The brand name was created by Chris Lawrence as an amalgam of his mother’s maiden name and "Deep Henderson," a jazz standard favored by his father. Lawrence, already established as a tuner of Standard engines for Morgan and Triumph TR cars, founded the venture to facilitate his transition into single-seater racing. Production was initially handled by Lawrence and his staff at Westerham Motors and later LawrenceTune Engines, though some manufacturing was eventually contracted to subcontractors.
Lawrence entered the Formula Junior class in 1960 with the DS101. Designed to meet Count Giovanni Lurani’s inexpensive racing specifications, the DS101 featured a tubular steel tetrahedron chassis, Volkswagen Beetle front suspension and transaxle, and a 1000 cc Ford Kent engine. The car debuted at Goodwood in 1960, where both entered vehicles retired after the sump bungs unscrewed upon contact with the ground during cornering.
The subsequent DS104 model incorporated lessons learned from Keith Duckworth regarding engine and suspension design. Lawrence developed a unique intake system by drilling new ports into the cylinder head and mounting 45DC3 carburetors high enough to draw air over the driver's head. The DS104 won its debut race at Oulton Park.
A defining technical feature of the marque was the "Lawrence Link" suspension, a trailing-arm system where the axes of the links converged toward the car's center-line. Lawrence was granted a patent for the design, which he attributed to principles learned during late-night discussions with Duckworth. Due to financial difficulties at LawrenceTune Engines in 1963, Lawrence sold the patent to Rover.
In late 1960, Lawrence began development of the DS301, a road-going sports car utilizing a Mini drivetrain. Designed with Andrew Wallace, the car featured a central tube backbone chassis and Lawrence Link suspension at both ends. The prototype, nicknamed "the perfume delivery wagon" due to its tall rear engine cover, was tested at the Nürburgring in 1961 but was scrapped after a crash.
A revised DS301 fastback was displayed at the 1962 Racing Car Show. This version featured a drag coefficient of 0.29 and a frontal area of 1.0 m². Production was later subcontracted to John Pearce, who built 23 cars by January 1965.
In 1967, Lawrence developed the DS302 for a return to Le Mans. This model used a lengthened DS301 chassis to accommodate a longitudinal 1600 cc Ford Kent 116E engine and a Hewland FT200 transaxle. Because Rover refused to allow the use of the Lawrence Link patent they had purchased, the DS302 was fitted with A-arm front suspension and a de Dion rear axle.
Lawrence entered an aluminium-bodied DS301 in the 1000 cc class. The car, powered by a 997 cc Downton-tuned engine, reached speeds exceeding 241.4 km/h (150 mph) on the Mulsanne straight. Despite losing brake fluid due to sand-damaged seals, Lawrence continued racing by using the clutch to scrub off speed. He reached the same lap as the leading Alpine Renault before the car was black-flagged and disqualified at midnight for failing to meet the minimum average speed.
The DS302, driven by Lawrence and John Wingfield, was disqualified during the race. The disqualification occurred after the driver traveled more than 100 meters away from the vehicle to search for a fuel-injection pump drive belt that had been dislodged by track debris.
In 1963, Lawrence built the DS105, a dual-engine hill-climb car. It featured two 1071 cc Downton-tuned Mini engines and transaxles. A specialized linkage allowed the driver to vary throttle openings between the engines to induce oversteer or understeer.
The Deep Sanderson name was used as a cover for early prototypes of the Monica sedan to hide the project's identity. In 2004, Lawrence returned to the Le Mans Classic with a DS301 built from an unused shell and the restored DS302.
The final car to bear the name was the 1986 SL601, built in the United States for Robert Sutherland. This radical prototype featured a Datsun 280Z engine, an Alfa Romeo Alfetta rear transaxle, and a unique suspension system using 4-inch wide single leaf springs and full-length torsion bars. During testing at Willow Springs, the SL601 reportedly recorded lap times two to three seconds faster than the Formula Ford track record.