Nobleman’s make of car and ship (8)
I believe the answer is:
marquess
'nobleman's' is the definition.
(marquess is a kind of nobleman)
'make of car and ship' is the wordplay.
'make of car' becomes 'marque' (I've seen this before).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'marque'+'ss'='MARQUESS'
(Other definitions for marquess that I've seen before include "He's entitled" , "Nobleman" , "noble" , "Lady of nobility" .)