William Hillman (1847-1926) was a bicycle manufacturer before a partnership in 1907 with Louis Coatalen resulted in their first car.  Coatalen left the company in 1909 and all subsequent cars were named Hillman.  Control of the company passed to the Rootes family in 1927 and over many decades, a variety of reasonably-priced cars were produced.  In the early 1960’s, the Rootes Group built a new factory at Linwood, near Glasgow to build the Hillman Imp.  In 1967, the Chrysler Corporation took control of the company, changing the name to Chrysler (UK) Ltd.  The last cars badged as Hillmans were made in 1977.