What has Scotland given to the car world?

With the Scottish referendum looming, people on both side of the border are facing up to the possibility that our long standing union may be coming to an end. There are several repercussions that will come into effect should Scotland choose to become independent, but weirdly, the severing of ties will have little to no impact on the motoring world.

Scotland is not known as a motoring powerhouse, both in modern times and in the past. For some reason, the country has never given much effort into building a car, van or motorbike industry. But that isn’t to say it hasn’t dipped it’s toe in the water a few times. . .

Albion

Albion Motors, founded in 1899, were a prominent manufacturer of cars, vans, buses and trucks. They ran out of a factory in Glasgow, and despite making a wide range of vehicles, they were brought out by what would later become British Leyland in 1951. Over time, the Albion name was phased out, and the factory was renamed Leyland Glasgow. Eventually, the marque name was brought back, and sold to the American Axle & Manufacturing company in 1997, but they have yet to resurface.

Argyll

Another now defunct company, the Argyll motor company actually folded twice. It was originally a car manufacturer, based in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, that was in business between 1899 and 1932. The brand was revived in 1976, moving production to Lochgilphead, Argyll. In their 14 year existence, they only produced one car, the Turbo GT (pictured above).

Released to mass marketing in 1983, pieced together from parts of existing cars, it went on sale at a recommended price of £25,000-£30,000, comparable with Ferraris of the time. Needless to say, the car didn’t sell well, and the firm folded again around 1990.

Hillman

Arguably the country’s most famous motoring brand, despite not originating from the country, the Hillman brand enjoyed a good run at a factory in Linwood. Many of the brand signature cars were built in Scotland, including:

Hillman Imp

Hillman’s parent company Rootes decided to commision a purpose built factory for the Imp, as their other factories were built to produce larger vehicles. Employees were scoured from shipyards, so inexperience from both the company and the workforce led to poor build quality. However, despite the car being sold internationally under a number of different names, the car became known as a “Scottish Car”, and sold well in it’s adopted homeland.

Hillman Hunter

To compliment the Imp hatchback, Hillman followed up with the Hunter saloon. The would once again go on to be sold in many different guises around the world, though the Hunter model holds the distinction of winning the 1968 London-Sydney Rally.

Hillman Avenger

A similar car to the Hunter, the Avenger wasn’t initially built in Scotland, but production was moved to Linwood in 1976. The car was both a significant first, and a significant last; it was the first car produced after Rootes was brought out by Chrysler, and the last Hillman car of any kind to be built, as Chrysler broke up and sold off the brand in 1981.

Image Credits:

Argyll GT – MSN.com (http://blu.stb.s-msn.com/i/43/3EBDC7D5D740D7BCF2ADF7D11A3A2E.jpg)

All others – Wikipedia.org