LEYLAND - Trucks & Buses

James Sumner (1860 - 1924) was a British Engineer involved in the manufacture of steam lawn movers and experimenting with self-propelled steam vehicles. In 1892 , he converted a tri-cycle to run on steam.

In 1895 , he designed and developed a 3 wheel steam car for Mr Theodore Carr.

In 1896 , he along with Henry Spurrier (1840 - 1922) and his sons Henry Spurrier II (1869 - 1942) and George Spurrier (1872 - 1946) formed the Lancashire Steam Motor Company in the town of Leyland. In 1897 , they introduced the first steam wagon.

1899/1900 saw the introduction  of stem passenger vehicles which started the bus business. Below is the 1900 steam bus sold to Dundee Motor Omnibus. In fact the first export was a steam mail van to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

While the company was manufacturing bigger and better steam trucks and buses, they were parallely experimenting with Petrol-engine power also. In 1904, they introduced the first Petrol-engine Lorry , named as "The Pig".

In 1907 , Lancashire Steam Motor company was renamed as Leyland Motors , taking the name of the town where it was located.

Leyland continued its domination of the Lorry and Bus market , shifting out of steam to petrol. In 1920, they introduced their car - Leyland Eight.

Leyland Eight was sophisticated and expensive and did not sell well. It was stopped in 1923.

Leyland continued its domination in the Lorry and Bus segment. Leyland was the first to design buses to maximise passenger space which led to the driver sitting on one side of the engine as well as Double-Decker buses. Below is a 1906 Leyland bus and a Double-Decker bus.

Leyland also had the concept of "Leyland Zoo" where the trucks were named after animals , including Octopus for their multi-axle trucks.

After the acquisition of Standard Triumph in 1963, the company was renamed as Leyland Motor Corporation. In 1968 Leyland Motor Corporation merged with British Motor Holdings (BMH) to form the British Leyland Corporation (BLMC). This merger brought in a bouquet of cars (Morris, Austin, Wolseley, Siddley, Standard, Triumph, Rover) under the BLMC umbrella.

In 1975, after financial problems, BLMC was nationalised and renamed as British Leyland (BL). In 1986 , they acquired the Rover group. In 1987 , the DAF group of Netherlands acquired BL and the company was renamed as Leyland DAF.

1993 saw the bankruptcy of DAF group which led to the management take over as well as splitting in to Leyland trucks , LDV Limited (for Vans) Leyland Bus and spare parts division LEX.

In 1998 , Leyland truck was sold to PACCAR group of USA and prior to DAF bankruptcy, Leyland Bus was sold to Volvo in 1988.

The Leyland Logo -

In India , Leyland still lives on in the form of Ashok-Leyalnd.

KING - An early Pioneer

Charles Brady King (1868 - 1957) of USA was an inventor and Engineer.  In 1894 he formed the Charles B King Company to manufacture Stationary Engines, Marine Engines and Pneumatic hammers and was holding numerous patents.

In 1893 , he made a plan to develop a "horseless" carriage which will be self-propelled by a Gasoline engine.

The first car was made in 1895 with a 2-cylinder King engine. The second car was made in 1896 and was driven around.

After experimenting successfully with cars, King continued to concentrate on Engines and pneumatic hammers. In 1900 , King sold the Marine Engine business to Old Motor Works and joined the company as Chief Engineer. After the disastrous fire at Old Motor Works , he left the company and joined Northern Manufacturing Co (Later to be renamed as Northern Motor Company) in 1902.

At Norther Motor Company , King developed many engines and introduced new features on Northern cars. One of the well know being the "Silent Northern" car.

When Northern Motor Company was taken over by E-M-F in 1908 , King left Norther Motor Company and pursued higher studies. On completion of his studies , in 1910, King incorporated his company - King Motor Car Company.

King Motor Car company produced a few cars , the famous being the King 8 with a 8-cylinder engine, advertised as "the car of no regrets". A 1912 King 36 roadster -

The King Logo -





After 1916 , sales kept falling and finally King Motor Company was closed down in 1924

AUTOCAR - Pioneer in trucking

Louis Semple Clarke (1866 - 1957) of USA was in the business of steam boat services. Early in 1890s  he started experimenting with motorization. In 1897, he formed the company Pittsburgh Motor vehicle Company. The first attempt was a Gasoline powered tricycle in 1897 and later, in 1899,  a proper 4 wheeled car called "Pittsburgher" was introduced.

In 1899 , the company was renamed as The Autocar Company and was experimenting with cars and trucks. 

A 1901 Autocar car -

Autocar was known for innovation and inventions. LS (Louis Semple), as he was known, invented the Porcelain insulation for spark plugs. The patent was later sold to Champion and is still the main element of a modern spark plug. LS also was the first to put the steering on the left hand side which led to standardization of RH traffic. He was also the first to use oil circulation system for lubrication of engines.

By 1907 , Auto car decided to concentrate on manufacture of trucks. Some of the early Autocar trucks - a 1910 Autocar truck and a 1932 Autocar Tanker.

By 1912 , Autocar stopped manufacture of cars and  concentrated on the manufacture of trucks.

The Autocar Logo -

Autocar was taken over by White Motor Company in 1953 and trucks were manufactured under both White and Autocar brands. In 1981 , Volvo acquired White Motor Company and Volvo also continued to manufacture trucks under Autocar brand. In 2001 , Volvo stopped manufacture of Autocar trucks sold the Autocar brand to General Vehicle Holdings.