Ogle Design is a British design consultancy company founded in 1954 by David Ogle 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 2021 census was 33,990. 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 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 List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

, 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 m ...

- Triumph motorcycles company ** The BSA Rocket 3 ** The

Triumph Trident The Triumph Trident is a Straight-three engine, 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 successo ...

T150 * For the Reliant Motor Company: ** The Scimitar GTE, launched in 1968 ** The Bond Bug, launched in 1970 ** The Robin, launched in 1973 *For Plaxton: ** Plaxton Panorama I of 1964 **

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 comm ...

of 1968 ** Plaxton Paramount range of coach bodies * The Duple Dominant coach body launched in 1972 * Lucas Electric Taxi, 1975 * 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 ...

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 some ...

refuse collection vehicles and fire appliances - launched in 1978. * The Leyland Roadtrain range of Design Award winning truck cabs ** Leyland TX450 1986 technology demonstrator truck * For

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

** 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 model ...

* For the Otosan Automotive Company (Turkey) ** The

Anadol A1 Anadol was Turkey's first domestic mass-production passenger vehicle company. Its first model, Anadol#Anadol A1 (1966–1975), Anadol A1 (1966–1975) was the second Turkish car after the ill-fated Devrim sedan of 1961. Anadol cars and pick-ups ...

(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 Riley may refer to: Businesses * Riley (brand), British sporting goods brand founded in 1878 * Riley Motor, British motorcar and bicycle manufacturera 1890–1969 * Riley Technologies, American auto racing constructor and team, founded by Bob ...

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 very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

. 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 very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally (b ...

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 and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Brabham won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in , and , ...

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 ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...

, 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