16 Facts About Armstrong Siddeley

Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century.

JD Armstrong Siddeley was appointed London sales manager of Vickers Limited's subsidiary Wolseley in early 1905 at the same time as Wolseley purchased the goodwill and patent rights of his Armstrong Siddeley car.

In 1909 JD Armstrong Siddeley resigned from Wolseley and in 1910 took on management of The Deasy Motor Car Manufacturing Company, Limited.

Armstrong Siddeley's name had been added to the product's radiator earlier in 1912.

Armstrong Siddeley's cars began to use the slogan "As silent as the Sphinx", sporting a Sphinx as a bonnet ornament.

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Also that year Armstrong Siddeley partnered with Walter Gordon Wilson, inventor of the pre-selector gearbox, to create Improved Gears Ltd, which later became Self-Changing Gears – the gearbox that should be credited with enabling the marketing tagline "Cars for the daughters of gentlemen".

Armstrong Siddeley manufactured luxury cars, aircraft engines, and later, aircraft.

In 1935, JD Armstrong Siddeley's interests were purchased for £2 million by aviation pioneer Tommy Sopwith, owner of Hawker Aircraft, to form – along with the Gloster Aircraft Company and Air Training Services – Hawker Armstrong Siddeley, a famous name in British aircraft production.

Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft and Armstrong Siddeley Motors became subsidiaries of Hawker Siddeley, with Sopwith himself becoming the new chairman of Armstrong Siddeley Motors.

Armstrong Siddeley was merged with the aircraft engine business of Bristol Aeroplane Company to form Bristol Siddeley as part of an ongoing rationalisation under government influence of the British aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturers.

In 1933, the 5-litre six-cylinder Armstrong Siddeley Special was announced, featuring a Hiduminium aluminium alloy engine; this model cost £950.

Week that World War II ended in Europe, Armstrong Siddeley introduced its first post-war models; these were the Lancaster four-door saloon and the Hurricane drophead coupe.

The Armstrong Siddeley was a casualty of the 1960 merger with Bristol; the last car left the Coventry factory in 1960.

Cars produced by Armstrong Siddeley had designations that came from the tax horsepower rating of their engines.

Armstrong Siddeley later took over the Sapphire design, and it went on to be one of the most successful 2nd generation jet engines, competing with the better-known Rolls-Royce Avon.

The rocket development complemented that of Bristol, and Bristol Armstrong Siddeley would become the leading British manufacturer of rocket engines for missiles.