FORGOTTEN GIANT

Marking the beginning of the end for the once-great Belsize Motors of Manchester, the ill-fated '15' is now an obscure piece of automotive history

- SIMON HUCKNALL

In the first quarter of the 20th century, more fledgling car companies failed in Britain than at any other time in automotive history. It was an era of radical innovation, not just in terms of product engineering and design, but also in the way cars were manufactured and promoted. There was no proven template for developing, producing, and selling cars, so experimentation was rife, and only those companies that hit upon a successful formula were rewarded with, at the very least, survival.

Belsize had a longer life than most, with the '15' model you see here launched 22 years after the company's first vehicle. This particular car is significant, because it was the only one produced by Belsize in 1919, with series production starting the following year. It effectively became the default press and promotions vehicle for the company, appearing in publications such as The Motor. But by then Belsize was on the precipice, scrabbling to return to the relative pre-war boom times it had once enjoyed.

You can't help feeling a sense of profound regret when delving into the company's history, not so much that it didn't survive (we'll come to its demise later), but more that what it achieved in over a quarter-century of manufacturing now barely warrants a single page from a Google search. That it was producing more than 10% of Britain's vehicles before the First World War makes that all the more lamentable.