2. Nicola Romeo
Born near Naples in 1876, Nicolà
Romeo graduated in engineering
in 1900 and spent some years
gaining work experience abroad.
He then returned to Italy where
he set up his own company
manufacturing mining
equipment. Assisting the Italian
government during the first
world war, he would turn to the
manufacture of trucks and
engines, then following the war
he oversaw the acquisition of
smaller manufacturing concerns
to form the conglomerate
Società Anonima Ing. Nicola
Romeo & Co.
3. Aston Martin
Aston Martin, founded
in a small London
workshop in 1914 by
Lionel Martin and
Robert Bamford have
grown into one of the
worlds finest producers
of luxury sports cars.
4. Chrysler Australia
Between 1962 and 1978
Chrysler Australia had
released 13 models, the VJ
of 1973 being the biggest
seller, with 90,865 units
built. The least successful
model was the final design,
the CM, selling only 16,005
units in three years. The
high point was arguably
the release of the fastest
accelerating Australian
production car ever made,
the awesome E-49
Charger.
5. Herbert Austin
Yet another Australian connection to the
British car manufacturing industry comes
courtesy of Herbert Austin. Born in
Buckinghamshire, England in 1866 the
young Herbert travelled to Australia in his
youth, eventually settling down in
Melbourne where he managed to get work
with several engineering firms.
As fate would have it, he ended up at
Fredrick Wolseley's factory that
manufactured sheep-shearing equipment -
a move that would soon see him designing
the first Wolseley automobiles. Melbourne
was to also prove fruitful to Austin in love
matters, where while working for Wolseley
he would meet and later marry a young
Helen Dron.
