of Meteor Works, Lode Lane, Birmingham
Rover was a British manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles and cars.
General
- 1896 Became a public company. The Rover Cycle Co was registered on 13 June to take over the business of J. K. Starley and Co. [1]
- 1906 H. Smith is MD of the Rover Cycle Co.
- 1905 The name was changed in November from the Rover Cycle Co to the Rover Co.
- WWI. During the First World War, they made motorcycles, lorries to Maudslay designs and not having a suitable one of their own, cars to a Sunbeam design.
- They acquired a factory at Tyseley
- The business was not very successful during the 1920s, and did not pay a dividend from 1923 until the mid 1930s.
- In 1929 there was a change of management with Spencer Wilks coming in from Hillman as general manager. He set about reorganising the company and moving it up market to cater for people who wanted something "superior" to Ford and Austin.
- 1930 He was joined by his brother Maurice Wilks, who had also been at Hillman as chief engineer. Spencer Wilks stayed with the company until 1962 and his brother until 1963.
- In 1967, Rover became part of the Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), which already owned Triumph.
Cars
- See Rover: Cars
Bicycles
- See Rover: Cycles
Motorcycles
See Also
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Sources of Information
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- [1] Wikipedia on Rover Cars
- Trademarked. A History of Well-Known Brands - from Aertex to Wright's Coal Tar by David Newton. Pub: Sutton Publishing 2008 ISBN 978-0-7509-4590-5