From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
EARLY MOTORCYCLE SIDECARS: Once petrol engines came into existence it was only a matter of time before they were combined with bicycles. It came about in the last decade of the 19th century.
These early motorcycles were fitted with a single bicycle-style seat. It wasn't until the 1920s that a pillion seat was added to carry a passenger.
The first sidecars designed for passengers and goods appeared on motorcycles about 1900, although the idea wasn't new - the earliest known sidecar had been fitted to a pedal cycle by a manufacturer as early as 1893.
At first sidecars were only one of a number of attachments available for motorcycles. Other options included trailers, forecars and tricars, but by the turn of the century the sidecar had won overwhelming acceptance among motorcyclists.
It's no longer possible to establish with any certainty which manufacturer was the first to offer a commercially produced sidecar, but certainly one of the first, if not the first, was that produced by Montgomery Motorcycles in 1902. This was followed quickly by Graham Brothers, Ariel, Matchless and Rudge-Whitworth.
All of these early sidecars shared a common form of construction - wickerwork mounted on a lightweight chassis with a single large wheel. They were very similar in style to the Bath chairs then used by invalids.
Passengers in these early sidecars had a very bouncy ride and it wasn't long before a restricting damper was added.
As they grew in popularity the sidecars became known as "ladies" or "chairs", while the motorcycle-with-sidecar became known as "outfits" or "combinations" in Britain and Ireland and "rigs" in the US.
By around 1910, as well as the motorcycle manufacturers who offered sidecars, there were a large number of independent producers who made and marketed only sidecars. Clearly, sidecars offered a cheaper form of motor vehicle than any car and this was recognised by the commercial world where the potential of the motorcycle and sidecar was exploited by just about every trade imaginable. Even farmers used sidecars to transport small animals such as sheep, calves and pigs.
The first World War saw the sidecar in service on both sides of the conflict. Some were fitted with machine guns, while others were purpose-built as stretcher carriers. After the war huge numbers of ex-army motorcycles and sidecars came on the market cheaply and were the first personal motorised transport of many families.
This lead to increasingly sophisticated sidecar designs - and a demand for protection from the weather.
One successful company founded in Blackpool in 1922 was the Swallow Sidecar Company. Five years later it turned its attention to cars and was the predecessor of Jaguar, one of Britain's most prestigious marques.
Today, in a largely four-wheeled world, sidecars are a rarity.