the largest British motor manufacturer and Austin’s reputation was made.

The company had been formed in March 1901. By 1 May 1901 Austin had issued his first catalogue. There were to be two models, 5 hp and 10 hp. They were both available with either a Tonneau or a Phaeton body with either pneumatic or solid tyres. For an additional outlay of thirty shillings (£1.50) the 10 hp model would be fitted with a sprag to prevent it running backwards. “We recommend pneumatic tyres for all cars required to run over twenty miles an hour. Austin then provided a paragraph as to why his horizontal engines were better lubricated (than vertical engines) and that 750 rpm, the speed of his Wolseley engines, avoided the short life of competing engines that ran between 1,000 and 2,000 rpm.”

The association with Vickers not only helped in general design but in the speed of production and provision of special steels

The Wolseley range from 1901 to 1905.

8hp 2-cylinder tonneau 1904

Engines were horizontal which kept the centre of gravity low. Cylinders were cast individually and arranged either singly, in a pair or in two pairs which were horizontally opposed. The crankshaft lay across the car allowing a simple belt or chain-drive to the rear axle:

1902 The 5hp MC-Wolseley

1904 Wolseley 6hp Light Car, 5 hp, 6 hp from 1904

1903 Wolseley 7,5hp tonneau AC-Wols

1904 Wolseley 8 hp tonneau, 7½ hp, 8 hp from 1904

1902 Wolseley 10 hp tonneau WTC

1910 Wolseley 12hp-16 Town Car. 2,226 cc, 10 hp, 12 hp from 1904

1912 Wolseley 16-20hp Landaulette

from 1904 16 hp

1903 Wolseley 20hp tonneau 6seats reliable hill-climbing

1904 Wolseley 2 cyl 20hp shooting brake London to Brighton

20 hp, 24 hp from 1904

 

in 1904 Queen Alexandra bought a 5.2-litre 24 hp landaulette with coil ignition, a four-speed gearbox and chain drive.

Siddeley

Name plate: Vickers, Sons & Maxim
Wolseley Siddeley

2.6 litre 14 hp rotund phaeton (tourer) 1908

Austin’s resolute refusal to countenance new vertical engines for his Wolseleys, whatever his directors might wish, led to Austin handing in his resignation the year before his contract ended. Curiously in his new Austin enterprise all the engines proved vertical but there he had to suffer a new financial master. Vickers replaced Austin by promoting Wolseley’s London sales manager, John Davenport Siddeley to general manager. As Austin was aware Vickers had earlier built, in association with Siddeley, Siddeley’s vertical-engined cars at their Crayford Kent factory. The new Siddeley cars began to overtake Wolseley’s sales of “old-fashioned” horizontal-engined cars. In early 1905 they hired Siddeley for their London sales manager and purchased the goodwill and patent rights of his Siddeley car.

8.6-litre 40–50 hp limousine

for the Earl of Leicester 1909

Siddeley, on his appointment to Austin’s former position, promptly replaced Austin’s horizontal engines with the now conventional upright engines. With him he brought his associate Lionel de Rothschild as a member of the Wolseley board. Together they gave the business a new lease of life. At the November 1905 Olympia Motor Show, the first at the former National Agricultural Hall, two small 6 hp and 8 hp cars were still exhibited with horizontal engines but there were also Siddeley’s new 15, 18 and 32 hp cars with vertical engines. This switch to vertical engines brought Wolseley a great deal of publicity and their products soon lost their old-fashioned image.

However a tendency then arose for journalists to follow the company’s full-page display advertising and drop the first word in Wolseley Siddeley — “Siddeley Autocars made by (in smaller typeface) the Wolseley Tool . . .”  Certainly it was true the new engines were named Siddeley engines. Meanwhile, under Siddeley Wolseley maintained the sales lead left to him by Austin but, now run from London not (Austin’s base) Birmingham, the whole business failed to cover overheads. A board member, Walter Chetwynd, was set to find a solution. It was decided the business operated from too many different locations. First the board closed the Crayford Kent works, moving the whole operation back to Birmingham and dropping production of commercial vehicles and taxicabs – a large number of which, 500+, were made during Siddeley’s time including an early 10 hp taxicab made in 1908 sold to a Mr W R Morris of Holywell St. Oxford who ran a garage there and hire car business as well as making bicycles. Then the London head office followed. After some heated discussions Siddeley resigned in the spring of 1909 and Rothschild went too. Ernest Hopwood was appointed managing director in August 1909. Siddeley was to go on to manage the Deasy Motor Company and a notable commercial career.

Wolsit racer 1907

Wolseley Italy or Wolsit

Wolsit Officine Legnanesi Autmobili was incorporated in 1907 by Macchi Brothers and the Bank of Legnano to build Wolseley cars under licence in Legnano, about 18 kilometres north-west of central Milan. A similar enterprise, Fial, had started there a year earlier but failed in 1908. Wolsit automobile production ended in 1909, the business continued but made luxury bicycles. Emilio Bozzi made the Ciclomotore Wolsit from 1910 to 1914. A team of Wolsit cars competed in motoring events in 1907.

The Wolseley range in 1909:

12/16 hp

16/20 hp

20/24 hp

24/30 hp

 

Stellite, a separate low-priced range designed by Wolseley 1914

30/34 hp

40 hp

40/50 hp

60 hp

After 1911 the name on the cars was again just Wolseley.

Chetwynd’s recommendations soon lead to a revival in profits and a rapid expansion of Wolseley’s business. The Adderley Park factory was greatly extended in 1912. These extensions were opened in 1914 but there was not sufficient space for the new Stellite model which was instead produced and marketed by another Vickers subsidiary, Electric and Ordnance Accessories Company Limited.

Machine tools, buses, rail engines etc

Wolseley was not then as specialised in its operations as members of the motor industry were to become. For other members of the Vickers group they were general engineers and they also handled engineering enquiries directed on to them by other group members. Wolseley built double-decker buses for the Birmingham Corporation. They also built many specials such as electric lighting sets and motor boat engines – catalogued sizes were from 12 hp to 250 hp with up to twelve cylinders and complete with gearboxes. Fire engines too and special War Office vehicles being a subsidiary of a major armaments firm. As befits a company with tool in its name they built machine tools including turret lathes and horizontal borers though chiefly for their own use or for group members. Very large engines were made to power railcars, those made for the Delaware and Hudson railroad powered a petrol-electric system.

Marine and aero-engines

HMA No. 1 Mayfly at her mooring, Barrow-in-Furness September 1911

While at first Wolseley supplied engines for launches, made for them by Teddington Launch Works, they moved on to small river craft and light coasting boats. The demand for engines for larger vessels grew. It was not uncommon for orders to be booked for 70-foot (21 m) yachts, racing launches and ferry boats to carry fifty or more passengers. These were manufactured by S E Saunders Limited at Cowes, Isle of Wight. Special engines were made for lifeboats. In 1906 horizontal engines of sixteen cylinders were designed and constructed for British submarines. They were designed to run at a low speed. High efficiency V8 engines were made for hydroplanes as well as straight eights to run on petrol or paraffin. Weight was very important and these engines were of advanced design. The airship Mayfly was fitted with Wolseley engines.

