Arrol-Johnston (later known as the Arrol-Aster) was an early Scottish make of automobile manufactured from 1896 to 1931 and the first automobile manufactured in Britain. The company developed the world’s first "off-road" vehicle for the Egyptian government, and another designed to travel on ice and snow for Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole.
George Johnston was by training a locomotive engineer from the Hyde Park Locomotive Company...
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Arrol-Johnston (later known as the Arrol-Aster) was an early Scottish make of automobile manufactured from 1896 to 1931 and the first automobile manufactured in Britain. The company developed the world’s first "off-road" vehicle for the Egyptian government, and another designed to travel on ice and snow for Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole.
George Johnston was by training a locomotive engineer from the Hyde Park Locomotive Company Limited of Springburn, Glasgow. Johnston was commissioned by the City of Glasgow in 1894 to build an experimental steam tram-car to replace the horse trams. When it was having a final test before a Corporation committee it took fire and work was abandoned. Johnston's attention was then turned to a detailed examination of continental makes of motor car, and he came to the conclusion that he could design and make a better vehicle than any of them and in particular a better engine. The first British-built motor car was thus conceived and by the...
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