Keith Waddington and Peter Pellandine founded Ashley Laminates in 1955, the name derived from Peter's house 'Ashleigh'. They set out to make fibreglass bodies which could be bolted to prewar Austin Seven chassis to 'update' them. The Ashley 750 was the first model using an Austin Seven chassis in 6 foot 3inches and 6 foot 9 inches version and an Austin seven 750cc engine. The factory was established in Epping Forest, but in 1956 Peter and Keith went separate ways with Peter Palladine founding Falcon Shells, and he also took the rights to manufacture the short wheelbase Ashley 750 as the Falcon MkI. A Sports Racer model was added in 1956 with customisable wheelbases, but this also went to Falcon Shells. A third model was the '1172' which was designed to fit the postwar Ford Anglia/Popular chassis, and later the Prefect chassis with the sidevalve 1172cc engine or a variety of others. A closed 'Ashley GT' version of this car was produced, and this was refined into the longer 'Sportiva' model which had Ashley's own chassis. One of these cars evolved into the Reliant Sabre. During the 1960s Ashley concentrated on building fibreglass bonnets, hardtops, fastbacks and other body parts for Austin-Healeys, MGs and Triumphs.