A Ferdinand de Baeder (1865–1944), Belgian holder of Aviator’s certificate No. 107, won Prix des Pilots, Prix des Arts et Metiers, Coupe Archdeacon, Prix Capitaine Berger at Châlons-en-Champagne in his Wolseley-engined Voisin biplane on 30 December 1909. By the summer of 1910 Wolseley were able to supply the following specially designed water-cooled aero-engines:

60 hp V8 aero-engine 1910

30 hp 4-cylinder, bore and stroke: 3¾ x 5½ inches, displacement 5.85 litres

60 hp V8-cylinder, bore and stroke: 3¾ x 5½ inches, displacement 11.7 litres.

They were soon followed by a 120 hp version

• 16-20 hp 1912
• 24-30 Colonial model 1912
• Antarctic November 1911
• 

  1905 360 hp 12-cylinder marine engine

Caterpillar tracked tractors were designed and supplied to Robert Falcon Scott for his ill-fated second expedition to the Antarctic. Orders were also received for use by the Deutsche Antarktische Expedition.

In 1914 Russian lawyer Count Peter Schilowsky was supplied with a two-wheeled gyroscopically balanced car for use on narrow tracks in wartime.

Wolseley 120 hp V8 aero engine 1910

• 

  Schilowsky’s gyrocar

1924 1½-ton lorry

Commercial vehicles

From 1912 lorries and other commercial vehicles were supplied. Until the outbreak of war in 1914 Wolseley offered six types of commercial vehicle from 12 cwt delivery van to a five-ton lorry with a 40 hp engine.

Wolseley Motors Limited 1914

By 1913 Wolseley was Britain’s largest car manufacturer selling 3,000 cars. The company was renamed Wolseley Motors Limited in 1914.
It also began operations in Montreal and Toronto as Wolseley Motors Limited. This became British and American Motors after the First World War. In January 1914 the chairman, Sir Vincent Caillard, told shareholders they owned probably the largest motor-car producing company in the country and that its factory floor space now exceeded 17 acres.

First World War

Wolseley ambulance of

“The Madonnas of Pervyse”

Former Wolseley works, Ward End

Entering wartime as Britain’s largest car manufacturer Wolseley initially contracted to provide cars for staff officers and ambulances. Government soon indicated their plant might be better used for supplies more urgently needed. Postwar the chairman, Sir Vincent Caillard, was able to report Wolseley had provided, quantities are approximate:

3,600 motorcars and lorries including the equivalent in spare parts

4,900 aeronautical engines including the equivalent in spare parts

760 aeroplanes

600 sets aeroplane spare wings and tailplanes

6,000 airscrews of various types

Director firing gear for 27 battleships, 56 cruisers and 160 flotilla leaders and destroyers

1,200 naval gun mountings and sights

10 transmission mechanisms for rigid airships

2,650,000 18-pounder shells

300,000 Stokes’s bombs

Aero engines produced in wartime included:

Renault eight and twelve-cylinder Vee-type

“Maybach” six-cylinder water-cooled 180 hp developed from a Maybach Zeppelin engine

The Dragonfly nine-cylinder air-cooled radial

Boucier fourteen-cylinder air-cooled radial

Hispano designed V8 known as the Viper. By 1918 sixty of these engine were being produced each week

Airship engines for the British Admiralty

The Scottish Horse Mounted Brigade‘s Field Ambulance developed an operating car, designed by Colonel H. Wade in 1914, which enclosed an operating table, sterilisers, full kit of instruments and surgical equipment, wire netting, rope, axes and electric lighting in a Wolseley car chassis. This operating car was employed during the Gallipoli Campaign at Suvla, in the Libyan Desert (during the Senussi Campaign) and at Kantara in Egypt, before being attached to the Desert Mounted Corps Operating Unit in 1917. Subsequently, taking part in the Southern Palestine Offensive, which culminated in the Capture of Jerusalem.

In 1918, Wolseley began a joint venture in Tokyo, with Ishikawajiama Ship Building and Engineering. The first Japanese-built Wolseley car rolled off the line in 1922. After World War II the Japan venture was reorganized, renaming itself Isuzu Motors in 1949.

Postwar expansion and collapse

Wolseley Ten 1923

postwar Stellite

Fifteen tourer 1923

16–45 2-litre six-cylinder 6-light saloon admired by W R Morris

Thomas Vickers died in 1915, and Albert Vickers in 1919, both having reached their eighties. During the war, Wolseley’s manufacturing capacity had rapidly developed and expanded. Immediately postwar, the Vickers directors decided to manufacture cars in large quantities at relatively cheap prices. Demand was good. They would borrow money, purchase the whole Ward End site and further expand Wolseley’s works. Vickers also decided to consolidate their motor car interests in one company. Wolseley accordingly purchased from within the Vickers group: Electric and Ordnance Accessories Company Limited, the Motor-Car (Stellite Car) Ordnance Department and the Timken Bearing Department and announced Wolseley’s future car programme would be:

1. 10 hp four-cylinder two or three-seater touring car based on the Wolseley designed Stellite car

2. 15 hp four-cylinder four-seater touring car

3. 20 hp six-cylinder chassis to be fitted with a variety of the best types of carriage work

Examples of all these models were exhibited at the Olympia Show in November 1919. The design of the 10 hp and 15 hp engines closely followed their wartime Hispano aero engine using an overhead camshaft. The public considered the 15 hp was too innovative and a new “14 hp” car using the same engine was hastily created to fill the gap.

Debenture stock certificate issued 6 May 1922 Wolseley Motors Ltd

Wolseley duly took over the Ward End, Birmingham munitions factory from Vickers in 1919 and purchased a site for a new showroom and offices in London’s Piccadilly by the Ritz Hotel. Over £250,000 was spent on the magnificent new building, Wolseley House. This was more than double their profits for 1919, when rewarding government contracts were still running. Those contracts ended. The government then brought in a special tax on “excess wartime profits”. There was a moulders’ strike from December 1919 to April 1920, but in spite of that it was decided to continue the manufacture of other parts. Then a short, sharp general trade slump peaked in July 1920 and almost every order Wolseley had on its books was cancelled. In 1920 Wolseley had reported a loss of £83,000. The following years showed even greater losses. Next, in October 1922, W R Morris startled the whole motor industry by a substantial reduction in the price of his cars. In 1924, Wolseley’s annual loss would reach £364,000.

Ernest Hopwood had been appointed Managing Director in August 1909 following Siddeley’s departure. He had resigned late in 1919 due to ill-health. A J McCormack who had been joint MD with Hopwood since 1911 resigned in November 1923 and was replaced by a committee of management. Then, at the end of October 1926, it was disclosed the company was bankrupt “to the tune of £2 million” and Sir Gilbert Garnsey and T W Horton had been appointed joint receivers and managers. It was described as “one of the most spectacular failures in the early history of the motor industry”.

