Ogle Design is a British design consultancy company founded in 1954 by

David Ogle David Slingsby Ogle (1921''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' – 25 May 1962) was a British industrial and car designer. He founded the design consultancy company Ogle Design in 1954. He was educated at Rugby Scho ...

and based in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

, Hertfordshire.

History

* 1954 Ogle Design was founded and produced many successful designs of industrial and household products. * 1959 The company became involved in transport design and small-scale car production. * 1962 Ogle was killed in a car crash involving one of his SX1000 cars,

Tom Karen Thomas Josef Derrick Paul Karen (born March 1926) is a British industrial designer of Czech descent. He was managing director and chief designer of Ogle Design from 1962 until 1999. He oversaw design of the Bush Radio TR130 radio, the Ralei ...

took over as Managing Director and Chief Designer of the company, and car production ceased. * 1974 Separate divisions were formed for product and transport design. * 1999 Oct. Ogle Models and Prototypes sold the design business to Ogle Noor. * 1999 Ogle Noor formed.

Designs

Household products

* Bush TR82 portable radio, launched in 1959

Transport products

* The Chopper bicycle for

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

, launched in 1970 * For the

Birmingham Small Arms The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand, power, and ma ...

- Triumph motorcycles company ** The

BSA Rocket 3 The Triumph Trident and BSA Rocket 3 was a technically advanced, high-performance roadster (or standard) motorcycle made by Triumph Engineering and BSA (both companies part of the Birmingham Small Arms Company) from 1968 to 1975, and sold un ...

** The

Triumph Trident The Triumph Trident is a three-cylinder motorcycle of either 750 cc or 900 cc capacity. These bikes were produced from 1991 to 1998 at Hinckley, Leicestershire, England, by Triumph Motorcycles Ltd, the successor business to the defu ...

T150 * For the

Reliant Motor Company Reliant Motor Company was a British car manufacturer based in Tamworth, Staffordshire, England. It was founded in 1935 and ended car production in 2002, the company had been known as "Reliant Motor Company" (or RMC for short) until the 1990s ...

: ** The Scimitar GTE, launched in 1968 ** The

Bond Bug The Bond Bug is a small British two-seat, three-wheeled automobile which was designed by Tom Karen of Ogle Design for Reliant Motor Company, who built it from 1970 to 1974, initially at Bond Cars Ltd factory, but subsequently at Reliant's Tamw ...

, launched in 1970 ** The Robin, launched in 1973 * The Plaxton Panorama I of 1964 * The

Plaxton Panorama Elite The Plaxton Panorama Elite was a successful design of coach bodywork built between 1968 and 1975 by Plaxton of Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. A wide-doorway variant called the Plaxton Elite Express was also built. Collectively, they are common ...

of 1968 * The

Duple Dominant The Duple Dominant was a design of a coach (and less commonly bus) bodywork built by Duple between 1972 and 1987. It introduced an all-steel structure and replaced the wooden-framed Duple Vega, Viceroy and Vista models. Chassis Duple Dominant ...

coach body launched in 1972 * The

Plaxton Paramount The Plaxton Paramount was a design of coach bodywork built by Plaxton. It first appeared at the 1982 British Motor Show and was built until 1992. In its more common single deck form it replaced the Supreme V and Viewmaster IV, and was replac ...

range of coach bodies * Modular truck cab for

Shelvoke and Drewry Shelvoke and Drewry was a Letchworth, Hertfordshire manufacturer of special purpose commercial vehicles. It was best known for its innovative waste collection vehicles that were the preferred choice of municipal authorities in the UK together w ...

and

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...

refuse collection vehicles and fire appliances - launched in 1978. * The Leyland Road Train range of Design Award winning truck cabs **

Leyland TX450 The Leyland TX450 is a 17.5 tonne technology demonstrator concept truck developed by the British commercial vehicle company Leyland Trucks in 1986. The aerodynamic cab design by Ogle Design Ogle Design is a British design consultancy company fo ...

1986 technology demonstrator truck * For

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

** Luke Skywalker's XP-34

Landspeeder Landspeeders are fictional anti-gravity craft used through the ''Star Wars'' movies and ''Star Wars'' expanded universe. They are depicted both in civilian and military capacities, and several versions have been merchandised as toys and models ...

* For the Otosan Automotive Company (Turkey) ** The Anadol A1 (FW5) launched in 1966 * For Córas Iompair Éireann ** Leyland Atlantean D1-D602 (1967-1974)

Car production

Between 1959 and 1962 they built a series of complete cars. The first was the 1.5 based on an extended Riley 1.5 chassis with BMC B series 1500 cc engine. The two-door, four-seater coupé-styled body was built of

glass fibre Glass fiber ( or glass fibre) is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass. Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the inventio ...

. It was capable of nearly and eight were made with a price tag of £1574. Made in greater numbers was the 1962 SX1000 based on the

Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

. The first cars were built by grafting the Ogle glass fibre body to a customer supplied Mini. The conversion cost £550 plus the customer supplied base car. Later in 1962, complete cars became available with the 997 cc Cooper version costing £1176. Any of the Mini engines could be specified up to the

Mini Cooper S The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

unit which topped out at . The cars were fully equipped and featured a padded dashboard for increased safety. It is thought that 66 were made, with

Jack Brabham Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in , , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name. Brabham was a R ...

buying one for his wife Betty for their first anniversary. Following David Ogle's death, it was decided to cease car production with the remaining parts being used up. A batch intended for the United States was converted to right-hand drive and sold onto the home market. It is thought the last one left the factory as late as 1964. The moulds were sold in 1966 to Norman Fletcher, a boat builder in

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, ...

, West Midlands, who exhibited a Fletcher GT at the 1967 Racing Car Show. The final car was the SX250, an updated

Daimler SP250 The Daimler SP250 is a sports car built by the Daimler Company, a British manufacturer in Coventry, from 1959 to 1964. It was the last car to be launched by Daimler before its parent company, the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA), sold it to J ...

built in 1962. Two were made, but Daimler was not interested and the design was sold to Reliant where it became the basis of the Scimitar GT which was launched in 1964. In 2012 a replica Ogle SX1000 was available from Nostalgia Cars.Nostalgia Cars Ogle SX1275
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References

{{reflist

External links

Ogle Noor Limited official website

Ogle Models & Prototypes official website
Car manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies based in North Hertfordshire District Automotive companies of the United Kingdom Design companies established in 1954 1954 establishments in England