Lost Marques A - H (Allard to Hupmobile)

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1960 Edsel
Edsel - Arguably the most famous of the "Lost Marques"...
Allard
 
Allard
For an all too brief period in the late forties and early fifties the name of AlIard was one of the most revered of all motor manufacturers. The company's road cars were some of the most popular among wealthy enthusiasts, especially in the USA. The racing versions were more than competitive on the track and the company's founder, Sydney Allard, was one of Britain's leading competition drivers, winning the British Hill-climb Championship in 1949 and the Monte Carlo Rally in 1952. More>>
Alpine
 
Alpine
After World War 2 France suffered more than most from a depressed economy, and with a car taxation system which penalised cars with engines over 2.8 liters the great French quality marques like Delage, Delahaye, Bugatti, Hispano-Suiza and Hotchkiss either failed to survive the war or lasted for only a short while afterwards. from these extraordinarily humble beginnings rose two marques which were to give France some semblance of respect in world motor racing: the DB eventually became the Matra, which won the World Championship for Jackie Stewart in 1969, and the Alpine turned into the Alpine-Renault which competed in the rally world with so amazing success. More>>
Alvis TA14
 
Alvis
Coventry, England. Home of many great Marques, but one lesser known (particularly for many Australian’s) is the Alvis. The companies initial success was due in no small part to one G.P.H. de Freville, responsible for the importation to Britain of DFP cars before W.O. Bentley took on that concession. Not only did Freville design the engine for the very first Alvis car, the 10/30 of 1920, but he also invented the marque name Alvis. We have found several sources that contest the name carried no more significance than that it rolled nicely off the tongue! More>>
Armstrong Siddeley
 
Armstrong Siddeley
John Davenport Siddeley was one of the early advocates of the pneumatic tire for motor vehicles. By the turn of the century he had become managing director of the Clipper Pneumatic Tyre Company, of Aston Cross, Birmingham, whose products were claimed to be 'Best for all forms of Automobile Cycles or Carriages.' To prove their worth, Siddeley had a set of his tires fitted to a Parisian Daimler, which competed in the 1900 Thousand Miles' Trial: and apart from a handful of punctures caused by the appalling road surfaces en route, the tires proved reliable. More>>
Bentley 3 Litre
 
Bentley
W.O. Bentley would join the motor trade in London where he would import French DFP cars. His first design achievement was to produce light weight aluminum pistons for the 12/40 model, allowing the engine to rev much faster, and in turn develop more power. He then went on to become one of the key designers aircraft rotary engines working with the British government during the 1914-1918 war. More>>
Bugatti 57SC
 
Bugatti
There was a time when Bugatti were arguably one of the most famous sports-car manufacturers in the world. The cars were aesthetically magnificent, if sometimes technically backward, and all were the work of Ettore Bugatti himself. It is interesting to note that Bugatti would only ever manufacture 4 cylinder and straight-8 engines, never tempted to enter the middle ground and manufacture a 6 cylinder. More>>
Chaigneau-Brasier
 
Chaigneau-Brasier
It was in 1897 that Georges Richard began building cars at Ivry-Port (Seine). His first offering was a blatant copy of the contemporary Benz, with a single-cylinder engine with exposed crankshaft and two-speed belt drive. Those that drove them were quickly made aware of the possibilities for disaster built into the low-speed vehicle, with its ineffectual spoon brakes, chain-and-sprocket steering and high-geared top speed, which could cause the car to run out of control on down-grades. More>>
Cord
 
Cord
It was not until 1929 that a model line bearing Cord's own name appeared. On paper, at least, the new Cord L-29 looked a worthy running mate for the super-luxury Duesenberg Model J introduced only a few months before. For one thing, it was the first American front-wheel-drive car to reach serious production status. Moreover, the Cord had been designed by one of the few Americans to have experience of front-wheel- drive technology, Carl Van Ranst, who had worked with Harry Miller, builder of the fast FWD racing cars that had dominated the Indianapolis 500 since 1926. More>>
Crosley
 