Morris

W R Morris

Main article: William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield

Hornet 1¼-litre open 2-seater 1931

initially a 6-cylinder development of Wolseley’s design for the Morris Minor

Wasp 1069 cc 1935

21–60 2.7-litre landaulette 1933

When Wolseley was auctioned by the receivers in February 1927 it was purchased by William Morris, later Viscount Nuffield for £730,000 using his own money. Possibly Morris acted to stop General Motors who subsequently bought Vauxhall.

Other bidders beside General Motors included the Austin Motor Company. Herbert Austin, Wolseley’s founder, was said to have been very distressed that he was unable to buy it. Morris had bought an early taxicab; another Wolseley link with Morris was that his Morris Garages were Wolseley agents in Oxford.

Morris had unsuccessfully tried to produce a 6-cylinder car. He still wanted his range to include a light six-cylinder car. Wolseley’s 2-litre six-cylinder 16–45, their latest development of their postwar Fifteen, “made a deep impression on him”.

Morris incorporated a new company, Wolseley Motors (1927) Limited, he was later permitted to remove the (1927), and consolidated its production at the sprawling Ward End Works in Birmingham. He sold off large unwanted portions of Wolseley’s Adderley Park plant with all his own Soho, Birmingham works and moved Morris Commercial Cars from Soho to the remainder of Adderley Park.

In 1919 Vickers had decided Wolseley should build relatively cheap cars in large quantity – as it turned out – not the right policy. Morris changed this policy before the Wolseley brand might have lost all its luxury reputation. After lengthy deliberation and re-tooling of the works he kept the 2-litre six-cylinder 16–45 Silent Six and introduced a four-cylinder version calling it 12–32. Then an eight-cylinder car was brought to market named 21–60. In September 1928 a six-cylinder 21–60 was announced primarily aimed at the export market and named Wolseley Messenger there. It remained in production until 1935. The Messenger was noted for its robust construction. A very deep section frame reached the full width of the body – incidentally providing the sill between running boards and body. The body itself was all-steel and its prototype was first in UK to have its whole side pressed in one.

Wolseley’s postwar engines were all of the single overhead-camshaft type, the camshaft driven by a vertical shaft from the crankshaft. The eight-cylinder 21–60 held the vertical shaft in the centre of the engine, and both crankshaft and camshaft were divided at their midpoints. Their smallest engine of 847cc was designed and made for Morris’s new Minor at Ward End with the camshaft drive’s shaft the spindle of the dynamo driven by spiral bevel gears. But it was relatively expensive to build and inclined to oil leaks, so its design was modified to a conventional side-valve layout by Morris Engines, which was put into production just for Morris cars in 1932. Meanwhile, Wolseley expanded their original design from four to six cylinders. That six-cylinder single OHC engine announced in September 1930 powered the Wolseley Hornet and several famous MG models. This tiny 6-cylinder SOHC engine eventually was made in three different sizes and its camshaft drive continued to evolve from the dynamo’s spindle to, in the end, an automatically tensioned single roller chain.

Morris Motors Limited

Main article: Morris Motors

Morris transferred his personal ownership of Wolseley to Morris Motors Limited as of 1 July 1935 and shortly all Wolseley models were badge-engineered Morris designs.

10 1140 cc saloon 1939
(Morris Ten)

18 2¼-litre 4-door Saloon 1937
(Morris Eighteen)

25 3½-litre saloon 1938
(Morris Twenty-Five)

Wolseley joined Morris, MG and later Riley/Autovia in the Morris Organisation later promoted as the Nuffield Organisation

Post WWII

14–56 police car

registered March 1937
a Morris Fourteen Six in police uniform

After the war Wolseley left Adderley Park, Morris and Wolseley production was consolidated at Cowley. The first post-war Wolseleys, the similar 4/50 and 6/80 models used overhead camshaft Wolseley engines, were otherwise based on the Morris Oxford MO and Morris Six MS but given the traditional Wolseley radiator grille. The Wolseley 6/80 was the flagship of the company and incorporated the best styling and features. The Wolseley engine of the 6/80 was also superior to the Morris delivering a higher BHP. The car was well balanced and demonstrated excellent road holding for its time. The British police used these as their squad cars well into the late sixties.

BMC

Main article: British Motor Corporation

Following the merger of Austin and Morris that created the British Motor Corporation (BMC), Wolseleys shared with MG and Riley common bodies and chassis, namely the 4/44 (later 15/50) and 6/90, which were closely related to the MG Magnette ZA/ZB and the Riley Pathfinder/Two-point-Six respectively.

In 1957 the Wolseley 1500 was based on the planned successor to the Morris Minor, sharing a bodyshell with the Riley One-Point-Five. The next year, the Wolseley 15/60 debuted the new mid-sized BMC saloon design penned by Pinin Farina. It was followed by similar vehicles from five marques within the year.

The Wolseley Hornet was based on the Austin and Morris Mini with a booted body style which was shared with Riley as the Elf. The 1500 was replaced with the Wolseley 1100 (BMC ADO16) in 1965, which became the Wolseley 1300 two years later. Finally, a version of the Austin 1800 was launched in 1967 as the Wolseley 18/85.

British Leyland

Main article: British Leyland

After the merger of BMC and Leyland to form British Leyland in 1969 the Riley marque, long overlapping with Wolseley, was retired. Wolseley continued in diminished form with the Wolseley Six of 1972, a variant of the Austin 2200, a six-cylinder version of the Austin 1800. It was finally killed off just three years later in favour of the Wolseley variant of the wedge-shaped 18–22 series saloon, which was never even given an individual model name, being badged just “Wolseley”, and sold only for seven months until that range was renamed as the Princess. This change thus spelled the end of the Wolseley marque after 74 years.

As of 2012 the Wolseley marque is owned by SAIC Motor, having been acquired by its subsidiary Nanjing Automobile following the break-up of the MG Rover Group. The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machinery Company continued trading and is now Wolseley plc.

List of Wolseley vehicles

Main article: List of Wolseley automobiles

List of 1920s and 1930s Wolseley vehicles

Six open 2-seater 1904

12/16 limousine 1910

21/60 saloon 1934

Hornet Special open 2-seater 1933

Four-cylinder

1919–1923 Wolseley Seven

1919–1924 Wolseley Ten

1919–1924 Wolseley Fifteen

1922–1924 Wolseley Fourteen

1924–1928 Wolseley 11/22

1924–1927 Wolseley 16/35

1929–1930 Wolseley 12/32

1934–1935 Wolseley Nine

1935–1936 Wolseley Wasp

1936–1937 Wolseley 10/40

1936–1939 Wolseley 12/48

1939-1939 Wolseley Ten

Six-cylinder

1919–1924 Wolseley Twenty

1922–1924 Wolseley 24/30

1924–1927 Wolseley 24/55

1932 Wolseley Hornet 4-door saloon Wolseley Hornet six

1930–1936 Wolseley Hornet six OHC

1927–1931 Wolseley 16/45

1931–1932 Wolseley Viper (car)

