Sapphire was a true diamond of the road

It is notable that many of the world’s great car marques have double-barrelled names – RollsRoyce, Alfa-Romeo and Mercedes-Benz, to name but three.

And I confess my favourite lost classic car also belonged to the double-barrel brigade.

From first setting eyes on it, I have always admired the Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire.

Its striking chrome grille, Sphinx mascot, two-tone paintwork and sweeping wing line just appealed to me – and my reverence, if not passion, for the Sapphire has never dimmed.

Like many UK car firms, Armstrong-Siddeley had a complicated history and strong links with the aircraft industry.

John D Siddeley (1850-1929) started making Peugeot-based cars in Coventry in 1902.

He was certainly a man for mergers – first with Wolseley (1905-09), then with Deasy (1909-20), then with engineering firm Armstrong-Whitworth, later Vickers-Armstrong.

That spawned ArmstrongSiddeley Motors Ltd, a name retained through many subsequent mergers and changes. Over the years, it also had links to plane and aeroengine manufacturers Hawker, Avro, Bristol and Rolls-Royce, which all eventually combined into what is today BAe Systems.

From the start, Siddeley’s cars were upmarket, well-engineered and silent.

In the First World War, the firm produced aircraft engines and airframes and in the second, a wide range of military vehicles.

In 1953 came the Sapphire and later the Star Sapphire.

However, like many UK car firms, A-S lacked the global clout of Ford and General Motors and faced growing competition in overseas markets.

Car production ceased in 1960 and in 1972, when then-parent company Rolls-Royce went bankrupt, all ArmstrongSiddeley spares, patents, blueprints, designs and copyrights were sold to the owners’ club.

Some 3,500 cars still exist, about 2,000 of them in the UK.

Although the Sapphire’s styling is dated by today’s norms, it still is a striking car.