X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Wolseley Motors


British Motor Syndicate

Herbert Austin, for instance, abandoned the development of his first Wolseley because of its too close similarity to a vehicle the patent for which was owned by the BMS.

Gyrocar

It was manufactured to his design by the Wolseley Tool and Motorcar Company in 1914 and demonstrated in London the same year.

The Wolseley

The six storey building, commissioned by Wolseley Motors Limited who bought the site in 1919 for a car showroom and London sales offices, was designed by William Curtis Green, his inspiration was drawn from a recently constructed bank building that he had seen in Boston.


Herbert James Rowse

The assessor was Giles Gilbert Scott; Rowse's design won, beating those by the architects of the Port of London Authority building, Tower Hill (Sir Edwin Cooper); the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall (Mewis and Davis); the Wolseley building, Piccadilly (Curtis Green); and the Cunard Building (Willing and Dodd) and Mersey Docks and Harbour Board building (Arnold Thornley), both at the Pier Head, Liverpool.

Langlands foundry

Langlands Foundry was an incubator for a number of engineers including Herbert Austin (1866–1941) who worked as a fitter at Langlands, and went on to both work on the Wolesely Shearing machine and to found the Austin Motor Company.

Loyd Carrier

Initial deliveries were from Vivian Loyd's own company but production moved to the larger firms including the Ford Motor Company and Wolseley Motors ( 13,000 between them) and Dennis Brothers Ltd, Aveling & Barford and Sentinel Waggon Works.

Vickers

Further diversification occurred in 1901 with the acquisition of a proposed business which was incorporated as The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company and in 1905 the goodwill and patent rights of the Siddeley car.


see also

The Wolseley

Wolseley Motors, a part of the Vickers engineering combine, lost its long-term leadership of the British car industry in the early 1920s and fell into receivership in 1926.