Wolseley-vintage-12-32 1928–1930 Wolseley 12/32

1933–1935 Wolseley County

1933–1935 Wolseley Sixteen

1935–1936 Wolseley Fourteen

1935-1935 Wolseley Eighteen

1936–1938 Wolseley 14/56

1937–1938 Wolseley 18/80

1935–1937 Wolseley Super Six 16HP, 21HP, 25HP

1938–1941 Wolseley 14/60

1938–1941 Wolseley 16/65

1938–1941 Wolseley 18/85 (also produced in 1944, for the military)

1937–1940 Wolseley 16HP, 21HP, 25HP

Eight-cylinder

1928–1931 Wolseley 21/60 Straight Eight Overhead Cam 2700cc (536 produced)

1929–1930 Wolseley 32/80 Straight Eight Overhead Cam 4020cc (chassis only)

List of post-Second World War Wolseley vehicles

Wolseley often used a two-number system of model names. Until 1948, the first number was engine size in units of taxable horsepower as defined by the Royal Automobile Club. Thus, the 14/60 was rated at 14 hp (RAC) for tax purposes but actually produced 60 hp (45 kW). Later, the first number equalled the number of cylinders. After 1956, this number was changed to reflect the engine’s displacement for four-cylinder cars. Therefore, the seminal 15/60 was a 1.5-litre engine capable of producing 60 hp (45 kW). Eventually, the entire naming system was abandoned.

Four-cylinder

The 1961–69 Wolseley Hornet was based on the Mini.

Wolseley Six (BMC ADO17)

 Wolseley (18–22 series)

1939–1948 Wolseley Ten (Morris Ten)

1937–1948 Wolseley 12/48 (Post war version was the Series III)

Wolseley

1946–1948 Wolseley Eight similar to Morris Eight Series E

1947–1955 Nuffield Oxford Taxi (Morris Commercial design)

1948–1953  4/50 similar to Morris Oxford MO

1952–1956 Wolseley 4/44

1956–1958 Wolseley 15/50

(MG Magnette ZB)

1957–1965 Wolseley 1500 (similar to Riley One-Point-Five, based on Morris Minor)

1958–1961 Wolseley 15/60 (Austin A55 (Mark 2) Cambridge)

1961–1969 Wolseley Hornet (similar to Riley Elf, based on Mini)

1961–1971 Wolseley 16/60 (Austin A60 Cambridge)

1965–1974 Wolseley 1100/1300 (BMC ADO16)

1967–1971 Wolseley 18/85 (BMC ADO17)

Vanden Plas Princess 1100 four-door saloon

1968–???? Wolseley 11/55 (South African variant of BMC ADO16) 

Six-cylinder

1939 Wolseley 14-60 Series III 6-light saloon

1938–1948 Wolseley 14/60 (Post war version was the Series III)

1938–1948 Wolseley 18/85 (Post war version was the Series III)

Wolseley 25 Series III. The Wolseley Series III 25 was launched in 1938 mechanically very much as the Series II model (and therefore as the Morris 25). The Steel body was the new feature for the Series III and differed from Morris equivalents.

1938–1948 Wolseley 25 (Post war version was the Series III)

1948–1954 Wolseley 6/80 (Morris Six)

1954–1959 Wolseley 6/90 (Riley Pathfinder/Riley Two-Point-Six)

1959–1961 Wolseley 6/99 (Austin A99 Westminster)

1961–1968 Wolseley 6/110 (Austin A110 Westminster)

1962–1965 Wolseley 24/80 (Australian version of 15/60 and 16/60, but six-cylinder; similar to Austin Freeway)

1972–1975 Wolseley Six (BMC ADO17)

March–October 1975 Wolseley saloon (18–22 series)Also produced (dates to be confirmed):

Wolseley 16/60 Wolseley 4/60 (Dutch version of 16/60)

Wolseley 300 (Danish version of 6/99 and 6/110)

Aero engines

Wolseley also produced a number of aircraft engine designs, although there were no major design wins.

Wolseley 1908 30 hp 4-cyl.

Wolseley 1909 50 hp V-8 air-cooled

Wolseley 1909 54 hp V-8 water-cooled 3.74″ x 5.00″

Wolseley 1911 Type B 80 hp V-8

Wolseley 1911 Type C 60 hp V-8

Wolseley 1912 160hp V-8

Wolseley A.R.7 Aquarius I

Wolseley A.R.9 Aries III

Wolseley W.4A Python

Wolseley W.4A Viper

Wolseley W.4B Adder

Wolseley Leo

Wolseley Libra

Wolseley Scorpio

Wolseley Aero Engines Ltd. was a subsidiary formed around 1931 to design aero engines. When Wolseley Motors Limited was transferred to Morris Motors Limited on 1 July 1935 this part of its business was set aside by W. R. Morris (Lord Nuffield) and put in the ownership of a newly incorporated company, Wolseley Aero Engines Ltd, and remained his personal property. By 1942 the name of that company had become Nuffield Mechanizations Limited.

They were developing an advanced Wolseley radial aero engine of about 250 horsepower, but the project was abandoned in September 1936 when W. R. Morris got the fixed price I.T.P. (Intention to Proceed) contract papers (which would have required an army of chartered accountants) and decided to deal only with the War Office and Admiralty, not the Air Ministry (see Airspeed).

Pictures from my collection, collected from the World Wide Web:

L0000762 Wolseley autocars, advertisment, 1913.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
images@wellcome.ac.uk
http://wellcomeimages.org
Wolseley autocars, advertisment, 1913.
British Medical Journal
Published: 4th January 1913
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Wolseley Fourteen. Sold in 1935 and 1936

Woldeley Wasp (1935)

Wolseley 10/40 Series II. Soild from 1936-37, the Wolseley 10/40 Series II borrowed heavily from the Morris 10/4 Series II, sharing the same 1292cc ohv 4cylinder engine (which was also shared with the MG TA.

Wolseley 8 (1947)

Wolseley

Wolseley 4/50. Launched at the 1948 Motor Show as a variant of the Morris Oxford MO, the Wolseley 4/50 used a 4-cylinder 1476cc version of its sibling’s 6-cylinder ohc engine

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Wolseley 4/50. Walnut and leather inside gave the Wolseley 4/50 an upmarket feel over its Morris Oxford MO sibling.

Wolseley 16/60

The big Wolseley 6/110 became the 6/110 Mk II in May 1964 and, like the Austin equivalent, was the best of the three derivatives of this model range. The mechanical changes made to upgrade the Wolseley – of which the most important wre the fitment of a new four-speed manual transmission and the rejigging of the suspension settings – were identical to those made for the Austin, but no exterior styling changes. For eagle-eyed observers, the use of smaller-diameter (13in) road wheels gave the game away, and there was also a distinctive boot-lid badge.

Wolseley 18/85 Series III Police car. The 18/85 was a fast car and was liked by Police forces, as was its successor the Wolseley 6/80.

Wolseley 25 Series III. The Wolseley Series III 25 was launched in 1938 mechanically very much as the Series II model (and therefore as the Morris 25). The Steel body was the new feature for the Series III and differed from Morris equivalents.

