AC CARS
AROUND SINCE 1901
NOW OWNED BY South African-born businessman Alan Lubinsky
KNOWN FOR Going bankrupt occasionally, and collaborating with Carroll Shelby for the V8 AC Cobra
It stood for 'Auto Carriers' originally. AC didn't come to worldwide attention until the Carroll Shelby came asking for a sports car to drop a V8 into for racing. The infamous 196mph motorway test led to today's 70mph speed limit. Now it'll sell you restomods and an EV.
ARIEL MOTOR COMPANY
AROUND SINCE 2000 (though the Ariel name appeared on bicycles as far back as the 19th century)
NOW OWNED BY Still a British owned business!
KNOWN FOR Warp-speed scaffolding with nutty Honda engines
Simon Saunders' genius Hondapropelled scaffolding is genuinely the closest thing you can get to a road-going go-kart, and famously made a right mess of Clarkson's face when it starred on TopGear back in December 2004. Three generations of Atom later (including a wild 500bhp V8 edition), Ariel went off-piste with the magnificent Nomad, realising all our life-size Tamiya RC car fantasies. The little Somerset outfit now has a waiting list Ferrari would be proud of, and continues to work on a near-1,200bhp ‘HiPercar...
BAC
AROUND SINCE 2009
NOW OWNED BY Neill and lan, the Briggs brothers
KNOWN FOR Single-seater half-tonne missiles with exquisite build quality.
The Briggs Automotive Company (though it could stand for Bats**t Angry Car) will sell you a true single-seater experience for £170k. Mono R features stronger graphene-embedded carbon bodywork, less weight, and more power 343bhp pushing just 555kg. Plenty.
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