CARS

See Also: CLUBLAND The Royal Automobile Club; COACHES; PHILANTHROPY The Nuffield Foundation; RESTAURANTS; TRAFFIC CONTROL; TRANSPORT

Air-Bound Shadows

Frederick Royce was a Manchester-based manufacturer of electric cranes and dynamos. In 1904 he purchased a French-built Deauville car. He soon concluded that he could manufacture a better vehicle himself. Two years later, he and Charles Rolls, an established London car agent, founded Rolls-Royce together.

The pair chose to concentrate the firm's initial activities upon producing a single variety of upmarket car. The Silver Shadow went into production in 1907. Subsequently, Rolls-Royce commissioned from Charles Sykes The Spirit of Ecstasy. The bonnet-adorning figure was modelled upon Eleanor Thornton, the mistress of John Montagu, the owner of Car Illustrated magazine, for which Mr Sykes worked as a cartoonist.

Through participating in long-distance road races, Rolls generated publicity for the company. This aided its success. The business's rapid expansion led to it accepting outside investment. Rolls came to be increasingly fascinated by flight; he had participated in the Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race of 1906. Three years later he proposed that Rolls-Royce should acquire the British manufacturing rights for Wright aeroplanes. His fellow directors rejected the idea.

In 1910 Rolls suggested that Rolls-Royce should manufacture planes and balloons for the War Office. Again, his initiative was rebuffed. His response to this was to resign from the board. Ten weeks later he became the first Briton to die in an airplane accident. Royce underwent a physical breakdown. Thereafter, he restricted himself to the company's drawing office. He spent a large part of each year living in the south of France.

At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 a Mercedes Grand Prix car was being exhibited in the Mercedes car showroom in Long Acre, Covent Garden. At the instigation of Royce, the vehicle was impounded by the authorities. Its engine was used as the basis for Rolls-Royce's first aero engine - the Eagle. By the late 1920s the company was deriving more of its profits from manufacturing aircraft engines than it was from building cars

Location: 127-130 Long Acre, WC2E 9AA (orange, pink)

14-15 Conduit Street, W1S 2XJ (purple, brown)

See Also: BOMBER COMMAND; COACHES Long Acre; THE INSUFFERABLE SUFFRAGETTE

Website: www.rolls-royce.com www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com

Car Accidents

In 1886 Bridget Driscoll became the first person in Britain to be killed by a car. She was walking in Crystal Palace Park. The Roger-Benz car was being driven by Arthur Edsell of the Anglo-French Motor Company at 4 m.p.h..

Location: Crystal Palace Park, Thicket Road, SE19 2GA

Crash

In 1970, two weeks after he had finished writing his novel Crash, J.G. Ballard had a front-wheel blowout while driving over Chiswick Bridge. The car crossed the central reservation and ended up on its roof. The book appeared without making an impact.

Location: Chiswick Bridge, Great Chertsey Road, W4 3UL

Car Manufacturers

The first petrol-fuelled car in the U.K. was built in Walthamstow.

Ford

Location: Kent Avenue, Dagenham, RM9 6PF

Website: www.ford.co.uk

Cortina

The designer Roy Brown (1916-2013) had been a leading member of the team that developed the Edsel. The vehicle had been launched in the United States in 1957. It had proven to be an expensive flop. Brown was exiled to Dagenham. There he created the Cortina. This drew heavily on the Edsel e.g. its flattened rear wings. It was launched in 1962.

On 22 July 1982 the final Cortina was manufactured at Dagenham. 4,350,941 had been made.

Production of the Cortina ended in 1982. The vehicle had been the best-selling car of the 1970s.

Lotus

Colin Chapman established his engineering reputation through building racing cars.

The accountant Peter Kirwan-Taylor (1930-2014) sought to relieve the tedium of his work by building a Mk6 Lotus kit car. Subsequently, he met and befriended Colin Chapman. In 1955 Kirwan-Taylor proposed to Chapman that Lotus should build a closed coup version of the Lotus Eleven. The accountant produced an initial design. This was finessed by the aerodynamicist Frank Costin. Chapman hired some Ford designers - Peter Cambridge, John Frayling, and Ron Hickman (1932-2011) - who had experience of designing road cars. A version of the Lotus Elite was first shown to the public at the 1957 Earls Court Motor Show. It was a beautiful-looking vehicle that was a pleasure to drive. However, its manufacturing process was far too complicated. Hickman and John Frayling oversaw the process by which the Elan was led into production. Its construction was simplified by using bought in standard components. The chassis that Hickman developed was used in all of Lotus's vehicles up until 1996. The Elite went on sale in 1962.

