Making Cars at Cowley

In 1913 an ambitious young businessman named William Morris converted a derelict military college on the outskirts of Oxford into an assembly hall for motor vehicles. He thus opened the first chapter in one of the most extraordinary success stories of the British motor industry, becoming Lord Nuffield and a multimillionaire in the process. From Morris Motors and Pressed Steel, via the British Motor Corporation and British Leyland to its role as part of BMW and their successful manufacture of the new Mini, car manufacture at Cowley has been a significant player. Though the old factory chimneys have given way to more modern developments, Oxford today would be a very different place without its influence.

Gillian Bardsley is a social historian with a special interest in the rise and fall of the motor industry in Britain. She attended Edinburgh University to study History and Social Anthropology which she taught at Cape Town University. She has been archivist for the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust since 1990 and has contributed to many TV, radio and magazine interviews about the motor industry. The original edition was co-written with Stephen Laing, curator at the Heritage Motor Centre.