BSA - "Unqualified Praise"

Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was founded 1861 by a group of 14 gunsmiths of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association. BSA was founded to meet the challenge of Royal Small Arms factory at Enfield who started using machines to manufacture arms more efficiently and cheaply.

With demand for small arms reducing , the small arms business was shut down in 1879. In order to utlise the manufacturing facilities , BSA expanded in to manufacture of bicycles. In 1880 the first Di-cycle was manufactured.

A 1880 BSA Di-cycle -

BSA was one of the leading bicycle manufacturer till about 1887, when the demand for small arms peaked again. BSA reverted to manufacture of arms for the military.

BSA experimented with Motor cars in 1907 with a Itala design car which won the 1907 Peking - Paris race. 

A 1907 BSA car -

In 1908 BSA restarted bicycle production and continued till 1957 , when it was sold to Raleigh cycles. Motorcycles production was started in 1909 and continued till 1973 when it was sold to Norton-Villiers-Triumph.

In 1910 , BSA acquired Daimler Motor Company which was in financial difficulty. BSA started using Daimler engines in their cars as well as re-badged the Daimler cars as BSA cars. In 1932, BSA/Daimler acquired Lanchester Motor Company.

BSA was the first company to introduce a mass produced Front wheel drive car in 1929. The car was a 3 wheeler with 2 front wheels and one rear wheel. 

A 1930 BSA 3 Wheeled car -

Later BSA carried on the Front wheel design to a 4 Wheeled car and can be considered as pioneers in front wheel drive cars.

A 1931 BSA front wheel drive car -  TW 5

One of the most famous BSA cars was the BSA Scout.

A 1935 BSA Scout and a 1938 BSA Scout -

After the WWII , BSA shifted back to Rear wheel drive cars. 

Financial troubles at BSA led to Jaguar Cars acquiring BSA in 1960. In between 1966 and 1968 , they were part of BMC (British Motor Corporation) and BMH (British Motor Holdings). In 1968 BSA/Daimler/Lanchester/Jaguar became part of the reorganised and nationalised British Leyland (BL). In 1984, BSA/Daimler/Lanchester along with Jaguar cars became independent of British Leyland. Ford PAG acquired Jaguar cars in 1989 and later sold it off to Tata Motors in 2007. 

The BSA Logos -

DODGE - Dependable

Brothers John Francis Dodge (1864 - 1920) and Horace Elgin Dodge (1868 - 1920) were excellent machinists and had developed a name for their ability to mass produce precision parts. In 1900, they created Dodge Brothers Company and were supplying to Engine and chasis components to many automobile companies. They earned a reputation of being dependable.

In 1902 , they received an order to supply  3000 transmissions to Old Motor Works. Later they received and order for 650 Engines and transmission from Ford Motor Company. As time progressed , they were supplying most of the parts to Ford Motor Company and were fully dependent on the Ford Motor Company for survival.

Dodge brothers realised this dependence on Ford and wanted to move out and manufacture their own car. In 1914, they formed Dodge Brothers Inc to manufacture cars and introduced their first car - Dodge Model 30 in 1915.

A 1915  Dodge Model 30 - 

The model 30 had many features which were not available in other cars as well as Ford's car - All Steel body, 12V electrical system and 3-speed sliding gear transmission to name a few.

In 1917 , Dodge expanded in to manufacturing "commercial cars" - Ambulances, fire trucks, panel vans, delivery vans and later full size trucks. A fleet of 1920 Dodge delivery trucks -

The word RAM was first used in the early 1930s and later popularized in the 1970s to brand the Dodge turcks.

In 1920 , both the Dodge brothers died suddenly,  within a year of each. The management of the company passed to their wives. In 1928 , the Dodge Brothers Inc was sold to a consortium who sold it to Chrysler Corporation.

Some of the well known Dodge cars are -

A 1939 Dodge Luxury Liner -

Dodge Challenger -

Dodge Durango - 

A 1989 Dodge Ram -

High Performance car - the Dodge Viper

In 1998 , Chrysler Corporation merged with Daimler to form Daimler- Chrysler. In 2007, Daimler divested Chrysler to a consortium which was later bought by Fiat.

The Dodge Logos -

ROVER - "Set the Pattern to the World"

In 1877, John Kemp Starley (1854 - 1901) and William Sutton (1830 - 1888) created the Starley & Sutton Company to manufacture Bicycles. They were concentrating on making the bicycles safer to ride as compared to the "Penny-farthing" bicycles of those days. In 1883 , they introduced tricycles and were selling those tricycles under the Rover brand name.

In 1885 they introduced the revolutionary Rover safety bicycle and can be considered as the father of the modern bicycle. A 1889 Rover safety bicycle -

In 1889, after the demise of his business partner , the company was renamed as J. K. Starley & Company.  In 1896 , with the bicycle business at its peak, the company was renamed as Rover Cycle Company. Starley also experimented with electric cars unsuccessfully and did not pursue further.

After the sudden death of John Starley in 1901 , Harry Lawson (of Daimler) took over the reins and steered the company towards motorisation - Motorcycles in 1903  and later cars in 1904. An 1903 Rover Motorcycle -

Rover continued in Motorcycle business till 1925 after which production creased.

