Research - Coventry Motoring History
This is information that was useful for our documentary as it is about Coventry and we used it to our advantage by visiting Coventry Museum to gather footage on the history of Coventry's motor industry, whilst using this information from secondary sources to talk about it in the actual documentary film.
The first British motor car was made in Coventry in 1897 by The Daimler Motor Company Limited, and a growing number of other small motor manufacturers began to appear. The progress of this new industry was slow at first, but within 10 years the motor trade was employing some 10,000 people, and by the 1930s bicycle making had largely been replaced by motor manufacture which grew to employ 38,000 people by 1939. Coventry had become a centre of the British motor industry; Jaguar, Rover and Rootes being just three of many famous British manufacturers to be based in the area.
However, the second World War brought about a halt to the mass production of cars and bicycles and the aircraft industry dwarfed all others. As well as this, the devastating Blitz destroyed most of Coventry’s city centre that had to be rebuilt in the 50s and 60s. The industry was hard hit in the Blitz as Adolf Hitler singled out Coventry as it was such an influential motoring industry and due to this 75% of Coventry’s factories were damaged, causing yet another blow to their motoring industry.
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