Armstrong Siddeley Heritage Trust
Armstrong Siddeley Motor Cars of the 1920s
When the First World War came to an end Siddeley Deasy, a relatively small but very successful aircraft and motor car company found itself, along with the rest of British industry, with an empty order book and spare capacity.
Armstrong Whitworth was in the same situation and considered that its huge aircraft production capacity
was something of a liability.
John Davenport Siddeley, the managing director of Siddeley Deasy, believed that there was a considerable future in aircraft manufacture and as such he approached Armstrongs with a view to combining both company’s aircraft and motor car production capabilities. The outcome was the formation in 1919 of Armstrong Siddeley Motors, with all of Armstrong's aircraft and motor production facilities joining those of Deasy in the new company with J. D. Siddeley as managing director.
In 1919 advertisements in the press alerted the public to the resumption of car manufacturing. Concentrating on one model - a 30hp six-cylinder motor carriage of the highest grade, stately in appearance, having ample power and constructed of the best materials. They were comfortable, dependable, smooth running, well equipped as standard, yet with low maintenance costs.
Deliveries were to begin in August 1919 which coincided with the opening of offices and a showroom at 10, Old Bond Street, London. This flagship car was joined in 1921 by an 18hp six-cylinder car and in 1923 a 14hp four-cylinder car was introduced.
This latter car continued through seven years with several body options and even fared well against mass produced cars of the period. While development and improvements were made to these cars there was a completely new 15HP car introduced in October 1927. This took the range into the 1930s along with a 12HP car, both of these cars having side valve engines. This followed the then current trend and was unusual for Armstrong Siddeley, a return to overhead valves soon followed.