Ernest Instone – A True Pioneer

Coventry, as Jaguar Journal readers will aver, has a special place in the history of British road vehicles of all types, thanks to the bicycles, motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks made in the area. This leadership role continues, with planned full conversion to electric buses being announced for Coventry as this article is written. Past issues of JJ have described Jaguar-linked initiatives to develop autonomous vehicle networks in partnership with the forward-looking local authorities. This leadership role is nothing new, however, and recently the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (JDHT) celebrated Ernest Instone – a pioneering engineer and businessman from the first days of motor transport in Europe. Gottlieb Daimler essentially invented two-wheeled and fourwheeled liquid-petroleum internal combustion-engine vehicles. Daimler supplied engines to other factories and in the case of the…