Old is new.
When vintage meets modern.
It was in 1982 that Bruce West began creating his retro styled vehicles using the chassis of Ford Transit vans as a base.
West would not only design the Asquith logo but he would also create the name and designed all of the earlier creations.
His marketing ploy was to create historic vehicles by using modern chassis with the vehicles being aimed at the commercial and advertising industry.
A 1930’s style taxi cab went into production in 1991 when it was announced that using a purpose built chassis the vehicle would meet the regulations as stipulated by the London Public Carriage Office.
In excess of 1000 vehicles were manufactured by a team of 30 full time employed craftsmen who operated from a workshop in Braintree, Essex.
The export market proved very profitable with vehicles being sold to Germany, Paraguay, Japan and the USA.
But inevitably all good things come to an end and in the 1990’s following the sale of the business to Hunnables the company experienced some bumpy times caused by a blowout in manufacturing costs and the cost of funding the research and development department soon took its toll and the company was forced into receivership.
In 1997 Mike Edgar purchased the company from the liquidators and engaged a team of designers led by Paul Keegan and Eddie Parsons who headed the engineers.
It did not take long for the company to realise that production costs were too great and therefore it was necessary to engage in the construction and development in other countries with Spain and Poland being the eventual third party companies.
Moulds and intellectual property rights were sold in 2003 to Simon Rhodes and Asquith Motors was established to develop newer versions of the original vehicles but due to a variety of differing circumstances the project was shelved and the company ceased to manufacture further vehicles.
One such vehicle to be still in operation is this ice cream van which was operating in Woodbridge, Sussex.
Woodbridge, Sussex, Great Britain.
Old is new.
When vintage meets modern.
It was in 1982 that Bruce West began creating his retro styled vehicles using the chassis of Ford Transit vans as a base.
West would not only design the Asquith logo but he would also create the name and designed all of the earlier creations.
His marketing ploy was to create historic vehicles by using modern chassis with the vehicles being aimed at the commercial and advertising industry.
A 1930’s style taxi cab went into production in 1991 when it was announced that using a purpose built chassis the vehicle would meet the regulations as stipulated by the London Public Carriage Office.
In excess of 1000 vehicles were manufactured by a team of 30 full time employed craftsmen who operated from a workshop in Braintree, Essex.
The export market proved very profitable with vehicles being sold to Germany, Paraguay, Japan and the USA.
But inevitably all good things come to an end and in the 1990’s following the sale of the business to Hunnables the company experienced some bumpy times caused by a blowout in manufacturing costs and the cost of funding the research and development department soon took its toll and the company was forced into receivership.
In 1997 Mike Edgar purchased the company from the liquidators and engaged a team of designers led by Paul Keegan and Eddie Parsons who headed the engineers.
It did not take long for the company to realise that production costs were too great and therefore it was necessary to engage in the construction and development in other countries with Spain and Poland being the eventual third party companies.
Moulds and intellectual property rights were sold in 2003 to Simon Rhodes and Asquith Motors was established to develop newer versions of the original vehicles but due to a variety of differing circumstances the project was shelved and the company ceased to manufacture further vehicles.
One such vehicle to be still in operation is this ice cream van which was operating in Woodbridge, Sussex.
Woodbridge, Sussex, Great Britain.