Armstrong Siddeley Thirty History

The Thirty was the first car launched under the new Armstrong Siddeley name in 1919, following Armstrong Whitworth's acquisition of the Coventry firm Siddeley-Deasy. A large, dignified machine powered by a 5-litre 30 hp six-cylinder engine, it was aimed at the aristocracy and the upper end of the carriage trade — a positioning the company would maintain for the next four decades. Around 2,770 examples were produced across the model's twelve-year life.

The Thirty established the visual and marketing signatures the marque kept through its entire existence: the Sphinx bonnet mascot and the slogan 'As silent as the Sphinx', emphasising hushed refinement over outright performance. Coachbuilders fitted a range of open touring, saloon, and limousine bodies to customer order. The model was superseded when the Siddeley Special arrived for 1933 as a far more technically advanced replacement.