Crosley
Although the Hotshot was an ugly little car, it was popular with the post-war American sporting motorists, and the cornering would assure disbelievers just how good the car really was. With 24,871 cars sold, Crosley's best year was 1948. Sales began to slip in 1949, and adding the Crosley Hotshot and a combination farm tractor-Jeep-like vehicle called the Farm-O-Road in 1950, could not stop the decline. More>>
Cunningham C2R
 
Cunningham
To say Briggs Cunningham was an enigma would be an understatement. Born in 1907, Cunningham was a natural athlete excelling in everything from bobsledding to golf and yachting – and in this latter sport he even pulled off victory in the America’s Cup. After World War II, Cunningham began racing and tinkering with sports cars, once putting a Buick engine in a Mercedes! He even went street racing with his uncle in a Dodge tourer powered by a Hispano-Suiza airplane engine. Telling the story of Cunningham is not so much talking of cars, but talking of the man. More>>
De Dietrich and Lorraine-De Dietrich
 
De Dietrich and Lorraine-De Dietrich
They called it the Societe Lorraine des Anciens Etablissements de Dietrich & Cie: and the Etablissements really were anciens, for the company had been founded as long ago as 1684 by Jean de Dietrich. By the time it became interested in motor-manufacture in the 1890s, the company was mainly concerned with the production of railway rolling stock. It was still under family control, though the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 had left their two manufacturing plants, at Luneville (Lorraine) and Niederbronn (Alsace), in two different countries. More>>
De Dion Bouton
 
De Dion Bouton
De Tomaso was a native Argentinean who had moved to Italy where he had the opportunity to work for the Maserati brothers at their OSCA factory. There he watched and became increasingly impressed by the sports racing Cooper of the late 1950s. Convinced of the virtues of the mid-engined configuration, he left Maserati and set up his own workshop to build race cars. More>>
Delage
 
Delage
Louis Delage, founder of one of the greatest firms in the French automobile industry, was born in Cognac in 1874. At the age of fifteen he left school and started studying engineering. After a short time Delage joined the Turgan-Foy company as a draughtsman and, after a few years, he moved to Automobiles Peugeot. Both these firms were situated in Levallois, a western suburb of Paris. Delage soon established himself as manager of the experimental and testing department at Peugeot, but he was very ambitious and wanted to be his own boss. More>>
Delahaye
 
Delahaye
Today Delahaye is not only a lost marque, it could also be described as a forgotten one. Ask someone to name the lost French marques of last century and they will invariably mention better known competitors of Delahaye, such as Lorraine, Delage and of course the wonderful Bugatti. More>>
Delaunay-Belleville
 

Delaunay-Belleville
Most new cars were launched with a certain amount of doubt as to whether or not they will succeed, but when Delaunay-Belleville of Saint-Denis announced their first motor car at the 1904 Paris Salon, the motoring press received it with an almost unprecedented enthusiasm. Designer of the new cars was Marius Barbarou, formerly with Clement and Benz who, at the age of 28, was now given the task of creating a range of vehicles suited to the exacting requirements of a select clientele who demanded absolute comfort combined with elegance and mechanical perfection. More>>
Dennis Automobiles
 

Dennis
The brothers John and Raymond Dennis began building bicycles in 1895, using the branches of an old pear tree behind their shop in Guildford, Surrey, as an assembly line. They must have been well made, those Speed King bicycles, for the mighty Rover company took out a licence to copy some of the design features on their own products. More>>
Derby and Vernon Derby
 
Derby and Vernon-Derby
Although the Derby was a French car, it was built under British control and with British capital, a somewhat unusual thing in those days. However, there was nothing unusual about the marque's origins, the company having been founded at Courbevoie, Seine, in 1921, just one of the dozens of tiny cyclecar makers which were struggling for a share of the post-war market. More>>
De Soto
 
De Soto
In 1928 Walter Chrysler was riding high. After only four short years of manufacturing, he had risen to third place in the American motor industry, and he was ready to break into a new sector of the market. A new 3.2-liter, side-valve six was designed to compete in a lower price range than the Chrysler, selling under the marque name of De Soto. In general appearance, the De Soto resembled the contemporary Chryslers; its 21.6 hp engine was mounted on rubber insulators to reduce vibration, and had full force-feed lubrication. More>>
De Tomaso
 
