[7] Further details emerged in September 1958, when Cyril Lord, named as chairman of York Noble Industries, announced that manufacture would take place in Northern Ireland.

[11] It was confirmed at the show that the car would be assembled by Short Brothers & Harland Ltd at their Glen Works in Newtownards, Northern Ireland,[10] although about 90% of the manufacture of parts was done elsewhere.

This had been successful on small mouldings, but proved to be unreliable on the larger car bodies and eventually normal fibreglass lay-up techniques were adopted.

[17] Official production of fully assembled saloon cars commenced in February 1959, with a provisional retail price in the UK of £317 before Purchase Tax.

[16] In the UK, the intention to produce the cars in kit form had been in the anticipation that this would enable buyers to benefit from a significant reduction in the total amount of tax payable, but this does not appear to have been secured.

[33] In fact the Bristol Aeroplane company had attempted to increase the contract price for the bodies and in response, Shorts decided to transfer manufacture to their own factory at Queen’s Island in Belfast after autumn 1959.

At the same time as he announced that production of Nobel saloons at Shorts in Northern Ireland would end, Lord stated that he was negotiating with several companies in England to take over their work.

He also announced that the Fairey Aviation Company at Heaton Chapel, Stockport would manufacture two new models, a Nobel “utility” car and a sports convertible, although they would not be producing the saloon.