Austin-Healey was a brand of sports car.
The marque was established through a joint venture arrangement set up in 1952 between Leonard Lord of the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and Donald Healey, a renowned automotive engineer and designer.
Austin-Healey produced cars until 1972 when the 20-year agreement between Healey and Austin came to an end. Donald Healey left the company in 1968 when British Motor Holdings (BMC had merged with Jaguar Cars in 1966 to form BMH) was merged into British Leyland.
Incidentally, the name Austin is now owned by Nanjing who bought the assets of MG Rover Group (British Leyland’s successor company) out of bankruptcy in 2005. After Donald Healey sold his original business, Donald Healey Motor Company, the Healey brand was registered to a new firm, Healey Automobile Consultants, which the Healey family sold to HFI Automotive in 2005.

Source: Wikipedia

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The origins of Audi
The company traces its origins back to 1899 and August Horch. The first Horch automobile was produced in 1901 in Zwickau. In 1910, Horch was forced out of the company he had founded. He then started a new company in Zwickau and continued using the Horch brand. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement and a German court determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company. August Horch was forced to refrain from using his own family name in his new car business. Horch immediately called a meeting at the apartment of Franz Fikentscher to come up with a new name for his company. During this meeting Franz’s son was quietly studying Latin in a corner of the room. Several times he looked like he was on the verge of saying something but would just swallow his words and continue working, until he finally blurted out, “Father - audiatur et altera pars… wouldn’t it be a good idea to call it AUDI instead of HORCH?”. “Horch!” in German means “Hark!” which is “Audi” in Latin. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by everyone attending the meeting. [1] It is also popularly (but incorrectly) believed that Audi is an acronym which stands for “Auto Union Deutschland Ingolstadt”.
Audi started with a 2612 cc (2.6 Liter) four cylinder model followed by a 3564 cc (3.6 L) model, as well as 4680 cc (4.7 L) and 5720 cc(5.7L) models. These cars were successful even in sporting events. August Horch left the Audi company in 1920. The first six cylinder model ,4655 cc (4.7 L) appeared in 1924. In 1928, the company was acquired by Jørgen Rasmussen, owner of DKW, who bought the same year the remains of the US automobile manufacturer, Rickenbacker including the manufacturing equipment for eight cylinder engines. These engines were used in Audi Zwickau and Audi Dresden models that were launched in 1929. At the same time, six cylinder and a small four cylinder (licensed from Peugeot) models were manufactured. Audi cars of that era were luxurious cars equipped with special bodywork.

Source: Wikipedia

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Foundation
Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles. The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta-Fraschini.[2] They acquired premises at Henniker Place in Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of World War I, and Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford the Royal Army Service Corps. All machinery was sold to the Sopwith Aviation Company.

Source: Wikipedia

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American Motors Corporation (AMC) was an American automobile company formed on January 14, 1954 by the merger of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and the Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history, valued at $198,000,000. Declining sales and a fiercely competitive auto market in the United States forced AMC to seek a partner in the late 1970s, which led to a tie-up with France’s Renault in 1979. The arrangement lasted until March 2, 1987, when American Motors was purchased by the Chrysler Corporation, which discontinued the use of AMC and Renault brand names in the United States. The Jeep line was continued, as well as some of the models under the Eagle marque.

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Beginnings
The original company, TG John and Co. Ltd., was founded in 1919. Its first products were stationary engines, carburettor bodies and motorscooters. The company’s founder T.G. John was approached by Geoffrey de Freville with designs for a 4-cylinder engine whose design called for aluminium pistons and pressure lubrication, unusual for the period. Some have suggested that de Freville proposed the name Alvis as a compound of the words “aluminium” and “vis” (meaning ’strong’ in Latin) although de Freville himself vigorously denied this theory. Perhaps the name was derived from the Norse mythological weaponsmith, Alvis, but the true origin is unknown.

