The Hampton car took its name from the Warwickshire village of Hampton-in-Arden, where Walter Paddon built his first prototype in 1911. The following year he started the Hampton Engineering Co Ltd at Kings Norton, Birmingham, making a conventional car powered by a 12/16 hp 4-cylinder Chapuis-Dornier engine selling for £295. Very few of these were made, and before the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914, Paddon had brought out three more designs, a cyclecar with a 8hp 2-cylinder Precision engine, a cyclecar with a 2-cylinder 2-stroke engine, and a light car with a 4-cylinder 10hp Chapuis-Dornier engine.
In 1919 the Hampton Engineering Co moved south, taking over part of an ironworks at Dudbridge, Gloucestershire, where a 10/16hp light car was made, powered by a 1496cc 4-cylinder Dorman KNO engine (left picture). This was soon joined by a 1795cc car, also Dorman-powered. Bodies were mostly made in-house and production reached six cars a week by the middle of 1920. The company underwent the first of its many reorganisations during the year, emerging as the Hampton Engineering Co (1920) Ltd. For 1923 Meadows engines were used, in two sizes - 9/21hp and 11/35hp.
For four years the company struggled to keep afloat, but towards the end of 1924 it went into receivership before being rescued by Major Griffith Jones, who acquired the company for about £13,000. The new company was called the Stroud Motor Manufacturing Co Ltd but lasted less than 15 months, becoming bankrupt in January 1926. Another company was formed, Hampton Cars (London) Ltd, with finance from London and an office in Westminster, although the factory remained at Stroud.
The 11/35hp became the 12/50 and was joined by a 1247cc 9hp and a 1683cc 15hp 6-cylinder model. The latter was very short-lived, being replaced for 1929 by a larger six with a 2931cc Meadows engine, a handful of which were produced. The most popular model was the 12/40, which made up the bulk of the 300 cars made each year at this time. For 1930 Hampton offered a supercharged sports version of the 12/40, while some models were offered with the Cowburn coned roller gearbox, made by Kitson Components Ltd of Stroud.
In the same year Hampton's credit with Meadows ran out, as as the Wolverhampton company was its main supplier of engines, Hampton was faced with a serious problem. A small 4-cylinder engine of 1196cc was offered, possibly of Hampton's own manufacture, while for its larger model it went to the German Rohr company, from which it ordered 100 2262cc straight-8 engines, and 50 chassis with independent suspension by double-transverse half-elliptic springs. The discrepancy in numbers was presumably because Hampton had a number of its own chassis that it wanted to use up, and could sell the result at a lower price than for the more sophisticated Rohr chassis.
However, the company failed again before many of the German components reached Stroud. It was reorganised by the receiver, Thomas Godman, as the Safety Suspension Car Co Ltd at new premises at Cainscross, near Stroud. Although Godman offered the Rohr chassis with a choice of 2.4 litre 6-cylinder engine (right picture) or the Rohr straight-8, now enlarged to 2736cc, it is unlikely that any were made.
Credit: Graham Clayton