A-Z of Cars of the 1920s

The Vintage period, from 1919 to 1930 inclusive, saw a phenomenal mushrooming of motor manufacturing activity in Britain. A staggering 380 firms launched models in the period. Some rose and sank again without trace, leaving only the scantest evidence of their existence. Others flourished briefly in the optimistic years immediately following the Great War, often offering perilous cyclecars of the crudest design. But when the Austin Seven arrived, most cyclecars and many not very good light cars left the field for good. Then, as the mass producers — particularly Ford, Austin and Morris tightened their grip on the market, the number of manufacturers declined, and in the closing years of the 1920s, the Depression finished off a lot more. One particular group that felt the final pinch, was the breed of maker which assembled cars from bought-in engines, gearboxes, axles and other parts, for neither their prices nor their products could exert sufficient attraction. The book opens with an introduction vividly conveying the spirit of motoring in the 1920s by Bill Boddy, Founder Editor of Motor Sport, who also read and added to Nick Baldwin's text. This is followed by a review of the British motor industry and of developments in motor car manufacture and design in the decade. In the main A-Z section, there are listed all the firms, from Abbey to Zephyr, which made cars in Britain in the period. Their background is filled in, and representative models are described, with specifications, production numbers, dates, prices, and accompanying illustrations. Following the A-Z is a section in which all foreign makers who sold cars in Britain are listed, grouped by country of origin, though firms like Citroen which assembled cars here, are in the main A-Z. For enthusiasts of Vintage cars, here is a source of reference the like of which has not been seen before with over 600 illustrations. It is rich in information on the industry, on the people who worked in it, but most of all on the cars themselves, from doomed ventures to the glorious makers whose names will never die.