predecessor watsonian sidecar co ltd squire sidecars founded 1912 founder thomas fredrick watson headquarters blockley moreton in marsh england products sidecars trailers divisions harglo performance website watsonian squire.com watsonian squire is a british manufacturer of sidecars and trailers for attachment to motorcycles . the original business was established in 1912 by thomas fredrick watson as the patent collapsible sidecar company ltd. at balsall heath birmingham england . 1 the current company is also the united kingdom distributor for indian built royal enfield motorcycles based in the heart of the cotswolds at blockley near moreton in marsh gloucestershire . contents 1 history 2 squire 3 references 4 external links history edit fred watson founded the patent collapsible sidecar company later renamed to watsonian folding sidecar company ltd after he built a folding sidecar that allowed him to get his motorcycle and sidecar combination through a narrow entrance to the yard at his house . 1 early sidecars were initially built with wickerwork bodies which were then replaced by ash frames with plywood or steel panels . during world war i the company built sidecars for use as motorcycle ambulances . in 1922 the company moved to hockley in birmingham . 1 watsonian side car albion road greet birmingham in 1930 the company was renamed to the watsonian sidecar company ltd. 1 in the same year the factory was destroyed by fire and in 1931 the company moved to new premises in greet . 1 in 1956 watsonian took over the rights to the swallow sidecars name from tube investments . 2 watsonian was an early supplier to the swallow sidecar company which after world war ii was renamed to jaguar cars . from 1956 watsonian started to manufacture sidecar bodies in glass reinforced plastic grp . 3 as well as civilian models they also manufactured sidecars for the rac to use for roadside rescue . 3 modern triumph motorcycle with watsonian sidecar in the 1970s watsonian used their expertise in grp to diversify into production of hardtops for land rover and for sports cars . 1 4 when the land rover contract ended in 1981 watsonian was forced to scale back production and make several staff redundant . 1 in 1984 the company moved to its current location in blockley . in 1988 watsonian merged with squire sidecars to form watsonian squire . 4 in 1999 watsonian squire took on uk distribution rights for royal enfield motorcycles which are now built in chennai india . 5 squire edit squire founded 1973 in bidford on avon is a british manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars that pioneered the design of the modern motorcycle trailer for being pulled behind a bike in the early 1980s . in 1988 squire merged with the struggling watsonian company to form watsonian squire now the uk s largest sidecar producer . in 2002 motor cycle news set a guinness world record for a motorcycle and trailer reaching a timed speed of 139.5 mph at millbrook in bedfordshire uk pulling a squire d21 trailer behind a kawasaki zz r1100 motorcycle . 6 references edit a b c d e f g watsonian sidecars . made in birmingham . archived from the original on 19 january 2009 . retrieved 20 january 2009 . heilig john 1997 . jaguar . motorbooks mbi publishing company . p. 22 . isbn 978 0 7603 0352 8 . a b axon jo 1997 . sidecars . osprey publishing . pp. 15 20 . isbn 978 0 7478 0344 7 . a b timeline . watsonian squire . retrieved 21 january 2010 . hollensen svend 2009 . essentials of global marketing . pearson education . p. 412 . isbn 978 0 273 71784 3 . motorcycle and trailer speed record . guinness world records . 2002 02 28 . retrieved 2011 11 09 . external links edit official website watsonian historic advertising retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title watsonian squire & oldid 739138181 categories sidecarscompanies established in 1912companies based in gloucestershire1912 establishments in englandhidden categories use dmy dates from september 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 13 september 2016 at 00 17 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view