Wolseley Hornet Special 1934 – badge

1931 Wolseley Hornet Tourer RHD

See also

• Arthur John McCormack
• Wolseley Racing
• The Wolseley restaurant in the ground floor showrooms of Wolseley House, 160 Piccadilly, London
• List of aircraft engine manufacturers
• List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom

Notes

1. Jump up^ in 1914 and 1919 respectively
2. Jump up^ “The Wolseley Tool and Motor-Car Company Limited has absorbed the Siddeley Autocar Company Limited and has acquired Niagara Westminster for premises for a London office and garage. The two companies have long been associated, the Siddeley cars being made by the Wolseley company. The London Motor Omnibus Company has placed an order for 25 Wolseley omnibuses each with a seating capacity for 34 passengers.” The Times, Monday, 13 Feb 1905; pg. 9; Issue 3762

References

1. Jump up^ Vickers Sons And Maxim Limited. The Times, Wednesday, Nov 17, 1897; pg. 4; Issue 35363
2. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r} St John C Nixon. Wolseley, a saga of the Motor Industry, G T Foulis & Co, London, 1949
3. Jump up^ Baker, John. “Herbert Austin”. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
4. Jump up^ “The Wolseley Gasoline Carriage”. The Horseless Age. 8 (27): 562. 2 October 1901. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b c RAC Rating
6. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Bill Smith, Armstrong Siddeley Motors Dorchester, Veloce, 2006; p.55; ISBN 9781904788362
7. Jump up^ “City Notes”. The Times (44569). 30 April 1927. p. 18.
8. Jump up^ “Siddeley Autocar”. The Times (38805). 16 November 1908. p. 4.
9. ^ Jump up to:^a b Baldwin, Nick “The Wolseley”, Shire, Princes Risborough UK, 1995. ISBN 0-7478-0297-1
10. Jump up^ Paolo Ferrari (ed.), L’aeronautica italiana: una storia del Novecento, FrancoAngeli Storia, Milan, 2004
11. Jump up^ Flight magazine 8 January 1910
12. Jump up^ The Rise and Decline of the British Motor Industry By Roy A. Church, Economic History Society, 1994
13. ^ Jump up to:^a b “Wolseley Motors (Limited). Meeting of Debenture Holders”. The Times (42236). 21 October 1919. p. 23.
14. Jump up^ R. M. Downes, The Campaign in Sinai and Palestine 1938, in A. G. Butler’s Gallipoli, Palestine and New Guinea of Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918 Part II in Volume 1 (Australian War Memorial: Canberra pp. 636–7
15. ^ Jump up to:^a b “Wolseley Motors”. The Times (44389). 29 September 1926. p. 20.
16. Jump up^ James Leasor Wheels to Fortune, Stratus, Cornwall UK 2001. ISBN 0-7551-0047-6
17. Jump up^ “Wolseley House Sold. Purchase by Barclays Bank”. The Times(44294). 10 June 1926. p. 16.
18. Jump up^ “City Notes”. The Times (44416). 30 October 1926. p. 18.
19. Jump up^ Georgano, N. (2000). Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. London: HMSO. ISBN 1-57958-293-1.
20. Jump up^ “Wolseley And M.G. Companies”. The Times (47090). 14 June 1935. p. 20.
21. Jump up^ Timeline 1968, www.ado16.info Retrieved on 26 September 2013

• Lambert, Z.E. and Wyatt, R.J, (1968). Lord Austin – The Man. Altrincham: Sidgwick and Jackson.
• Bird, Anthony, (undated but probably 1966) The Horizontal Engined Wolseleys, 1900–1905. London: Profile Publications Ltd.

• Wolseley Super-Six brochure 1935 from the Bodleian Library

MG Automobiles photographs only

MG CARS Photographs Only

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MG Magnette MkIII. The 1489cc B-series engine was given Twin SUs for the MG (and the Riley 4/68) when launched in 1959.

SONY DSC

hp photosmart 720

217, 50, 260, 1, 1, 476

source Profile Publicationsa #86

source Profile Publicationsa #86

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SANYO DIGITAL CAMERA

MG Racing at Snetterton

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ROVER

Rover Company

The Rover Company Limited

Industry	Automotive industry Motorcycle industry (until 1925) Bicycle industry (until 1925)
Fate	Merged into Leyland Motors(1967) Assets separated as Land Rover (1978) Rover brand defunct (2005)
Successor	SAIC MG Motor TATA Land Rover
Founded	1878
Founder	John Kemp Starley & William Sutton
Defunct	2005
Headquarters	England: Coventry, West Midlands (1904–47) Solihull, West Midlands (1947–1981) Gaydon, West Midlands (1981–2000) Longbridge, West Midlands (2000–2005)
Key people	Spencer & Maurice Wilks (Management & Engineering, 1929–63) John Towers
Products	Rover Automobiles Motorcycles (until 1925) Bicycles (until 1925) Land Rover All terrain vehicles
Subsidiaries	Alvis Cars (1965–67)

Rover is a former British car manufacturing company founded as Starley & Sutton Co. of Coventry in 1878. It is the direct ancestor of the present day Land Rover company, which is a subsidiary of Jaguar Land Rover, in turn owned by the Tata Group.

The company traded as Rover, manufacturing cars between 1904 and 1967, when it was sold to Leyland Motor Corporation, becoming the Rover marque. The Rover marque was used on cars produced by British Leyland (BL), who separated the assets of the original Rover Company as Land Rover in 1978 whilst the Rover trademark continued to be used on vehicles produced by its successor companies – the Austin Rover Group(1982–1986), the Rover Group (1986–2000), and then finally MG Rover (2000–2005). Following MG Rover’s collapse in 2005, the Rover marque became dormant, and was subsequently sold to Ford, by now the owners of Land Rover, a move which effectively reunited the Rover trademark with the original company.

After developing the template for the modern bicycle with its Rover Safety Bicycle of 1885, the company moved into the automotive industry. It started building motorcycles and Rover cars, using their established marque with the iconic Viking Longship, from 1904 onwards. Land Rover vehicles were added from 1948 onwards, with all production moving to the Solihull plant after World War II.

The Polish word now most commonly used for bicycle – rower originates from Rover bicycles which had both wheels of the same size (previous models usually had one bigger, one smaller – see Penny-farthing, and were called in Polish bicykl, from English bicycle).

History

Before cars

The first Rover was a tricycle manufactured by Starley & Sutton Co. of Coventry, England, in 1883. The company was founded by John Kemp Starley and William Sutton in 1878. Starley had previously worked with his uncle, James Starley (father of the cycle trade), who began by manufacturing sewing machines and switched to bicycles in 1869.

 J. K. Starley & Co. Ltd ‘Rover’ bicycle advertisement

In the early 1880s, the cycles available were the relatively dangerous penny-farthings and high-wheel tricycles. J.K. Starley made history in 1885 by producing the Rover Safety Bicycle—a rear-wheel-drive, chain-driven cycle with two similar-sized wheels, making it more stable than the previous high-wheel designs. Cycling Magazine said the Rover had “set the pattern to the world”; the phrase was used in their advertising for many years. Starley’s Rover is usually described by historians as the first recognisably modern bicycle.