Hickman was also involved in the Elan Plus Two and the Europa. He left the company. Subsequently, he became wealthy by inventing the Workmate multi-functional workbench.

Website: www.lotuscars.com

Vauxhall Motors

The Vauxhall Iron Works was founded in 1857 by Alexander Wilson on Vauxhall s Wandsworth Road as a marine engineering business. The firm used a griffin as its trademark; this had been the emblem of the Vaux family from whom the district had acquired its name. In 1903 Vauxhall made its first car, a 5h.p. vehicle that sold for 136. In 1905 Vauxhall moved to Luton in order to have more space into which to expand its operation. In 1925 General Motors of the U.S. acquired control of the company.

Location: Sainsbury's, 62 Wandsworth Road, SW8 2FS. Appropriately enough, a petrol station.

See Also: NAUTICAL Arthur Beale Yacht Chandlers

Website: www.vauxhall.co.uk

Car Parks and Car Parking

See Also: CIVIL SERVANTS Mandarins, Parking; LOCAL GOVERNMENT The Greater London Council

Brewer Street Car Park

Art deco Lex garage car park in Brewer Street.

Location: 32 Brewer Street, W1F 0LA (purple, brown)

Lady Diana Manners

Lady Diana Manners was a frequent visitor to Albany. News that she was expected would often trigger activity that centred on removing any cars that might be parked in front of the building. This was because her driving style was erratic and that her parking could - at best - be termed heterodox.

Location: Albany Courtyard, W1J 0HB (orange, red)

N.C.P.

In 1948, despite the facts that there few cars about and street parking was easy, Ronald Hobson (1921-2017) decided that there was potential to develop a car park business. In order research the possibility of developing one on a bombsite in Red Lion Square. He went to Westminster City Hall and asked to speak whoever dealt with such matters. The person he encountered was Donald Gosling (1929-2019), a trainee surveyor, who had become bored on working for the council but who had a deep knowledge of planning consent regulations. The two men became friends and business partners with Gosling specialising in the finances and planning applications. For a while they were ahead of the game; they developed a multi-storey car park in Central London while free street parking was still widely available. 1958 they acquired National Car Parks a decade later and built it up into Britain s largest car parks business. In 1960 the Traffic Act introduced the yellow line to reduce street parking. A few years later the I.C.I. Pension invested 3m in the company which enabled it to expand more rapidly. The Office of Fair Trading chose to regard car parking as being a service and therefore allowed National Car Parks to develop a market dominance that would not have been tolerated in other sectors of the economy. Gosling and Hobson sold the business in 1998.

Ron and Don shared an office for almost seventy years. Gosling was the more flamboyant of the pair. Hobson was happy to drive a Vauxhall Cavalier. When he asked Barnet Council for permission to create a parking space for it, he was refused. However, he appealed against the decision and was granted permission.

Location: 21 Bryanston Street, W1H 7AB (purple, yellow)

Website: www.ncp.co.uk

Palatial Parking

George Mandelson was fascinated by politics but was never an M.P.. He was the son-in-law of the Labour politician Herbert Morrison and the father of Peter Mandelson, who was a senior figure in the Blair government (1997-2007). Mandelson p re used to avail himself of car parking in the Palace of Westminster's precincts. He did this by putting a copy of Hansard on the backshelf of his car and waving cheerily at the police officer on duty.

Location: The Palace of Westminster, Parliament Square, SW1A 0AA (purple, blue)

Parking Spaces

In 2004 it was reported that a parking space in Basil Street, Knightsbridge, was for sale priced at £100,000. The purchaser had to live within 400m of the site. A further five spaces were available for rent at £5000 p.a., plus V.A.T..

Location: Basil Street, SW1X 9LF (red, yellow)

Underground

A number of apartment buildings that were built during the middle of the 20^thC had underground car parks and petrol stations.

Car Showrooms

Bristol Cars

In 1961 Bristol was unable to provide AC with cars. The American racing driver and engineer Carroll Shelby (1923-2012) brokered a deal whereby the latter started using a 4.7-litre Ford V8 engine. The cars were branded as Cobras.

In 1973 Anthony Crook acquired control of Bristol Cars.

In 1997 Crook sold a 50% holding in Bristol to Toby Silverton.

In 2001 relinquished financial control of Bristol.

In 2011 Bristol was placed in administration.