De Tomaso
De Tomaso was a native Argentinean who had moved to Italy where he had the opportunity to work for the Maserati brothers at their OSCA factory. There he watched and became increasingly impressed by the sports racing Cooper of the late 1950s. Convinced of the virtues of the mid-engined configuration, he left Maserati and set up his own workshop to build race cars. More>>
Doriot Flandrin Parant
 
DFP - Doriot Flandrin Parant
Doriot was one of Peugeot's principal racing drivers during the 1890s, with several modest successes to his name. It is even recorded that he followed the 1891 Paris-Brest cycle race in a Peugeot. Doriot went into partnership with a Monsieur Flandrin in 1906, building single-cylinder, shaft-drive voiturettes of no special merit, at Courbevoie, Seine; shortly after this, a Monsieur Parant became a partner in the company. As the name Doriot-Flandrin-Parant was too cumbersome for general use, the cars became known as DFP. More>>
Diatto
 
Diatto
We wouldn't blame you for never having heard of car makers such as Mason, Maxwell, Perry and Castro. And you probably have not heard of Diatto, formerly of Turin. Diatto was a railway engineering and iron-founding concern which entered the motor industry sometime between 1904 and 1907, building Clement-Bayards under licence. The company started out with high hopes: it had a six-model range consisting of 8 hp and 10 hp twins, and 12, 20, 35 and 50 hp fours. More>>
Duesenberg
 
Duesenberg
The beautifully built and styled Duesenberg may have been owned by screen greats Clark Gable and Gary Cooper, but was never able to make serious inroads into car manufacture. The company was founded by Fred Duesenberg; born in Germany in 1876 Fred immigrated to North America and started his first business building bicycles. More>>
Edsel
 
Edsel
Exactly why Edsel failed, and failed so dramatically, remains a point of conjecture to this day. The reasons put forward include poor workmanship, radical but unpopular styling, poor marketing, poor corporate support from within Ford, and most of all a poorly researched pricing structure. But there is a more simple explanation that many believe to be more accurate, that the Edsel was simply too big for the time – as other manufacturers made their cars more compact the Edsel harked back to the early 1950’s era of bigger is best. It wasn’t. More>>
Elva
 
Elva
It wasn't long wafter World War 2 that Frank Nichols opened a garage in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, where he specialised in sporting machinery. He had a short competition career himself but then decided to go into car manu- facture. His first car-called the CSM Special, after his garage, Chapman Sports Motors-was a Ford Ten-engined two-seater. It showed some promise, so Nichols decided to form a separate company to build sports-racing cars. This was called Elva Engineering, the name Elva being a contraction of the French 'elle va' - she goes. The first Elva was produced in 1955, a smart two-seater with all-enveloping aluminum body- work. More>>
Enfield Autocar
 
Enfield Autocar
By 1904 Royal Enfield were building motor cars: initially a range of two models was marketed, both built on orthodox lines. The 6 hp two-seater had a De Dion single-cylinder engine and was, claimed the makers, specially constructed for heavy work and hilly districts; its specification included a three-speed gearbox and 'three brakes'. Prices started from £175. The 10 hp, which cost £300 (£325 with leather upholstery and 'Modele Riche' finish), was a twin-cylinder four-seater with a honeycomb radiator augmented by a water tank on the dashboard. More>>
Excelsior
 
Excelsior
The Excelsior company had been founded in Brussels in 1901; the initial products were unremarkable light cars fitted with proprietary engines - in 1905 one, two and four-cylinder Aster power units were available. In 1907, however, Arthur de Coninck, an engineer, took over the factory and, before long, Excelsior was producing his Type Adex, a side-valve six-cylinder model. Around this time, too, Excelsior acquired the factory of the moribund Belgica car company. More>>
FN
 
FN
In the early days of motoring, Belgium boasted several respected manufacturers like Minerva, Imperia, Excelsior, Metallurgique and FN, but one by one they fell by the wayside, leaving the market wide open or foreign firms. The small home market and appalling pave roads were great deterrents for Belgian manufacturers, as they were obliged to build very dull, strong cars which could also be exported to countries already used to sophisticated cars. They invariably proved to be failures. More>>
Franklin
 
