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?EddyP said:
Another one for you is Lammas Graham, Pre war, based on an American Chassis and Engine (Graham), they featured a straight 6 3.7L Supercharged engine.
There's currently only one on the road, of which my late father did most of it's restoration, it's new owner finished it off and it now looks stunning.
This was her in 1938 by the Cathedral in Lichfield:
This is her after the restoration, new owner on the left, me on the right at my sisters wedding, he managed to get it finished just in time for her wedding, made for a very special moment, almost like having a bit of our dad there with us.
If someone wants more info or pics let me know, i've got about 3 albums worth of them all through the restoration.
That Sir is quite stunning!!!!...yesterday i was actually reading an article in an old Classic & Sportscar mag on a guy who has restored a 1929 Graham-Paige 615 from a wreck.When restoring/rebuilding a car which is rare as this how do you manage to find all the component parts to do it? or is it a case of having items manufactured or adapting parts to suit....it amazes me the ability of people who restore cars such as this one...well done!There's currently only one on the road, of which my late father did most of it's restoration, it's new owner finished it off and it now looks stunning.
This was her in 1938 by the Cathedral in Lichfield:
This is her after the restoration, new owner on the left, me on the right at my sisters wedding, he managed to get it finished just in time for her wedding, made for a very special moment, almost like having a bit of our dad there with us.
If someone wants more info or pics let me know, i've got about 3 albums worth of them all through the restoration.
Edited by esso on Sunday 26th August 08:42
Ian Wegg said:
esso said:
Stack said:
One obscure car I really like is the Gordon Keeble...
Made in Wales i believe....nice car!nicanary said:
Oh er, a competition....
The OP likes 50s sports cars, so I give you the Marauder, made by two Rover employees, and based on P4 mechanicals. Manufactured between 1950 and 52, and only 15 built
Thought about this one the other day..only ever seen one....they were done in Knowle or Dorridge in Warwickshire i believe?The OP likes 50s sports cars, so I give you the Marauder, made by two Rover employees, and based on P4 mechanicals. Manufactured between 1950 and 52, and only 15 built
Old Merc said:
CRA1G said:
The Palladium covered the medium to large sector of the market with one engine nearly four litres,from around 1911 to 1925.
This must be the Palladium your talking about,this ad` is dated 1923.
Ebo100 said:
longshot said:
Rochdale.
Not a very exciting name for what are, in my opinion, pretty cool little cars.
This is a Rochdale Olympic.
Good choice, I also think these are cracking little cars and really suit the Minilight wheels.Not a very exciting name for what are, in my opinion, pretty cool little cars.
This is a Rochdale Olympic.
nicanary said:
I thought you might be interested in this, the Fedden. Not strictly speaking a manufacturer because it never got past the prototype stage, and just about bankrupted its designer and backers.
Roy Fedden was a talented aeronautical engineer who designed successful engines during WW2 including the Bristol Centaurus and Napier Sabre. After the war he realised quite rightly that there would be a huge demand for new cars, and decided to go for it. Unfortunately he selected the weirdest format possible - a three-cylinder air-cooled radial. Because of the size and layout of the engine, it had to be positioned at the rear above the axle line, which meant that the car overturned when it went round corners.
Despairing of getting it to work, he dropped the whole project, and finished up lecturing at Cranfield. I reckon the principle was pretty advanced for the time, and would have worked if he'd gone for a conventional power source.Mind you, the Commer TS3 commercial engine used in the 50s was similarly weird, but worked. Designed for tank use in WW2, it was a three cylinder, six piston horizontally-opposed, two-stroke, supercharged unit - WTF! Made a fantastic noise.
Thats one i have never seen before,very interesting!
Excellent!
coppice said:
A word on Marendaz; in the mid 70s I was a very green trainee solicitor with Lincolnshire County Council; I was given a trading standards case to deal with and the compalainant was none other than Captain DMK Marendaz . He lived in a very large house out on the Lincs Wolds - Asterby Hall ?- and he would pen these utterly bonkers letters about how he had been ripped off.If I recall correctly he'd bought a 250 Merc secondhand years before and because some tiny fault had appeared he wanted the Council to throw the book at the garage who sold it to him. Frequent referemce was made to the legendary qualities of the mighty Marendaz special. I later found out that the poor old bugger had been banned from the public libraries because of his rather patrician belef that the library service was a sort of free bookshop; he'd order lots of esoteric and expensive tomes and they would never be seen again. If challenged the toff charm disappeared and was replaced by an utterly vile and abusive temper.
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