The Gordon, made by Vernons Industries Ltd. based at

Bidston Bidston is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. Administratively, it is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of th ...

, then in Cheshire (now Merseyside), was a British three-wheeled

motorcar A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

produced from 1954 until 1958.The Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. Edited by

G.N. Georgano George Nicolas "Nick" Georgano (29 February 1932 – 22 October 2017Nick Georgano
Alvis Archive Bl ...

. Published by George Rainbird Ltd, 1973.Linz, Schrader: ''Die Internationale Automobil-Enzyklopädie.''Georgano: ''The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile.''

History

The company, a subsidiary of Vernons Pools, began in Bidston in 1954 for the production of automobiles. The designer was Erling Poppe who had previously worked for John Marston's

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a lightbeam, beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of light scatter ...

car company in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

. Several hundred ''Gordons'' were made before production ended in 1958.

Models

The company only manufactured one model, a three-wheeled two seater with a single front wheel. The single-cylinder, 197 cc, Villiers engine was mounted next to the driver (RHD), outside of the body with an external chain-drive to one rear wheel. Access to the interior was via a single door. The steel body had a folding fabric roof, and at £300 it was the cheapest car on the UK market.

References

Sources

* Harald Linz, Halwart Schrader: ''Die Internationale Automobil-Enzyklopädie.'' United Soft Media Verlag, München 2008, . * George Nick Georgano (Chefredakteur): ''The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile.'' Volume 2: ''G–O.'' Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, . (englisch) Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England 1954 establishments in the United Kingdom Three-wheeled motor vehicles Cars introduced in 1954 {{UK-company-stub

History

Models

See also

References

Sources