The legendary Argyll cars were built in two periods: 1899-1932 and 1976 to around 1990.
It all began with Helensburgh engineer, Alex Govan (sometimes called Alex Govern) in 1899 in his Hozier Engineering Company. It worked its way up with new models launched around every two years, each around 2hp stronger than the last. The first car – the Argyll Voiturette – was a 2 3/4 hp De Dion engine. By 1903, after a series of increasingly powerful models, the company produced a 10hp twin-engined version whose radiator tubes formed the sides of the hood.
The company became Scotland’s biggest marque and in 1905 moved into the custom built terracotta Argyll Motor Works in Alexandria, near the southern end of Loch Lomond. This building, for the now Argyll Motors Ltd, is described in the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) guide as ‘the most extraordinary industrial palace in Scotland’.
The company was geared up for production on a scale similar to the Henry Ford Motor Company’s when Alex Govan died in 1907 – a blow to the heart from which the business did not recover. It went into liquidation in 1908.
Production restarted in 1910 with the company renamed as Argyll Ltd. It launched a new series of models – the renowned Flying Fifteen (picture above) and a six cylinder monster. Another model, the 12/14 was sold as a taxi, even being exported to New York. The innovative company saw the introduction of four-wheel brakes, the single sleeve valve engine developed by company director, Baillie P Burt and Burt McCollum engines.
In 1913, at the Brooklands race track in Surrey in the south of England, an Argyll car broke thirteen world records and twenty-eight Brooklands track records in a single day. But even this unparallelled achievement did not bring commercial success. There were costly legal battles over Burt’s patents and in 1914 the shareholders lost their confidence. No new backing was forthcoming and the company went into liquidation for the second time in 1914. The factory was sold to the Royal Navy 1914 for wartime torpedo production later that year.
A modest volume of car production resumed at the company’s early Bridgeton Works, led by John Brimlow who had formerly been in charge of repairs. Brimlow did not just restart production. He took the company back to its traditions with a pre-war 15·9 hp model with the addition of an electric starter but with the respected Burt McCollum engine. This, however, did not sell in any great volume.
The company produced the 12/40 sports model in 1926, took a stand at the London Motor Show in 1927 and produced its last cars in 1928, still available until another and far more long lasting closure in 1932.
The next reincarnation began in 1976 with a new manufacturing company making a mid-engined sports car, the Argyll GT at Manse Brae in Lochgilphead. This company was founded by Bob Henderson, a former Mini racer and turbocharger expert.
The company’s new car was named after the original Argyll of 1898, as a tribute to one of the investors in Henderson’s enterprise, whose grandfather had worked in the Argyll factory at Alexandria.
The only model this company ever made was the Argyll GT, using components from other manufacturers. Very few were manufactured. Sales were disappointingly small because the car had a limited appeal and this company turned up its toes around 1990.
See also:
- The story of the Argyll Company
- Argyll Motors
- Argyll Turbo GT
- The Minnow Fish Carburettor and Bob Henderson
The photograph above, of the Argyll Flying Fifteen, is reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.