Benjamin George Bowden was a British industrial designer, who is known mostly for his work on automobiles and bicycles.
10 Facts About Benjamin Bowden
1.
2.
Benjamin Bowden was the designer of the Spacelander, a space-age bicycle which was commercially unsuccessful when in production, but has since become a collector's item.
3.
Benjamin Bowden was born in North Kensington, London on 3 June 1906.
4.
Benjamin Bowden received violin training at Guildhall, and completed a course in engineering at Regent Street Polytechnic.
5.
In 1925 Benjamin Bowden began working as an automobile designer for the Rootes Group.
6.
Shortly before his departure to the United States Benjamin Bowden penned a sketch design for a two-seater sports racing prototype, the Zethrin Rennsport, being developed by Val Zethrin.
7.
In 1949 Benjamin Bowden pursued the possibility of having the Classic manufactured in South Africa, but, according to Benjamin Bowden, abrupt changes in South African import policy prevented that plan from materializing.
8.
In 1952 Benjamin Bowden emigrated to Windsor, Ontario before moving to the United States.
9.
Benjamin Bowden designed a third iteration of the bicycle, called the 300, but only a small number of prototypes were ever made.
10.
Two bicycle enthusiasts, John Howland and Michael Kaplan, purchased the rights to the Spacelander name from Benjamin Bowden, and have manufactured a small number of reproductions and replacement parts.