The very first issue of the - still current - magazine, The Autocar was on 2 November 1895. It gave three pages of coverage to The Horseless Carriage Exhibition organised by Sir David Salomons, the Mayor of Tunbridge Wells. Driving a horseless carriage on the highway was still illegal without a man walking in front, so even the assembling of a tangible proportion of the cars existing in the south east of England must have been very difficult. In the event four of the six exhibits listed ap...

Reproduced for the first time in over 50 years, the classic tale from the birth of modern motor sportBehind the Scenes of Motor Racing is a tale of sporting chivalry, heroism and humour — but also one of tragedy through the loss of so many of the author’s friends and colleagues among the young drivers of the day.Ken Gregory, at the time “Britain’s most famous manager”, not only raced himself, but also became a racing car constructor with the Kieft Company, ...

A celebration of the life and engineering achievements of Isambard Kingdom Brunel by two of the world's foremost authorities.In his lifetime, Isambard Kingdom Brunel towered over his profession. Today, he remains the most famous engineer in history, the epitome of the volcanic creative forces which brought about the Industrial Revolution - and brought modern society into being.Brunel's extraordinary talents were drawn out by some remarkable opportunities - ...

The split screen, the indicators poking up like perspex orange fingers, the notoriously rust-prone floors, the pootling exhaust note… just some of the much-loved characteristics of the Morris Minor or Morris 1000. Designed by Sir Alec Issigonis back in 1948, in a sense it was Britain’s answer to the Beetle – a bulbous little creation that was also Britain’s first mass-appeal car. Between then and 1972 when production belatedly ceased some 1.6 million were built. There were variants like th...

It has now been over a century since Frank Hornby invented a toy to amuse his sons and called it Meccano, coining a word which is now known all over the world.Hornby's vision of an educational toy became the basis of perhaps the most successful British toy business of the twentieth century. Meccano has amused generations of children, encouraging many to become successful engineers.Roger Marriott here explores the long history of Meccano, charting the develo...

The Flying Scotsman is probably the most famous railway locomotive in the world. It first caused a sensation for its beauty and its speed in 1923, and it soon became a national icon. The fastest and most comfortable way of travelling between London and Scotland, The Flying Scotsman only got faster and more luxurious as competition from other routes, airlines, and the motor car threatened. From 1928 it began running non-stop, an achievement that earned it yet more attention. This superbly i...

Over 80 ex-employees and their descendants give perceptive and often humorous accounts of life in the Enfield works, charting its expansion from a humble needle factory into one of Britain’s best known motorcycle manufacturers. Contributions include Enfield-trained Bill Lomas, double World and British motorcycling champion, and Johnny Brittain who describes how he became the youngest member of the British winning team in the 1953 International Six Days Trial. They create a company ...

The Bristol Omnibus Company can trace its origins to 1875, when Sir George White formed the Bristol Tramways Company. The company operated its first city bus service, a horse-bus to Clifton, in 1887 and first introduced motor buses in 1906. Not satisfied with the vehicles that it had bought, in 1908 the company began to manufacture its own buses and soon began to sell them to other operators as well, Bristol buses being built for use both in Britain and abroad for 75 years. Bristol buses c...

TV presenter and all-round car nut Ant Anstead takes the reader on a journey that mirrors the development of the motor car itself from a stuttering 20mph annoyance that scared everyone’s horses to 150mph pursuits with aerial support and sophisticated electronic tracking.The British Police Force’s relationship with the car started by chasing after pioneer speeding motorists on bicycles. As speed restrictions eased in the early twentieth century and car ownership inc...

The story of the most iconic railway company of the great age of steam.The initials ‘GWR’ conjure an evocative picture of a Brunswick green locomotive hauling tea-and-cream-coloured coaches through a verdant West Country landscape. But the GWR was not just engines and trains.In this comprehensive history, Colin Maggs, one of the country’s foremost railway historians, tells of other, perhaps less well-known aspects of the company’s history. Its construction and expansion; th...

Dinky Toys are a part of many people’s childhood. They were one of the many famous brands produced as part of the Meccano empire set up by Frank Hornby at his Binns Road factory in Liverpool. Although they began before the Second World War, it was the post-war ranges produced by Dinky that really caught the public’s imagination and helped to make the period into the company’s golden years. This colourfully illustrated book tells the story of Dinky Toys, including small Dinky Toys, the larg...

A-Z of British Bus Bodies sets out to offer a first port of call for anyone with an interest in those who built bus and coach bodies in Britain and Ireland between 1919 and 1975. From charabanc to service bus, from luxury coach to municipal double-decker, the sheer variety of public service vehicle (PSV) bodies is astonishing.