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 -

OTTO - Father of compression engines

Nikolaus August Otto (1832 - 1891), German by nationality  ,  was a travelling salesman and got interested in the Lenoir engine. The Lenoir atmospheric engine ran at 4% efficiency and Otto was contemplating to improve the engine. He , along with Carl Eugen Langen formed the company, NA Otto & Cie to manufacture these engines. This was probably the first engine manufacturing factory in the world.

In 1867, they developed the Otto-Langen atmospheric engine which won many awards and contracts.

The 1867 Otto-Langen atmospheric engine -

This engine could produce power in the range of 0.25 HP to 3 HP. The exploding combustion of the gas lifted the piston, creating a partial vacuum  The piston is returned back to its position by gravity, in the process doing work. The limitation of this engine to go beyond 3 HP was due to the design which requires headroom for this engine. Watch a video of of the Otto-Langen engine working -  (Click Here)

In 1869, they moved the company to the town of Deutz and renamed their company as Gasmotoren - Fabrik Deutz.

In 1872, the management brought in Gottileb Daimler as the factory manager and Wilhelm Maybach as the design director.

Nikolaus Otto and Eugen Langen continued to work in trying to improve the efficiency of the atmospheric engine. In 1876 , they developed the first successful 4-cylinder , compression engine, running on illuminating gas (coal gas). The thermodynamic cycle came to be known as Otto cycle and the engine "Gas Engine". Later on the engine was modified to run on Petrol (gasoline) but the name "Gas Engine" stuck on and even now Petrol engines are referred as Gas Engines.

The Otto Cycle - also referred to as the Constant Volume cycle -

Nikolaus Otto wanted to concentrate on large stationary engines where as Gottileb Daimler wanted to concentrate on small automobile engines. This led to Gottileb Daimler quitting the company in 1882, taking Wilhelm Maybach along with him to form his own company - Daimler AG as we know today.

In 1886 , Nikolaus Otto lost his patent right of the Otto engine over recently discovered 1862 patent of Alphonse Beau de Rochas. This engine design was similar to Nikolaus Otto's design but was only on paper. This led to many companies manufacturing Otto cycle engines.

During the war , the company was renamed as Klockner Humbolt Duetz AG (KHD) and later as Deutz AG.

Some the well known Automotive legends have worked in Deutz AG before moving out and starting their own companies - Gottileb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, Prosper L'Orange, Rudolf Diesel, Robert Bosch, Ettore Bugatti.

The Deutz AG logo -

CLEMENT BAYARD - Bicycles to aircrafts

In 1896 , Gustave Adolphe Clement (1855 - 1928) along with Charles Chetwynd Talbot and Harry Lawson (Daimler , England) acquired the Gladiator Cycle Company and renamed it as Clement , Gladiator & Humber (France) Ltd. They were in to manufacture of bicycles. Bicycles were sold under the Clement-Garrad brand. In 1897, with the collapse of the Lawson empire, the company was renamed as Clement Gladiator cycles.

Clement Gladiator experimented with motorisation and were one of the few manufacturer to bring out motorised bicycles and tricycles. The first Clement-Gladiator motorcar was introduced in 1902.

In 1903, the company was split to two branches - Clement-Talbot in Britain  and Clement-Bayard in France. The Bayard name was in recognition of Chevalier Pierre Terrali , Seigneurde Bayard, the savior of the city of Mezierres where the Clement Bayard factory stood.

Some of the Clement Bayard Cars -

A 1908 Clement Bayard 

A 1912 Clement Bayard -

A 1913 Clement Bayard -

In 1908 Clement Bayard went on to manufacture aero-planes. In 1909, the French Government allowed Aldolphe Clement to use the name Bayard and thus he was officially known as Adolphe Clement- Bayard.

In 1922, Clement Bayard was taken over by Citroen.

Clement Bayard Logo -

STEYR - Guns to Automobiles

Josef Werndl (1831 - 1889) was an Austrian gunsmith and he took over his father's business of making small arms and weapons. In 1864 he, along with his brother Franz Werndl , formed Josef Und Franz Werndl & Company to manufacture rifles and small arms for the Austrian Army. The Werndl rifle of 1867 was famous for its function and quality.

In 1894, they expanded in to manufacture of bicycles. The bicycles were sold under the "Steyr" brand name, named after the Austrian town where they were located.

In 1915 , Josef Und Franz Werndl & Co expanded in to development and manufacture of automobiles. They employed the famous automotive engineer  Hans Ledwinka, who quit Nesselsdorfer (Tatra) to join them in designing a new car. The first car , Type II 12/40 HP was launched in 1920. In 1924 , the company was renamed as Steyr-Werke AG.

 A 1925 Steyr Type V car -

Conflict with Steyr management on small car Vs luxury car debate made Hans Ledwinka to quit and rejoin Nesselsdorfer, now Tatra. 

In 1929 , Steyr recruited Ferdinand Porsche from Daimler-Benz. However, recession made survival difficult and the company was in trouble. This made Porsche to leave and create his own company as we know today.

In 1934, Steyr merged with Austro-Daimler-Puchwerke to form Steyr-Daimler-Puch. Steyr-Daimler-Puch was one of the largest automobile groups and were present in many fields - trucks, tractors, automobiles, motorcycles and mopeds.

Some of the most famous cars were the 1936 Steyr 50 , commonly known as "Baby" Steyr and 1939 Steyr 220 -

During the war , Steyr was involved in military production and,  being under Third Reich, used slaves from concentration camps as labour. 

In 1967 , they introduced a versatile 4x4 vehicle named Haflinger -

Steyr was also manufacturing automobiles under license from Opel, FIAT and Mercedes Benz. A Mercedes-Benz G Wagon named Puch G -

Starting early 1990s , Steyr-Daimler-Puch started selling the individual business of Trucks, Buses, Mopeds , Tractors to various companies and was concentrating on automobile business only

In 1998 , Magna International took majority shares in Steyr-Daimler-Puch and by 2001 it was fully acquired by Magna , renamed as Magna Steyr. Magna Steyr , now deals with Vehicle Engineering and contract manufacturing.

Steyr Logo -

HUMBER - The British marque

Thomas Humber (1841 - 1910) was a British Engineer interested in improving the bicycle designs of those times. Humber was credited with inventing the safety bicycle  with the pedal driving the rear wheel. Later on, he pioneered same size wheels and diamond-frame design in bicycles.

A Humber Bicycle -

In 1869,  Humber and Company was created to manufacture bicycles. In 1892, Thomas Humber sold off his rights to Henry Lawson of Daimler (England). As a logical step , Humber was experimenting with motorization. In 1896 , they introduced motorized bicycle fitted with Pennigton engine. A 1904 Humber motorcycle -

Humber continued to excel in the motorcycle and motorized tricycles. Parrallely they were experimenting with cars. In 1898 they introduced the first car and followed up with another in 1899 -

This was followed with a car in 1903 , called the Humbrette -

During the war , Humber manufactured aircraft engines and continued to manufacture cars after the war.

In 1928 , Humber acquired Commer and in 1929 they acquired Hillman.  In 1932 , the Rootes group acquired Humber. Rootes group was taken over by Chrysler in 1964 and in 1978 Chrysler(Europe) sold off to Peugeot. After 1976, the Humber marque slowly disappeared.

Some of the famous and well know Humber cars - Humber Pullman and Humber Sceptre.

The Humber logos -