Obscure British Manufacturers.
Discussion
I have been a car fanatic since i was a kid and believe i have a wide knowledge of British cars.Obscure and rare makes fascinate me and there is one particular make that particularly intrigues me...Paramount.I believe two guys started this company in Derby in the late forties and latterly they were built with Ford Consul engines.I have only seen two,there was one for sale about a year ago on flea-bay but i don`t know if it sold.Anyone have any more information on Paramount Cars or are there any other obscure British makes that intrigue you?
lowdrag said:
I believe, from a distant visit, that there were one over 20 car makers in the time in Coventry alone. A visit to the museum there will bear out what I say.
Coincidence....i am Coventry born & bred and a visit to the motor museum is am enthralling experience and its free! Listed in the foyer are the car,motorcycle and bicycle manufacturers in Coventry....and they are very long lists...its sad that there are no car manufacturer`s in the City now,the last two were the Jaguar assembly plant at Browns Lane and the Peugeot at Ryton.Some interesting replies though.....keep them coming!
Old Merc said:
This calls for a few more examples,I`ll start with this one.I`ve lived in Reading for 65 years and have been in the motor trade all my working life and never new about this company?? I came across this ad` by chance. 
I wonder if there was any association with Alfred Herberts in Coventry?Old Merc said:
This calls for a few more examples,I`ll start with this one.I`ve lived in Reading for 65 years and have been in the motor trade all my working life and never new about this company?? I came across this ad` by chance.
In the flesh. There is a car around the engine as well, but I don't have a photo
http://www.transport-museum.com/aboutthemuseum/cov...
Loads listed on the Coventry Transport Museum website. Payne & Bates is the one I'm particularly interested in, as Payne is my surname. I think they have one of their cars there.
Loads listed on the Coventry Transport Museum website. Payne & Bates is the one I'm particularly interested in, as Payne is my surname. I think they have one of their cars there.
esso said:
I wonder if there was any association with Alfred Herberts in Coventry?
The founder of the company was a Mr. Herbert Merton, so there's no connection. You really wouldn't believe how many car makers there used to be in the UK - every engineering company and a few dreamers tried to get on the bandwagon before WW1, and after the war there was a huge demand for motorised transport, which resulted in even more new marques, and the invention of the cyclecar and then the light car (the austin 7).Coventry ended up as the epicentre, but back streets in every town and city had their own "manufacturers", some of whom only ever made half-a-dozen cars. It was easy to buy proprietary engines and transmissions, so they didn't need extravagant equipment. If anyone's fascinated by all this, try getting hold of a copy of Georgano's Encyclopedia - it's pricy (£200 new) but you'll never get to read it all. (I'm half-way through the 'A' s after about 2 months).
By the way, the Paramount was originally designed to take Alvis power, but it was too expensive. The early cars were Ford 10hp engined, and the Consul power came later.
There's no Parkinson listed, and this book is pretty exhaustive.
esso said:
I have been a car fanatic since i was a kid and believe i have a wide knowledge of British cars.Obscure and rare makes fascinate me and there is one particular make that particularly intrigues me...Paramount.I believe two guys started this company in Derby in the late forties and latterly they were built with Ford Consul engines.I have only seen two,there was one for sale about a year ago on flea-bay but i don`t know if it sold.Anyone have any more information on Paramount Cars or are there any other obscure British makes that intrigue you?
Paramount Cars was founded by W.A.Hudson & S.Underwood in Swadlincote Derby in 1950.They first used a Ford 10 sidevalve with twin SU`s but when the company moved to Leighton Buzzard
in 1953 the Ford Consul 1500cc engine was an option,also a Wade & Shorrocks supercharger!!
If you go to www.gracesguide.co.uk and find the car section you can read up on all the cars you have never heard of.
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