Motor Industry in Coventry

No, sorry, I don't

A thought - has anyone come across any Autovias around the Coventry area? Wasn't that factory in Much Park St - part of the Riley premises, or separate? I've only ever seen one Autovia saloon car, quite a few years ago, but several are supposed to be around somewhere.

18 of 22 Tue 13th Dec 2011 9:08pmI have just uploaded my photos of the 2005 Standard Motor Club International Rally, held at Binton, near Stratford-on-Avon Hope you will enjoy looking at these Coventry-built cars (Apologies, captions not yet done!) Standard Motor Club International Rally 2005 Thank you Midland Red, the TR2's are very nostalgic, when I was first married we had two rooms in a little house opposite the Standard gates. I remember being in bed on a sunday morning and hearing the TR2's changing gear just outside our window. Lovely sound, I never could afford one!!

Good morning. I am Richard Hill (son of Claude Hill who was engineering director at Harry Ferguson Research). I left Jaguar Cars design team in 1974 and moved to Norfolk to work at Lotus Cars under Mike Kimberley, who was then chief engineer. I now run my own engineering design company in Norwich. Cliff (midland red) I remember those days very well!!!!

Hi Rick! How great to hear from you after all these years Happy memories of Camden House and your Worthington E sign! Perhaps you'll put a contact email address on your forum membership profile (or send it via my contact link) Happy Christmas

A treat amongst all the buses at the Coventry Corporation Transport Centenary celebrations yesterday was this beauty - a 1939 Triumph Dolomite Roadster

The Rolls Royce Heritage Trust 1904 Siddeley Autocar is running in this Sunday's London to Brighton Run. This car was built at Parkside and last took part in this run in 2004. It has been kept and maintained at Ansty in recent years. Good luck to all those involved and I hope the weather is kind to you.

Just as a follow up, the Siddeley Autocar finished the 2015 London to Brighton run and was awarded a medal. Well done to all the Heritage Trust members involved!

I thought this pic may be of interest, also on far right is Mr Len Hayden, Mechanic who was responsible for sending me to NZ.

Just reviving this thread as I'm a huge Motor-racing fan and noted a couple of names on here. Norfolk - I'm in touch with Mike Kimberley's son as I have owned a Lotus for many years and he is active on the Lotus Car Forums. Mike is enjoying retirement now - I'm sure I've mentioned on here he is a fellow Coventrian and lived on Browns Lane working at the Jag before moving to the likes of Lotus (under Colin Chapman) and Lamborghini (!) I also have only recently discovered that Derek Gardner was born in Warwick and worked in Cov at Masseys developing Ferguson transmissions. Derek went on to famously become chief designer in F1 at Tyrrell including the infamous 6-wheeler!

Thanks Neil For anyone who doesnt know about him, there is some information about Mike Kimberley on our "Famous Coventrians" list

I have a Cluley car and have been researching the company and its founders, so have quite a lot of information which might eventually become a book, encompassing the cycle motor and textile engineering trades. I have been looking into other Coventry car and cycle manufacturers such as Premier (I have some of their bicycles), Calcott, Albatros, Cooper, Emscote etc.

Didn't quite know where to put this picture of a fascinating vehicle from the Bystander 1904.

Hi all A dilemma now facing us here in Coventry, the centre of our motor industry, design & development from earliest times, now faces the prospect of the elimination of motor vehicles in the cause of air quality. A victim of its own success, where our motor cars are polluting the air we breathe in much the same way as plastics are polluting our oceans. When I bought my last motor, ten years ago, I was encouraged to buy a clean, energy efficient, diesel rather than petrol, as was recommended by our state government. I can remember Mr Blair giving a speech on the subject many years earlier, where he was addressing "Mondeo-man" car owners, telling businesses to switch to diesel for their fleet operations as well as private motorists. There is nothing new about the exhaust emissions content from diesels. Being a train-spotter gave me an insight to the problems of exhaust from diesels. Birds' respiratory systems are very sensitive to atmospheric toxins, which is why they were used in pre-Davy lamp coal mines, to detect methane. Train-spotters were always aware that back in the late fifties, locations where pigeons had lived, even as nuisances, quite happily on steam railways, the minute diesels were introduced, the pigeons disappeared. Possibly, what might now be needed in Coventry are substantial park-&-ride schemes, not half-baked as before, but located at various locations around our city outskirts, as an interim measure, whilst we await the further development of either hydrogen or electrically-powered vehicles. Hydrogen strikes me as a real goer, because that can be processed from solar power, possibly easier than any other at present. What do we think on this?

Over a year ago a friend of mine in the UK told me about an article in Autocar Magazine (May 6th 2020) about the car industry in Coventry. He's a serious car person who was at the University of Warwick in the mid sixties and he revelled in looking around at some of the old factory buildings. The article is a short history of the industry with some surprising facts. Lots of old photos and a terrible map of the city with numbers superimposed on nameless streets. By the time he told me about the article he'd already promised his copy to someone else and emailed me the 6 page article. I would love a better rendition of the map. Most of my family worked for these car makers, my dad for the Climax, Daimler, Armstrong Siddeley and finally Alvis, when they were making engines for Concorde. My uncles worked for the Jag, Humber, Morris and Carbodies, the latter being the makers of the world famous London cabs. We lived near Browns Lane and I could almost see the Jag factory all the way from Coundon before the trees around our new neighbourhood, built in 1960, grew to obscure it. The Museum does a great job of displaying Coventry's magnificent heritage and we try to visit when we are home.