This weeks history article became part of the 4th largest car business in the US but sadly was lost when number four was swallowed up by number three! Rambler was one of the oldest brands and like many manufacturers, came from a bicycle maker. Thomas B Jeffery was the designer of the bicycles and the first cars. He was a part of the Gormully and Jeffery Manufacturing Company … [Read more...]
Bond Cars
This history article is about another successful microcar manufacturer of the 1950s and 1960s – Bond Cars or Sharps Commercials as they were originally called. Lawrence Bond formed the company in 1948 in the north of England – a hotbed of microcars with Reliant and Peel amongst other manufacturers up in the same part of the world. Bond formed the company because he wanted to … [Read more...]
Hudson
This article is about Hudson, an American brand that was in business for over 50 years. Hudson was founded in 1909 in Detroit by several local businessmen and was named after the provider of the cash to start the venture: Joseph L Hudson. He was an owner of Hudson's Department store and was born in England but had moved firstly to Canada and then Detroit. The company he lent … [Read more...]
Panhard
Panhard was another manufacturer that was at the very beginning of the automotive industry and were based in France, in fact as you will see, they were associated with many of the leading French brands of the century. Rene Panhard, the son of a saddler and coach-builder, and his associate Emile Levassor founded their company in 1887. They had both worked at a wood-working … [Read more...]
DAF
The history article this week is about DAF, a truck maker who branched out into car making after thinking about how they use the propulsion methods of their metal working machines. The company was founded in 1928 by Hubert Van Doorne and his brother, Wim, as a metalworking shop and were financed by a local businessman to start manufacturing commercial vehicles. Hubert had … [Read more...]
