ABSTRACT
it is not often that an exact date can be said to represent the beginning of an industry, but the year 1896, with the repeal of the ‘Highways and Locomotives Act’ of 1878, certainly marked the birth of motor-car production in the United Kingdom. By imposing impossible conditions on the use of roads by self-propelled vehicles, the 1878 Act had stifled the development of the new form of transport. Pioneers such as Knight, Austin and Lanchester had been quietly experimenting with engines, and F. R. Simms had gained possession of the patent rights of the Daimler engine for the United Kingdom. However, no attempt had been made to exploit the commercial possibilities of the new invention prior to the ‘Emancipation Act’ of 1896.