Franklin
Franklin cars were always individual – they had characteristics unlike any other car built in America – and for a time they managed to maintain that independence. The Franklin was perhaps the most unorthodox car to be successfully marketed in the United States; every Franklin ever built was air-cooled, most had full-elliptic suspension and most had wooden chassis frames. More>>
Frazer Nash
 
Frazer Nash
Archie Frazer Nash and partner Ron Godfrey capitalized on the popularity of the cycle-car by manufacturing a machine known simply as the “GN”, which had a twin-cylinder engine in a very rudimentary chassis frame. But what made the GN unique was the use of a chain drive rather than shaft drive. More>>
Gordon Keeble
 
Gordon Keeble
Many new car manufacturers sprang up in the euphoric days of the late 1950s and early 1960s when demand always seemed to outstrip supply and the public would buy almost anything on wheels. It was into such an atmosphere that the Gordon-Keeble was born, but the company planned not to attack the mass market but to go for the well-entrenched specialist manufacturers like Bristol, Jensen and AC. That they failed, but failed gallantly, is one of the tragedies of motoring history. More>>
Graham Paige
 
Graham Paige
In 1927 the Graham brothers returned to motor manufacture by acquiring the Paige-Detroit Motor Company, which had originally been founded in 1908 to produce a somewhat eccentric two-seater roadster with a three-cylinder two-stroke engine. Two years later, conventionality prevailed, and a four-cylinder, four-stroke model replaced the earlier design. The car's name was simplified to Paige in 1911. More>>
Hispano Suiza
 
Hispano Suiza
Undeniably one of the most unique names of any car manufacturer, the once famous marque had its name derived from two countries - Spain, where it entered production in 1904, and Switzerland where its designer Marc Birkigt was born. The most famous models however were built in France, over in England Rolls Royce would licence the advanced mechanical 4 wheel braking system, and cars would be manufactured under licence by Skoda in Czechoslovakia. More>>
Horch
 
Horch
Late in 1906 came the 31/60 six, virtually a 35/40 with two extra cylinders giving a swept volume of 8.7 liters. Clutch troubles eliminated an attempt to run a team of three 8-liter sixes in the 1907 Kaiserpreis race before the cars had even reached the eliminating trials. 'I must have been drunk to send them', Horch admitted frankly. More>>
Horstmann
 
Horstmann
Shortly after its inception in 1914, the Horstmann light car was awarded a prize by the Junior Car Club for its novel design features and, although in the marque's later years some of the novelty had to be sacrificed to commercial expediency, the Horstmann nevertheless remained one of the more distinctive designs of its day right to the end of production. More>>
Hotchkiss
 
Hotchkiss
The name of Hotchkiss was renowned long before the company began car production - the story beginning in 1867, when Benjamin Hotchkiss, a Connecticut businessman, arrived in France to set up an armaments factory. This was established in the 1870s at Saint-Denis, a manufacturing suburb, 6 kilometres to the north of Paris. More>>
Hudson
 
Hudson
In June 1909, the Saturday Evening Post carried the first-ever advertisement for the new Hudson car and, on 3 July, the first example reached the end of the assembly line. It was called the Model 20, and conformed in every respect with the established US pattern for a low-to-medium-priced automobile in technical specification, appearance and body styles. Indeed, in retrospect, it may seem astonishing that so many engineers designed such similar products and yet were able to talk big business into backing them. More>>
Humber
 
Humber
The Humber company always projected an image of quality and comfort for their products, which led inevitably to excess weight and consequently to lack of performance. Their one foray into the world of high performance was in 1914 when they spent £15,000 on a three-car team for the Tourist Trophy, run at the Isle of Man, and it would be fair to say that their effort was a dismal failure. More>>
Hupmobile
 
Hupmobile
Robert Craig "Bobby" Hupp, born in 1861, was one of the pioneers of the mass-produced car in America, having helped Ransom Eli Olds develop the little Curved-Dash Oldsmobile, which was America's best-selling petrol car at the turn of the century. Hupp was a former employee of Oldsmobile and Ford, and founded the company with his brother Louis Gorham Hupp (1872 - 1961) in 1908. More>>
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