In 1904, Rover introduced their first motorcar. A 1905 Rover car -

Rover became the well know British marque , across the world and continued to make famous car. In 1905, the company was renamed as Rover Company. Some of the famous cars of Rover are -

A 1910 . Rover Six

A 1929 , Rover Light Six

A 1940's Rover P3 -

A 1950, Rover P4 "Cyclops" - third light in the grill -

A 1960 , Rover P5 -

In the 1950s , Rover experimented with gas turbine engines and introduced the Rover Jet1, unsuccessfully.

In 1948, inspired by the U S Army's Willy's Jeep, Maurice Wilks built  the Land Rover literally from the parts of a discarded Willy's Jeep. Owing to steel shortage after the war and abundant availability of aluminium from aircraft construction, the body was made of light weight aluminum. The paint was military green as this was available in abundance after the war. One of the earliest Land Rovers built based on a Willy's Jeep , a 1948 Land Rover -

 

Land Rovers continued to make vehicle with ladder frame till recently, when they shifted to monocoque construction.

Owning to financial difficulties,  post the 1960s, the Rover company changed many hands.

In 1967 , Rover Company was taken over by Leyland Motor Corporation and integrated as Rover - Triumph division. In 1968, Leyland Motor Corporation merged with British Motor Holdings to become British Leyland Motor Company(BLMC). In 1975, BLMC was nationalised  to form British Leyland (BL). In 1978, Land Rover was made as a separate brand. In 1981, in an internal reorganisation, Austin Motors and Rover Company were merged to form the Austin - Rover group. 

A 1984 Austin Montego. This car was made and sold in India as Rover Montego by Sipani Motors.

In 1986, the parent company , British Leyalnd was renamed as Rover Group. The Rover group was taken over by British Aerospace in 1989 and later sold off to BMW in 1994. In 2000, in view of financial difficulties, BMW sold off the Rover brand to a consortium who named the company as MG Rover, the MG brand coming from the Morris Garages and Morris Motor Company.

A 2004 MG Rover -

Further , in 2007 , Nanjing Automotive Group of China purchased the MG brand and SAIC of China purchased the product rights of Rover car but not the Rover brand. The Land Rover brand was purchased by Ford and integrated in to their Premium Automotive Group (PAG), along with Jaguar. In 2008, Tata Motors of India purchased Jaguar - Land Rover from Ford. Currently the Land Rover brand is with Tata Motors. In China, SAIC makes Rover cars but cannot use the Rover brand name and hence these cars are being sold under Roe We brand.

The Rover Logos -

The original Rover logo is of a Viking ship.

Land Rover Logo -

Austin Rover Logo -

MG Rover Logo -

Roe We Logo (China) -

BUICK - Forerunner of General Motors

David Dunbar Buick (1865 - 1924) , Scottish by origin, was interested in developing internal combustion engines for boats and later for automobiles. In  1899, he founded the Buick Auto Vim and Power Company to design and manufacture engines. In 1902, the company was in financial trouble forcing David Buick to take help from the Briscoe brothers - Frank and Benjamin Briscoe leading to the formation of Buick Manufacturing Company in 1902.

Seeing not much progress towards manufacturing , the Briscoe brothers sold off their holdings to James Whiting of  Flint Wagon Works and a new company Buick Motor Company was formed in 1903. David Buick along with Chief Engineer Walter Lorenzo Marr were credited with developing the first Over-head valve engine as against the side valve engines of that era.

The first production car Buick Model B was seen in 1904 -

In 1904, James Whiting brought in William Crapo Durant to manage the business at the Buick Motor Company. Being a top notch salesman as well as businessman , the Buick Motor Company flourished under the leadership of William Durant.

A 1907 Buick Model G -

In 1908 , William Durant thought about bringing most of the major automobile manufacturers under one company and attempted to integrate Ford Motor Company , Olds Motor Works, Maxwell -Briscoe Motor Company  and REO, He almost succeeded in creating a company named International Motors but for Ford and REO walking out in the last moment. In spite of Ford & REO walking out, William Durant created  General Motors Company with Buick Motor Company , Old Motor Works, Cadillac Motor Company and a plethora of small automobile companies and component suppliers. Thus was born General Motors out of Buick Motor Company. Later Buick became a brand of General Motors and survives till date.

In the early 30s , the ancestral coat of arms of its founder , David Buick,  was introduced in to the logo of Buick. In the early 60s the "Trishield" logo appeared, to depict the 3 major Buick cars of that time - the LeSabre, Invicta and the Electra -

A 1960 LeSabre

A 1959 Electra -

A 1961 Invicta -

Buick was well know for Engines and exterior styling. One of the famous engine design was popularly known as the "Nailhead" engine . Nailhead engine was a V8 engine with vertical overhead valves, resulting in a long stem and a small valve head. A "Nailhead" V8 Engine -

On Exterior styling , Buick brought in many new concepts including the Waterfall front grille, Sweepspear side chrome trims, VentiPort on the fenders, delta tail fins etc.

Buick brand still survives - one of the latest model, a 2013 Buick LaCrosse -

The Buick Logo -