The words for “bicycle” in Polish (Rower) and Belarusian (Rovar, Ро́вар) are derived from the name of the company. The word ровер is also used in many parts of Western Ukraine.

In 1889, the company became J.K. Starley & Co. Ltd., and in the late 1890s, the Rover Cycle Company Ltd.

Rover motorcycles

Main article: Rover (motorcycles)

In 1899 John Starley imported some of the early Peugeot motorcycles from France in for experimental development. His first project was to fit an engine to one of his Rover bicycles. Starley died early in October 1901 aged 46 and the business was taken over by entrepreneur H. J. Lawson.

 1912 Rover 3-speed

The company developed and produced the Rover Imperial motorcycle in November 1902. This was a 3.5 hp diamond-framed motorcycle with the engine in the centre and ‘springer’ front forks which was ahead of its time. This first Rover motorcycle had innovative features such as a spray carburettor, bottom-bracket engine and mechanically operated valves. With a strong frame with double front down tubes and a good quality finish, over a thousand Rover motorcycles were sold in 1904. The following year, however, Rover stopped motorcycle production to concentrate on their ‘safety bicycle’ but in 1910 designer John Greenwood was commissioned to develop a new 3.5 hp 500 cc engine with spring-loaded tappets, a Bosch magneto and an innovative inverted tooth drive chain. It had a Brown and Barlow carburettor and Druid spring forks. This new model was launched at the 1910 Olympia show and over 500 were sold.

In 1913 a ‘TT’ model was launched with a shorter wheelbase and sports handlebars. The ‘works team’ of Dudley Noble and Chris Newsome had some success and won the works team award.

 1920 Rover 500 cc

Rover supplied 499 cc single cylinder motorcycles to the Russian Army during the First World War. The company began to focus on car production at the end of the war, but Rover still produced motorcycles with 248 cc and 348 cc Rover overhead valve engines and with J.A.P. engines, including a 676 cc V-twin. In 1924 Rover introduced a new lightweight 250cc motorcycle with unit construction of engine and gearbox. This had lights front and rear as well as a new design of internal expanding brakes.

Poor sales of their motorcycles caused Rover to end motorcycle production and concentrate solely on the production of motor cars. Between 1903 and 1924 Rover had produced more than 10,000 motorcycles.

Early Rover cars

 Rover, 1905.

 The Rover Six in a 1910 advertisement—£155.

 Rover 8HP Two-seater from 1904 inLondon to Brighton Veteran Car Run 2010

 Rover Tourer, 1926.

 1936 Rover 10.

In 1888, Starley made an electric car, but it never was put into production.

Three years after Starley’s death in 1901, and H. J. Lawson’s subsequent takeover, the Rover company began producing automobiles with the two-seater Rover Eight to the designs of Edmund Lewis, who came from Lawson’s Daimler. Lewis left the company to join Deasy in late 1905. He was eventually replaced by Owen Clegg, who joined from Wolseley in 1910 and set about reforming the product range. Short-lived experiments with sleeve valve engines were abandoned, and the 12hp model was introduced in 1912. This car was so successful that all other cars were dropped, and for a while, Rover pursued a “one model” policy. Clegg left to join the French company Darracq in 1912.

During the First World War, they made motorcycles, lorries to Maudslay designs, and, not having a suitable one of their own, cars to a Sunbeam design.

Restructure and re-organization

The business was not very successful during the 1920s and did not pay a dividend from 1923 until the mid-1930s. In December 1928 the chairman of Rover advised shareholders that the accumulation of the substantial losses of the 1923–1928 years together with the costs of that year’s reorganisation must be recognised by a reduction of 60 per cent in the value of capital of the company.

During 1928 Frank Searle was appointed managing director to supervise recovery. Searle was by training a locomotive engineer with motor industry experience at Daimler and, most recently, had been managing director of Imperial Airways. On his recommendation Spencer Wilks was brought in from Hillman as general manager and appointed to the board in 1929. That year, Searle split Midland Light Car Bodies from Rover in an effort to save money and instructed Robert Boyle and Maurice Wilks to design a new small car.

This was the Rover Scarab with a rear-mounted V-twin-cylinder air-cooled engine announced in 1931, a van version was shown at Olympia, but it did not go into production. During this time the Rover 10/25 was introduced, with bodies made by the Pressed Steel Company. This was the same body as used on the Hillman Minx. Prior to this time Rover had been a great supporter of the very light Weymann bodies that went suddenly out of fashion with the demand for shiny coachwork and more curved body shapes. Weymann bodies remained in the factory catalogue until 1933.

Frank Searle and Spencer Wilks set about reorganising the company and moving it upmarket to cater for people who wanted something “superior” to Fords and Austins. In 1930 Spencer Wilks was joined by his brother, Maurice, who had also been at Hillman as chief engineer. Spencer Wilks was to stay with the company until 1962, and his brother until 1963.

The company showed profits in the 1929 and 1930 years but with the economic downturn in 1931 Rover reported a loss of £77,529. 1932 produced a loss of £103,000 but a turn around following yet more reorganization resulted in a profit of £46,000 in 1933. The new assembly operations in Australia and New Zealand were closed.

Frank Searle left the board near the end of the calendar year 1931, his work done.

Building on successes such as beating the Blue Train for the first time in 1930 in the Blue Train Races, the Wilks Brothers established Rover as a company with several European royal, aristocratic, and governmental warrants, and upper-middle-class and star clients.

Second World War and gas turbines

Rover W2B-26 jet engine Welland

A Rover W.2B/26 on display at the Midland Air Museum This design was later to become the Rolls-Royce Derwent

In the late 1930s, in anticipation of the potential hostilities that would become the Second World War, the British government started a rearmament programme, and as part of this, “shadow factories” were built. These were paid for by the government but staffed and run by private companies. Two were run by Rover: one, at Acocks Green, Birmingham, started operation in 1937, and a second, larger one, at Solihull, started in 1940. Both were employed making aero engines and airframes. The original main works at Helen Street, Coventry, was severely damaged by bombing in 1940 and 1941 and never regained full production.

In early 1940, Rover was approached by Frank Whittle to do work for Whittle’s company, Power Jets. This led to a proposal from Power Jets in which Rover would put forward £50,000 of capital in exchange for shares in Power Jets. Rover contacted the Air Ministry (AM) regarding the proposal, which ultimately led to an arrangement between Rover and former Power Jets contractor British Thomson-Houston (BTH) to develop and produce Whittle’s jet engine. The Air Ministry had left Whittle and Power Jets out of these negotiations. Rover chief engineer Maurice Wilks led the team to develop the engine, improving the performance over the original Whittle design. The first test engines to the W.2B design were built in a former cotton mill in Barnoldswick, Lancashire which Rover moved into in June 1941 (along with Waterloo Mill in Clitheroe). Testing commenced towards the end of October 1941.

