ABC Motors
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.
Also recorded as All British Engine Company
ABC Motors

Unbekannte Autoren und Grafiker · Sammlung eines Mitglieds des Ersten Deutschen Historic-Actien-Clubs e.V. (EDHAC e.V.) · Public domain
- Name
- ABC Motors
- Founded
- 1912
- Headquarters
- Hersham
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Documentary summary
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.
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Documentary evidence
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wikidata · Q262737 · wikipedia · ABC Motors
In this article
Overview
Overview
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.

A green ABC Open in Ramsey on the Isle of Man
Frank Schuengel
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — ABC Motors • Fate — Absorbed into Vickers • Founded — 1912 • Defunct — 1951 • Hq Location — Hersham, Surrey, England • Industry — Engineering • Key People — Ronald Charteris (Founder) Granville Bradshaw (Designer) • Products — Cars, motorcycles and aero engines
Products
Products
• Illustration — Lt. Ronald Charteris (7th from left, standing) with fellow officers of the Royal Flying Corps c 1913 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
Aero engines
• Illustration — The Wasp engine • ABC 6 hp Midge (1951) National Archives Kew (AIR 10/7172) • ABC 8 hp (1923) • 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
Aircraft
• ABC Robin
Automotive
Automotive
• ABC (1920 automobile) • ABC Supersports • ABC Skootamota • ABC motorcycles
Institutional history
Dated record
Institutional history
Explore 1912–1951
The full dated record · 3 entries
1912
ABC Motors established.
1912
ABC Motors is recorded from 1912.
1951
ABC Motors ceased.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United Kingdom
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q262737: ABC Motors
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “ABC Motors”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q262737: ABC MotorsWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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