Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Motorcycles |
Predecessor | Watsonian Sidecar Co Ltd Squire Sidecars |
Founded | 1912 |
Founder | Thomas Fredrick Watson |
Headquarters | , England |
Products | Sidecars, trailers |
Divisions | Harglo Performance |
Website | watsonian-squire.com |
Watsonian Squire is a British manufacturer of sidecars and trailers for attachment to motorcycles. The original business was established in 1912 by Thomas Fredrick Watson as the Patent Collapsible Sidecar Company Ltd. at Balsall Heath, Birmingham, England. [1]
The current company is based in the heart of the Cotswolds at Blockley, near Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire.
'Fred' Watson founded the Patent Collapsible Sidecar Company, later renamed to Watsonian Folding Sidecar Company Ltd, after he built a folding sidecar that allowed him to get his motorcycle and sidecar combination through a narrow entrance to the yard at his house. [1]
Early sidecars were initially built with wickerwork bodies, which were then replaced by ash frames with plywood or steel panels. During World War I the company built sidecars for use as motorcycle ambulances. In 1922, the company moved to Hockley in Birmingham. [1]
In 1930, the company was renamed to the Watsonian Sidecar Company Ltd. [1] In the same year the factory was destroyed by fire and in 1931 the company moved to new premises in Greet. [1]
In 1956, Watsonian took over the rights to the Swallow Sidecars name from Tube Investments. [2] Watsonian was an early supplier to the Swallow Sidecar Company, which after World War II was renamed to Jaguar Cars. From 1956, Watsonian started to manufacture sidecar bodies in glass-reinforced plastic (GRP). [3] As well as civilian models, they also manufactured sidecars for the RAC to use for roadside rescue. [3]
In the 1970s, Watsonian used their expertise in GRP to diversify into production of hardtops for Land Rover and for sports cars. [1] [4] When the Land Rover contract ended in 1981, Watsonian was forced to scale back production and make several staff redundant. [1] In 1984, the company moved to its current location in Blockley.
In 1988, Watsonian merged with Squire Sidecars to form Watsonian Squire. [4] From 1999 until 2013, Watsonian were the UK distributor for Royal Enfield motorcycles which are now built in Chennai, India. [5]
Squire (founded 1973 in Bidford-on-Avon) is a British manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars that pioneered the design of the modern motorcycle trailer for being pulled behind a bike in the early 1980s. In 1988 Squire merged with the struggling Watsonian company to form Watsonian Squire, now the UK's largest sidecar producer.
In 2002 Motor Cycle News set a Guinness World Record for a motorcycle and trailer reaching a timed speed of 139.5 mph at Millbrook in Bedfordshire, UK, pulling a Squire D21 trailer behind a Kawasaki ZZ-R1100 motorcycle. [6]
Jaguar is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars until its operations were fully merged with those of Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover on 1 January 2013.
A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a combination, an outfit, a rig or a hack.
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Blockley is a village, civil parish and ecclesiastical parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Moreton-in-Marsh. Until 1931 Blockley was an exclave of Worcestershire.
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The SS Jaguar 100 is a British 2-seat sports car built between 1936 and 1939 by SS Cars Ltd of Coventry, England.
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Swallow Sidecar Company, Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company, and Swallow Coachbuilding Company were trading names used by Walmsley & Lyons, partners and joint owners of a British manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars and automobile bodies in Blackpool, Lancashire, before incorporating a company in 1930 to own their business, which they named Swallow Coachbuilding Company Limited.
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A motorcycle trailer is either a trailer used to carry motorcycles or one to be pulled by a motorcycle in order to carry additional gear.
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Dunelt Motorcycles was a British motorcycle and bicycle manufacturer. Based in Sheffield, the business was founded by two steel makers and engineers, Dunford and Elliott of Sheffield in 1919. Their first motorcycle was an innovative supercharged 499 cc two-stroke single. The company specialised in good quality sidecars from 1926 and a Dunelt motorcycle was first to cross the desert from Cairo to Siwa and back in 1924. Dunelt also enjoyed racing success and won the Double Twelve Hour World Record at Brooklands with a Model K in 1928. Dunelt moved into commercial three-wheeled cars but these were not a success. A Dunelt moped was exhibited at the Earls Court show in 1956 but the company diversified into other areas of engineering in 1957.
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BSA Company Limited is a motorcycle manufacturer which purchased rights to the BSA name from Birmingham Small Arms Company's successor, Dennis Poore's Manganese Bronze Holdings, upon the liquidation of Norton Villiers Triumph in 1978.