A need for greater expertise within the project, along with difficult relations between Rover management and Frank Whittle (not least because Rover under AM approval had secretly designed a different engine layout, known within Rover as the B.26, which they thought was superior), led to Rover handing over their part in the jet engine project and the Barnoldswick factory to Rolls-Royce in exchange for the latter’s Meteor tank engine factory at Ascot Road, Nottingham, the result of a handshake deal between Rover’s Spencer Wilks and Rolls-Royce’s Ernest Hives made in a local inn in Clitheroe. The official hand-over date was 1 April 1943, though there was a considerable overlap, and several key Rover staff such as Adrian Lombard and John Herriot, the latter being at Rover on secondment from the Air Inspection Department (AID) of the AM, moved to Rolls-Royce. In exchange for the jet engine project and its facilities, Rover was given the contract and production equipment to make Meteor tank engines, which continued until 1964. Although Rolls-Royce under Stanley Hooker were soon to be able to start producing the Whittle-designed W.2B/23 engine (known within Rover as the B.23, later named by Rolls-Royce the Welland), they evaluated the 4 Lombard/Herriot re-designed Rover W.2B/B.26 engines under test at the time of the takeover, and selected the Rover design for their own jet engine development (it became the Rolls-Royce Derwent engine).

After the Second World War, the company abandoned Helen Street and bought the two shadow factories. Acocks Green carried on for a while, making Meteor engines for tanks such as the Centurion and Conqueror, and Solihull became the new centre for vehicles, with production resuming in 1947. This was the year Rover produced the Rover 12 Sports Tourer. 200 cars were built for the export market but all had RHD so many cars stayed in the UK. Solihull would become the home of the Land Rover.

Experimental cars

 Rover JET Gas Turbine Experimental Car

Despite the difficulties experienced with the jet engine project, Rover was interested in the development of the gas turbine engine to power vehicles. In 1945, Rover hired engineers Frank Bell and Spen King away from Rolls-Royce to assist Maurice Wilks in the development of automotive gas turbines. By 1949, the team developed a turbine that ran at 55,000 rpm, produced more than 100 horsepower (75 kW), and could run on petrol,paraffin, or diesel oil. Rover’s early turbine engines consumed fuel at a rate much greater than piston engines, equivalent to 6 miles per imperial gallon (5.0 mpg_-US; 47 L/100 km). Although fuel consumption was later reduced by using a heat exchanger, it was never as low as that of contemporary piston engines.

In March 1950, Rover showed the JET1 prototype, the first car powered with a gas turbine engine, to the public. JET1, an open two-seat tourer, had the engine positioned behind the seats, air intake grilles on either side of the car, and exhaust outlets on the top of the tail. During tests, the car reached a top speed of 88 mph (142 km/h). After being shown in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1950, JET1 was further developed, and was subjected to speed trials on the Jabbeke highway in Belgium in June 1952, where it exceeded 150 miles per hour (240 km/h). JET1 is currently on display at the London Science Museum.

Four further prototypes were built, the P4-based front-engined T2 and rear-engined T2A saloons, the rear-engined four-wheel-drive T3 coupé, and the front-engined front-wheel drive T4 saloon.

Rover and the BRM Formula One team joined forces to produce the Rover-BRM, a gas turbine-powered sports prototype that entered the 1963 24 hours of Le Mans, driven by Graham Hill and Richie Ginther. It averaged 107.8 mph (173 km/h) and had a top speed of 142 mph (229 km/h).

Rover also ran several experimental diesel engine projects in relation to the Land Rover. The 2-litre, 52 horsepower (39 kW) diesel unit designed and built by Rover for its 4×4 had entered production in 1956 and was one of Britain’s first modern high-speed automotive diesel engines. Experimental projects were undertaken to improve the engine’s power delivery, running qualities, and fuel tolerances. British Army requirements led to the development of a multifuel version of the 2.25-litre variant of the engine in 1962, which could run on petrol, diesel, Jet-A, or kerosene. However, the engine’s power output when running on low-grade fuel was too low for the Army’s uses. Rover developed a highly advanced (for the time) turbodiesel version of its engine in the mid-1960s to power its experimental ‘129-inch’ heavy duty Land Rover designs. This 2.5-litre engine used a turbocharger built by Rover’s gas turbine division as well as an intercooler. This was one of the first times these features had been incorporated on such a small-capacity diesel unit, but they were not adopted.

After the Leyland Motor Corporation takeover, the Rover Gas Turbine was used in a number of Leyland trucks, including one shown at the 1968 Commercial Motor Show. Rover gas turbines also powered the first Advanced Passenger Train.

Golden years

 1962 Rover 80 (P4).

The 1950s and ’60s were fruitful years for the company. The Land Rover became a runaway success (despite Rover’s reputation for making upmarket saloons, the utilitarian Land Rover was actually the company’s biggest seller throughout the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s), as well as the P5 and P6 saloons equipped with a 3.5L (215ci) aluminium V8 (the design and tooling of which was purchased from Buick) and pioneering research into gas turbine-fueled vehicles.

As the ’60s drew to a close Rover was working on a number of innovative projects. Having purchased the Alvis company in 1965 Rover was working on a V8-powered supercar to sell under the Alvis name. The prototype, called the P6BS, was completed and the finalised styling and engineering proposal, the P9, was drawn up. Rover was also working on the P8 project which aimed to replace the existing P5 large saloon with a modern design similar in concept to a scaled-up P6.

When Leyland Motors joined with British Motor Holdings and Rover and Jaguar became corporate partners these projects were cancelled to prevent internal competition with Jaguar products. The P8 in particular was cancelled in a very late stage of preparation- Rover had already ordered the dies and stamping equipment for making the car’s body panels at Pressed Steel when ordered to stop work.

Rover continued to develop its ‘100-inch Station Wagon’, which became the ground-breaking Range Rover, launched in 1970. This also used the ex-Buick V8 engine as well as the P6’s innovative safety-frame body structure design and features such as permanent four-wheel drive and all-round disc brakes. The Range Rover was initially designed as a utility vehicle which could offer the off-road capability of the Land Rover, but in a more refined and car-like package.

 Rover 2000 (P6).

Mergers to LMC and BL

Main article: British Leyland

This Rover prototype for a midengined sports car was shown to the press in 1967, but politics in the wake of the BLMC merger got in the way, and the model never entered production.

In 1967, Rover became part of the Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), which already owned Triumph. The next year, LMC merged with British Motor Holdings (BMH) to become the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC). This was the beginning of the end for the independent Rover Company, as the Solihull-based company’s heritage drowned beneath the infamous industrial relations and managerial problems that beset the British motor industry throughout the 1970s. At various times, it was part of the Specialist Division (hence the factory designation SD1 for the first—and in the event, only—model produced under this arrangement), Leyland Cars, Rover-Triumph, and the short-lived Jaguar Rover Triumph. The Land Rover products however had flourished during the turbulent BLMC years, with the Range Rover in particular generating sizeable revenues for the company as it moved further upmarket. After the Ryder Report in 1975, Land Rover was split from Rover in 1978 as a separate operating company within British Leyland, and all Rover car production at Solihull ended and was switched to the Austin-Morris plants in Longbridge and Cowley for the rest of the marque’s existence. The Range Rover subsequently went on to become BL’s flagship product, after Jaguar was de-merged and privatised in 1984.

