John Weller and John Portwine designed a three-wheeled commercial vehicle with a 631cc one cylinder engine and called this the 'Auto-Carrier' which thus started the 'A.C.' brand. Next came the 'AC Sociable' in 1907 putting driver and passenger side-by-side, and the company was renamed to 'Auto-Carriers Ltd' to manufacture them. The first four wheel car was designed in 1911 and AC moved next door to the Brooklands circuit at Thames Ditton. The John Weller 'Light Six' engine went into production in 1919 and was the mainstay of their production until 1963. S.F. Edge took over the company in 1921 and renamed it as 'AC Cars Limited'. Renamed as AC (Acedes) Ltd in 1927 the company carried on until it went into liquidation in 1929 even though it had been one of Britain's largest motor manufacturers. Taken over by the Hurlock brothers in 1930, limited production of almost hand made vehicles proceeded during the 1930s and the 6-cylinder engine gained competition success. After the Second World War production resumed slowly, until the AC Ace in 1953 gave AC a desirable sports car, and the recipe was expanded into other models until a tie up with Carroll Shelby produced the AC Cobra. AC could not sell luxury cars in the 1970s and Derek Hurlock was attracted a 1972 prototype with an Austin Maxi engine called the Diablo which he developed into Acme (mid-engined AC) with 3-litre Ford V6. This took until 1979 to develop, being launched as the AC 3000ME which struggled to a production run of 71 before it was halted in 1984. AC changed hands becoming AC Scotland which quickly foundered, to be purchased by Brian Angliss of Autokraft who had been making 'replica' Cobras from the original tooling since 1984, and in 1986 he purchased the AC name too. Further changes of ownership occurred from 1996, with production transferring to Malta ...