Location: 368-370 Kensington High Street, W14 8NL (Gone.) (orange, turquoise)

Website: www.bristolcars.com

H.R. Owen

Following the First World War Harold Rolfe Owen and Jack Barclay worked together as car dealers. The pair fell out with one another. Owen set up H.R. Owen. He died during the Second World War. Fritz Swain acquired the business in 1946. In 2000 H.R. Owen bought Jack Barclay. The deal created the world s largest dealer in Rolls-Royces and Bentleys.

Website: www.hrowen.co.uk

Wolseley Motors

The Wolseley Tool & Motor Car Company, which was founded in 1901 by Herbert Austin with financial backing from the machine gun manufacturing business Vickers, Sons & Maxim. The latter was interested in maintaining some form of production in the lull that the arms trade experienced following the end of the Second Boer War. In 1903 the first Wolseley cars were manufactured at the Maxim factory in Crayford, Kent.

In 1926 the Wolseley brand was acquired by Morris Motors, which was controlled by William Morris (Lord Nuffield). The brand survived until 1975 when it was killed off the Morris-descended British Motor Corporation.

Location: The Wolseley caf -restaurant, 160 Piccadilly, W1J 9EB. The building was Wolseley's flagship showroom.

See Also: GUNS The Maxim Machine Gun; PHILANTHROPY The Nuffield Foundation; RESTAURANTS The Wolseley

Website: www.thewolseley.com

The Chauffered Chauffeur

Sir Ron Dearing (d.2009) was an able, self-effacing man who had a successful career within Whitehall as a mandarin. He reached a level of seniority that led to his being assigned a government car that was driven by a chauffeur. Come the evening, he would chauffeur his chauffeur home and then drive on to his own abode in Surbiton. In the morning he would pick up the chauffeur on his way into work.

See Also: CIVIL SERVANTS Mandarins, Sir Ron Dearing

Citroën House

The architectural practice Charles Heathcote & Sons designed 184 Shepherds Bush Road (1916) for the Ford Motor Company. In 1923 the building was acquired by Citroën which used it as a showroom and storage facility. Following the Second World it became an Osram factory

Location: 184 Shepherds Bush Road, W6 7NL

Commuting

In the 1960s the O.D.D.P. policy controlled the building of office space. It compelled the construction of such buildings in the towns around London. The policy was meant to reduce the amount of commuting into London.

Deathbed Undertaking

On his death-bed the 19^th Baron Willoughby de Broke made his sons swear an oath that they would devote themselves to ensuring that the motor car was not in any way used for fox hunting.

Location: 23 Gilbert Street, W1K 5HD (red, brown)

See Also: PALACES Buckingham Palace, Death In The Gardens

Game Overs

In 2009 it was reported that, following the start of the Global Financial Crisis, some people had taken to referring to Range Rovers as Game Overs.

The Michelin Building

The Art Deco Michelin Building (1911) was designed by Fran ois Espinasse. On the second floor there is stained glass that reads Nunc Bibendum. Michelin Tyre Co. Ltd.

Location: 81 Fulham Road, SW3 6RD (purple, grey)

See Also: DISTRICT CHANGE West London Factories, The Firestone Factory; KEW GARDENS Rubber; RESTAURANTS The Wolseley

Website: www.michelin.com www.michelin.co.uk https://claudebosi.com

Motoring Organisations

The Automobile Association

Hugh Lowther the 5^th Earl of Lonsdale (1857-1944) became known as the Yellow Earl because of love of the colour. He had a number of yellow Rolls-Royces. He was the founding President of the Automobile Association. The organisation adopted the colour from his livery.

Location: 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. The peer s townhouse. (red, turquoise)

The R.A.C.

Website: www.rac.co.uk

Speeding

In 1895 Walter Arnold (c.1857-1916) and Henry Hewetson (c.1852-1930) acquired a licence to manufacture Benz cars in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The following year the former became the first person to be charged with speeding. He was doing 8 m.p.h. through the town. At the time, the legal limit was 2 m.p.h.. He was apprehended by a policeman who had pursued him on a bicycle.

Later that year the Highways Act of 1896 classified automobiles as light locomotives . As such, they were allowed to travel at up to 14 m.p.h..

Arnold and Hewetson dissolved their partnership in 1898. Both men became active in London's motor trade.

Location: Arnold Motor Carriage of London, 59 Mark Lane, EC3R 7ND (blue, brown)

Hewtesons Motor Car Company, 77 Oxford Street, W1D 1BH (orange, pink)

David Backhouse 2024