British Leyland entered into a collaborative venture with the Honda Motor Corporation of Japan, which resulted in a whole generation of Rover-badged vehicles which shared engineering with contemporary Honda models, which would sustain the beleaguered company and its successors until the mid-1990s.

Sale to BAe, and divestment

In 1988 the business was sold by the British Government to British Aerospace (BAe), and shortly after shortened its name to just Rover Group. They subsequently sold the business in 1994 to BMW. Honda, which had owned a 20% share in partnership with BAe, exited the business when BAe sold its share to BMW.

BMW, after initially seeking to retain the whole, decided only to retain the Cowley operations for MINI production. Land Rover was sold by BMW to Ford. The Longbridge production facility, along with the Rover and Morris Garages marques, was taken on by former Rover executive John Towers in April 2000 for a derisory sum under the marque MG Rover. The Towers administration of MG was declared insolvent in April 2005 and the business was later refloated under the ownership of Nanjing Automobile, who moved production to China.

Current Status

Legally the Rover marque is the property of Land Rover under the terms of Ford’s purchase of the name in 2006. The company is now known as Jaguar Land Rover Limited, Land Rover having been sold by Ford to Tata Motors in 2008. As part of the deal with Tata the Rover marque had to remain as property of Land Rover.

Models

 1938 Rover 16.

Launched under the independent Rover Company pre-merger (1904–67)

1904–12 Rover 81906–10 Rover 61906–07 Rover 10/12                   1906–10 Rover 161906–10 Rover 201909–12 Rover 12 2-cylinder                     1908–11 Rover 15

1911 Rover 12hp 4-seater torpedo sleeve-valve 1910-1912

1910–12 Rover 12 sleeve-valve

no info

1912–13 Rover 18

1914 Rover 12 Glegg tourer SV9486 (DVLA) first registered 24 January 1921

1914 Rover 12 glegg tourer (5870911466) 1912–23 Rover 12 Clegg1919–25 Rover 8

1922–23 Rover 6/21

1924–27 Rover 9/20

             1925–27 Rover 14/45

1926–29 Rover 16/50

1929–30 Rover Light Six

1930–31 Rover Light Twenty

1927–47 Rover 10

1927–32 Rover 2-Litre

1932–34 Rover Meteor 16HP/20HP

1931–40 Rover Speed 20

1932–33 Rover Pilot/Speed Pilot

1932–32 Rover Scarab

1934–47 Rover 12

1934–47 Rover 14/Speed 14

1937–47 Rover 16

1947–48 Rover 12 Sports Tourer

1948–78 Land Rover (I/II/III)—In 1978, BL established Land Rover Limited as a separate subsidiary; it took over Land Rover production.

1948–49 Rover P3 (60/75)

Rover 110 (P4). The unmistable profile of the Rover P4 with ‘suicide’ (rear-hinged) rear doors.

1949–64 Rover P4 (60/75/80/90/95/100/105/110)

1958–73 Rover P5 (3-Litre/3.5-Litre)

1963–76 Rover P6 (2000/2200/3500)

Launched under the Rover trademark as a British Leyland Motor Corporation (later BL plc) subsidiary (1967–88)

• 1970–78 Range Rover—In 1978, BL established Land Rover Limited as a separate subsidiary; it took over Range Rover production.

1976–86 Rover SD1 (2000/2300/2400/2600/3500/Vitesse)1983–85 Rover Quintent—Australian market1984–89 Rover 200-Series (SD3)1985–89 Rover 416i—Australian market                                    1986–98 Rover 800-series & Sterling

Launched by the Rover Group/MG Rover as a British Aerospace/BMW subsidiary (1988–2005)

1989–95 Rover 200/400-Series (R8)1993–98 Rover 600-Series1994-01 Range Rover Mk.2 (P38A)

1995-05 Rover 200/25 (R3)

1995-05 Rover 400/45 (HH-R)

1998-04 Land Rover Freelander1998-05 Rover 75

See also

Austin Rover Group

Rover Group

MG Rover Group

Nanjing Automobile Group

Rover – How it all began.

By Kevin Phillips

The history of the Rover Company goes back to 1881 when the Coventry Sewing Machine Company was founded. From sewing machines, they graduated to manufacturing bicycles in 1869. The first Rover machine was a tricycle which appeared in 1884 and a year later the new safety bicycle appeared and the company then became known as JK Starley & Co Ltd.

John Starley’s safety bicycle was the prototype of the modern pedal cycle and was developed to overcome the balancing problems of the common penny-farthing cycle. Tricycles had been easier to control than the high and ungainly “ordinaries as the penny farthings had come to be known, but were not as maneuverable and were much more expensive.

John Starley’s safety bicycle featured a rear wheel that was driven by a chain and gearing which would reduce the effort required by the rider and would enable the front wheel diameter to be dramatically reduced.

Once his safety bicycle had proved a success, Starley began experimenting with an electrically driven battery-powered tricycle. The batteries were placed in a wicker basket above and behind the rear axle with the electric motor fitted underneath. Unfortunately, it was not a success as the performance and range was pitiful and once the batteries had gone flat, the dead weight of the machine would have taxed even the strongest of riders.

Starley’s safety bicycles caught on rapidly and the business went from strength to strength with rapidly rising sales which made John Starley a wealthy man.

In June 1896, Starley formed the Rover Cycle Co Ltd which operated from the New Meteor Works. In its first year of operation, the new company built 11000 cycles and returned a profit of 21,945 pounds. At about this time, an entrepreneur by the name of Harry Lawson had arrived in Coventry and taken over a disused cotton mill in order to manufacture his license-built Daintier motor car. Lawson was a man who was going places and, expanding by acquisition, tried to induce Starley to join forces with him. Starley would have no part of it, but it did get him thinking about engines and their possibilities.

Starley imported several Peugeot motorcycles from France in 1899 for observation and experimental work. This was a natural progression as by the end of the nineteenth century the motor car phenomenon was taking the world by storm and Britain already had motor cars being built by Daim]er, Wolseley, Lanchester and Riley.

Rover’s first project was to motorise a Rover pedal cycle, something that Triumph was already working on.

John Starley died tragically early in October 1901 aged 46, while still the undisputed leader of Coventry’s bicycle industry, his business now producing 15,000 machines a year.

Harry Smith took over as Managing Director and made the decision to go motorised in 1902. The first public appearance of the 2% HP Rover motorcycle was made on 24th November 1902.

By now Britain’s fledgling motorcar industry was starting to show signs of stability and Daimler was turning out good cars and making good money. On 16th December 1903 the Rover directors decided to start development of a light car. It would be designed by Edmund Lewis who had been acquired from Daimler who were the acknowledged motorcar experts. Rover’s decision had been made just in time as by now Daimler and Riley in Coventry had been joined by Annstrong-Siddeley, Humber, Lea-Francis, Singer and Standard.

 

Keith Adams Austin Rover / Rover Group / MG Rover Resource

German Rover Company & Rover Cars Community

Portuguese MG-Rover Club

Polish MG Rover Club

Spanish site of MG-ROVER

Czech MG-Rover Community

Catalogue of the Rover archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick