From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
AMBITIOUS FAILURES - THE FERGUS AND OD: Joseph Bell Ferguson was born in 1879 and hailed from Hillsborough, Co Down. In 1895 he became an apprentice with Coombe Barbour, mill engineers and steam engine manufacturers in Belfast.
There he met two engineers, James Alexander McKee and George Hamilton, who had a similar interest in motorcars. In 1902 all three left Coombe Barbour to form a new partnership as motor engineers based at Shankill Road. Later that year, Joseph's younger brother Harry joined the enterprise, but the partnership did not last long.
The two Ferguson brothers formed J B Ferguson & Co and moved to Little Donegall Street. In time both McKee and Hamilton rejoined their old partners in the firm of J B Ferguson.
Under the guidance of the two brothers the new firm prospered and became a major force in the Northern Ireland motor trade and in Dublin where they had premises at Lower Baggot Street. In 1910, Harry, who had by now become interested in aviation and who had built a monoplane to become the first person to fly in Ireland, left to form his own company.
Joseph - or 'JB' as he was invariably known - became interested in producing his own car during a visit to the US and Canada in 1909 but it was not until sometime during 1912 that a decision was taken to go ahead with the design and production of a prototype. The design process particularly benefited from the ideas of McKee and both he and JB took as the basis for their design the aim of eliminating all the design flaws they were familiar with in contemporary designs, of which they had extensive experience through their repair and maintenance business.
Allied to McKee's advanced ideas for car design and the natural thoroughness of both men, the result was a very neat and clean design. The first Fergus, as the new car was to be named, was a 2.6 litre four-cylinder overhead-camshaft powered design with an innovative steel girder and lattice based chassis of exceptional lightness and strength. The Fergus was also notable for its soft, comfortable ride.
By now, 1915, World War I had broken out and it proved impossible for Ferguson to obtain the materials which would enable the Fergus to be put into production. Undaunted, JB switched his attention to America and the firm of Fergus Motors of America was established at Newark, New Jersey, to manufacture the Fergus for the American market.
All drawings and design information were transferred to the American company but once again JB was to be thwarted in his ambitions for the car. By the time everything was ready to enable production to begin in America, the US had entered the war and it became impossible to get the necessary materials for production.
It was not until three years after the end of the war that the first production Fergus appeared in America. By then considerable work had been done to "Americanise" the car for the US market - it now sported a six-cylinder engine and four wheel brakes as well as an altogether more American appearance.
It's not known how many cars were made over the next year or so while the Fergus was available for sale. However, no more Fergus cars were built after 1922, the company instead acquiring the Austin agency for the eastern US.
The Fergus story had one last bit of life in it before it finally expired. JB, undaunted by the failure of his American adventure, decided to build the car in Belfast and formed a new company, O D Cars, for this purpose.
OD stood for "owner driver" and Ferguson's intended the car to compete with Rolls-Royce quality, but should not require the same amount of specialist eminence, hence the 'Owner Driver' name.
However, JB's ambitious plans were not to be fulfilled - once again the timing could hardly have been worse. By the time the OD was ready for production the post-war boom had given way to depression and the company produced just one car before closing its doors for good.