An Alvis special, based on a 1935 car

Alvis Speed 20 Tourer 1932

Alvis 4.3-Litre Saloon 1938
The first car model, the 10/30, using de Freville’s design was an instant success and set the reputation for quality and performance for which the company became famous. Following complaints from the AVRO aviation company whose logo bore similarities to the original winged green triangle, the more familiar inverted red triangle incorporating the word ‘Alvis’ evolved. In 1921, the company changed its name and became the Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd. and moved production to Holyhead Road, Coventry.
In 1923 Captain GT Smith-Clarke joined from Daimler as Chief Engineer and Works Manager and was soon joined by WM Dunn as Chief Draughtsman. This partnership lasted for 25 years and was responsible for producing some of the most successful products in the company’s history.
The original 10/30 side-valve engine was developed progressively becoming by 1923 the famous overhead-valve 12/50, produced until 1932 and one of the most successful vintage sports cars of all time. Exhilarating performance and rugged reliability meant that around 350 of these 12/50hp cars and 60 of the later (and latterly concurrent) 12/60hp survive today representing some 10 percent of total production.
1927 saw the introduction of the six-cylinder 14.75 h.p. and this engine became the basis for the long line of luxurious six-cylinder Alvis cars produced up to the outbreak of war. Not only were these cars extremely elegant but they were full of technical innovations. Independent front suspension and the world’s first all-synchromesh gearbox came in 1933 followed by servo assisted brakes. A front wheel drive model was introduced (from 1928 to 1930), a model bristling with innovation with front wheel drive, in-board brakes, overhead camshaft and, as an option, a Roots type supercharger.
Smith-Clarke designed remarkable models during the 1930s and 1940s — including the handsome, low-slung six-cylinder Speed 20, the Speed 25 and the 4.3 Litre model. As with many upmarket engineering companies of the time Alvis did not produce their own coachwork relying instead on the many available Midlands coachbuilders such as Cross and Ellis, Charlesworth and Vanden Plas. Several cars also survive with quite exotic one-off bodywork from other designers. In 1936, the company name was changed to Alvis Ltd and by the beginning of the war, aero-engine and armoured vehicle divisions had been added to the company.

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Foundation and early years
The company that became Alfa Romeo was founded as Società Anonima Italiana Darracq (SAID) in 1906 by Cavaliere Ugo Stella, an aristocrat from Milan, in partnership with the French automobile firm of Alexandre Darracq. The firm initially produced Darracq cars in Naples, but after the partnership collapsed Stella and the other Italian co-investors moved production to an idle Darracq factory in the Milan suburb of Portello, and the company was renamed A.L.F.A (Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili). The first non-Darracq car produced by company was the 1910 24 HP, designed by Giuseppe Merosi. Merosi would go on to design a series of new ALFA cars with more powerful engines (40-60 HP). ALFA also ventured into motor racing, drivers Franchini and Ronzoni competing in the 1911 Targa Florio with two 24 HP models. However, the onset of World War I halted automobile production at ALFA for three years.
1916 saw the company come under the direction of Neapolitan entrepreneur Nicola Romeo, who converted the factory to produce military hardware for the Italian and Allied war efforts. Munitions, aircraft engines and other components, compressors and generators based on the company’s existing car engines, and heavy locomotives were produced in the factory during the war. When the war was over, Romeo took complete control of ALFA and car production resumed in 1919. In 1920, the name of the company was changed to Alfa Romeo with the Torpedo 20-30 HP becoming the first car to be badged as such. Giuseppe Merosi continued as head designer, and the company continued to produce solid road cars as well as successful race cars (including the 40-60 HP and the RL Targa Florio).

24 HP (1910)

6C2300B Touring (1934)

Ghia Speciale 1900CSS (1955)
In 1923 Vittorio Jano was lured away from Fiat, partly thanks to the persuasion of a young Alfa racing driver named Enzo Ferrari, to replace Merosi as chief designer at Alfa Romeo. The first Alfa Romeo under Jano was the P2 Grand Prix car, which won Alfa Romeo the inaugural world championship for Grand Prix cars in 1925. For Alfa road cars Jano developed a series of small-to-medium-displacement 4, 6, and 8 cylinder inline power plants based on the P2 unit that established the classic architecture of Alfa engines, with light alloy construction, hemispherical combustion chambers, centrally-located plugs, two rows of overhead valves per cylinder bank and dual overhead cams. Jano’s designs proved to be both reliable and powerful.
Enzo Ferrari proved to be a better team manager than driver, and when the factory team was privatised, it then became Scuderia Ferrari. When Ferrari left Alfa Romeo, he went on to build his own cars. Tazio Nuvolari often drove for Alfa, winning many races prior to WWII.
In 1928 Nicola Romeo left, with Alfa going broke after defense contracts ended, and in 1933 Alfa Romeo was rescued by the government, which then had effective control. Alfa became an instrument of Mussolini’s Italy, a national emblem. During this period Alfa Romeo built bespoke vehicles for the wealthy, with the bodies normally built by Touring of Milan or Pininfarina. This was the era that peaked with the legendary Alfa Romeo 2900B Type 35 racers.
The Alfa factory (converted during wartime to the production of Macchi C.202 Folgore engines) was bombed during World War II, and struggled to return to profitability after the war. The luxury vehicles were out. Smaller mass-produced vehicles began to be produced in Alfa’s factories beginning with the 1954 model year, with the introduction of the Giulietta series of berline (saloons/sedans), coupes and open two-seaters. All three varieties shared what would become the classic Alfa Romeo Twin Cam engine, initially in 1300cc form. This engine would eventually be enlarged to just under 2 liters (1962cc) and would remain in production through 1995.

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