William Walmsley was with William Lyons a co-founder of the Swallow Sidecar Company, which later became the Jaguar car company.
13 Facts About William Walmsley
1.
2.
William Walmsley was good with his hands and had learned basic principles of coachbuilding as part of the family coal transporting business.
3.
William Walmsley designed a motorcycle sidecar on a Watsonian chassis which he attached to an ex-War Department Triumph.
4.
William Walmsley called it the "Ot-as-Ell", and soon found that other motorcycle enthusiasts wanted one.
5.
William Walmsley began refurbishing ex-WD bikes and building sidecars in his garden shed at the rate of perhaps one a week, the trimming being done by his wife.
6.
The first Swallow bodied car was quite unofficial, William Walmsley having obtained the burnt-out remains of an Austro-Daimler car and brought it to the factory to be rebodied by his employees, though he paid them for this work.
7.
William Walmsley was content with the company's modest success and saw little point in taking risks by expanding the firm.
Related searches
William Lyons 8.
William Walmsley spent more and more time and company resources making parts for his model railway.
9.
William Walmsley walked away with his money and invested it and his design talents in a new business making trailers and caravans, first the Airlite Trailer Company, then Coventry Steel Caravans.
10.
William Walmsley pulled these at first with a Bentley, later a Studebaker, and finally a Jaguar.
11.
The name "Jaguar" appeared as "SS Jaguar" in 1935 after William Walmsley had left the company and later after World War II in 1945 the company was renamed as Jaguar Cars to avoid unfavourable connotations of the initials of the infamous SS organisation of the Nazi Party.
12.
William Walmsley married Emily Letitia Jeffries in 1921, with whom he had one son, Bobby.
13.
William Walmsley built a push car for his little son that was shaped like his sidecars.