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Private company

ABC Motors

Manufacturer of cars, aircraft, motor scooters, and engines

ABC Motors Limited ("All British (Engine) Company") of Hersham, Surrey, England was a manufacturer of cars, aircraft, motor scooters, and engines for road and air. Established by Ronald Charteris in Hersham, Surrey in 1912, its chief designer was the young and talented Granville Bradshaw. It was absorbed into Vickers in 1951 and the factory finally closed in the 1970s.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1912Founded1
  • Industryaerospace engineering, automotive industry1
  • HeadquartersHersham1
  • Legal formprivate company limited by shares1

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ABC Motors Limited ("All British (Engine) Company") of Hersham, Surrey, England was a manufacturer of cars, aircraft, motor scooters, and engines for road and air. Established by Ronald Charteris in Hersham, Surrey in 1912, its chief designer was the young and talented Granville Bradshaw. It was absorbed into Vickers in 1951 and the factory finally closed in the 1970s. Last occupied by Ian Allan Publishing as Hersham's Riverdene Industrial Estate, the factory was demolished around 2017-2018 and redeveloped as a Lidl supermarket (opened February 2019) with flats above.2

Products and brands

The ABC radial aero engines of the World War I period were extremely advanced for their time, and were initially thought to be very promising indeed. Unfortunately they were all more or less plagued by problems – and although a number of types for the Royal Air Force were designed around ABC engines (especially the ill-fated Dragonfly) none saw squadron service with the RAF.

ABC also made a large number of engines for electrical generators and other purposes – mostly with a flat twin cylinder layout and unusual exhaust-over-inlet valve configuration. These smaller ABC engines have the distinction of being possibly the first airborne APUs- the Coastal class blimp (first flown in 1916) had a 1.5-horsepower unit installed to provide electricity for the onboard wireless set, whilst a similar engine was used to power the searchlight of the sole Supermarine Nighthawk 'Zeppelin killer' of 1917.

Aero engines

ABC 6 hp Midge (1951) National Archives Kew (AIR 10/7172)

ABC 8 hp (1923)

Read the full text

ABC 30 hp (1912)

ABC 60 hp (1912)

ABC 100 hp (1912)

ABC Dragonfly (1918)

ABC Gadfly (1920)

ABC Gnat (1916)

ABC Mosquito (1916)

ABC Hornet (1929)

ABC Scorpion (1923)

ABC Wasp (1918)

Aircraft

ABC Robin

Automotive

ABC (1920 automobile)

ABC Supersports

ABC Skootamota

ABC motorcycles

From Wikipedia’s article on ABC Motors, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded by Vickers1

Timeline

  1. 1951Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1912Founded Founded1

Sources

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