Iris (car)

Iris was a British car brand that was manufactured from 1906 to 1925 by Legros & Knowles Ltd in Willesden, London and Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

Knowles provided most of the financial capital while Legros, an older, experienced tramway engineer, was the main designer.

[3][4] Two Legros & Knowles vehicles were shown at the 1904 Olympia Show, but they were cumbersome, outdated designs with chain drive, slow revving engines and magneto ignition.

Also in 1905, some marine units were built, based on the original Legros engine design, one of which was installed in the motor yacht Iris at the Southampton trials.

In 1909, Legros and Knowles created a new Service department for Iris Cars Ltd, headquartered in Aylesbury and headed by George Augustus Mower.

[clarification needed][5][6] In 1909, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland contracted Iris to build his first aero engine, the de Havilland Iris, a four-cylinder, liquid-cooled, horizontally opposed unit, which was displayed at the Aero Show in Olympia in March 2010.

[5] From 1909, the logo, designed by Clive Harrington, showed green and blue Iris flowers.

The Iris cars were luxury vehicles with large, water-cooled four-cylinder in-line engines.