Charlesworth Bodies Limited of Much Park Street, Coventry, owned a coachbuilding business that had been founded in 1907 by Charles Gray Hill and Charles Steane. [1]
Charlesworth Bodies Limited of Much Park Street, Coventry, owned a coachbuilding business that had been founded in 1907 by Charles Gray Hill and Charles Steane. [1]
The company manufactured bodies in short runs for low-volume manufacturers including MG, Alvis, Armstrong Siddeley (at Parkside by Charlesworth [2] ), Brough Superior and Lea-Francis as well as on mass-market chassis from Hillman and Singer. They also made bespoke bodies on chassis such as Daimler, and light commercial bodies such as vans. [2]
The Burlington Carriage Company Limited, (associated with Siddeley-Deasy) although independent, operated from an office in Charlesworth's premises at Parkside around the time of the First World War, then became an Armstrong Siddeley subsidiary. [3]
When fabric bodies were in fashion in the 1920s and early 1930s they held a licence from Weymann The business was advertised for sale "as a going concern" in April 1927 "due to the death of a director". The description states that the premises are freehold and contain approximately 6,000 square yards in the heart of the city, equipped with all modern machinery for carrying on the trade. "The business shows substantial profits over a considerable period." [4] In 1931 the company was liquidated and a new owner of the business incorporated, Charlesworth Bodies (1931) Limited, which soon was permitted to drop the (1931).
The Charlesworth house style of the early 1930s was low rooflines with compound curves and deep moulded waistlines. [2]
During the Second World War Charlesworth manufactured aircraft components; their operations included a factory in Gloucestershire and Cecil Kimber was then among their staff. In early 1946 a series of small display advertisements offered "Superior Car Renovation" in the light of the postwar car shortage. [5]
Charlesworth continued to make bodies after the Second World War, including Daimlers of various sizes. It appears the company's records have been destroyed since it went out of business in about 1950. [6]
The Daimler Company Limited, before 1910 known as the Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The company bought the right to the use of the Daimler name simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft of Cannstatt, Germany. After early financial difficulty and a reorganisation of the company in 1904, the Daimler Motor Company was purchased by Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) in 1910, which also made cars under its own name before the Second World War. In 1933, BSA bought the Lanchester Motor Company and made it a subsidiary of the Daimler Company.
Vanden Plas is the name of coachbuilders who produced bodies for specialist and up-market automobile manufacturers. Latterly the name became a top-end luxury model designation for cars from subsidiaries of British Leyland and the Rover Group, being last used in 2009 to denote the top-luxury version of the Jaguar XJ (X350).
Crossley Motors was an English motor vehicle manufacturer based in Manchester, England. It produced approximately 19,000 cars from 1904 until 1938, 5,500 buses from 1926 until 1958, and 21,000 goods and military vehicles from 1914 to 1945.
Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd was a British manufacturing company in Coventry from 1919 to 1967. In addition to automobiles designed for the civilian market, the company also produced racing cars, aircraft engines, armoured cars and other armoured fighting vehicles.
Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines.
The Lanchester Motor Company Limited was a British car manufacturer in active trade between 1899 and 1955. Though the Lanchester Motor Company Limited is still registered as an active company and accounts are filed each year, the marque has been dormant since. As of 2014 it is marked as "non-trading".
Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers Armaments in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range, topped by large luxury cars, and dominated the market in the Edwardian era. The Vickers brothers died and, without their guidance, Wolseley expanded rapidly after the war, manufacturing 12,000 cars in 1921, and remained the biggest motor manufacturer in Britain.
John Davenport Siddeley, 1st Baron Kenilworth, was a pioneer of the motor industry in the United Kingdom, manufacturing aero engines and airframes as well as motor vehicles.
The Siddeley-Deasy Motor Car Company Limited was a British automobile, aero engine and aircraft company based in Coventry in the early 20th century. It was central to the formation, by merger and buy-out, of the later Armstrong Siddeley Motor and Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft companies.
Swallow Sidecar Company, Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company, and Swallow Coachbuilding Company were trading names used by Walmsley & Lyons, partners and joint owners of a British manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars and automobile bodies in Blackpool, Lancashire, before incorporating a company in 1930 to own their business, which they named Swallow Coachbuilding Company Limited.
Carbodies was a taxi design and manufacturing company based in Coventry, England. In its latter years it also traded as London Taxis International and The London Taxi Company.
SS Cars was a British manufacturer of sports saloon cars from 1934 until wartime 1940, and from March 1935 of a limited number of open 2-seater sports cars. From September 1935, their new models displayed a new name: SS Jaguar. By then, its business, which was founded in 1922, was run by and largely owned by William Lyons. Lyons had been partner with 1922 co-founder William Walmsley until Walmsley sold his shareholding in January 1935.
White and Poppe Limited was a proprietary engine building and gearbox manufacturing business established in Coventry in 1899 by Alfred James White (1870-) and Norwegian Peter August Poppe (1870-1933). Many early motor vehicle manufacturers bought in their major components so the company supplied up to 15 customers and employed around 350 people by 1914. Market changes reduced the customer-base but Dennis Brothers, always an important customer, took much of their output and purchased the company in 1919.
The Iden was an English automobile manufactured from 1904 until 1907. Designed by George Iden, formerly of Daimler, they were based in Coventry. They were four-cylinder 10/17 hp and 25/35 hp shaft-driven cars; each came with "Idens's frictionless radial gearbox".
Hooper & Co. was a British coachbuilding business for many years based in Westminster London. From 1805 to 1959 it was a notably successful maker, to special order, of luxury carriages, both horse-drawn and motor-powered.
Mulliners Limited of Birmingham was a British coachbuilding business in Bordesley Green, with factories in Bordesley Green and Cherrywood Roads. It made standard bodies for specialist car manufacturers. In the 19th century there were family ties with founders Mulliners of Northampton and the businesses of other Mulliner brothers and cousins but it became a quite separate business belonging to Herbert Mulliner.
The Daimler DB18 is an automobile produced by Daimler from 1939 until 1953. It is a 2½-litre version of the preceding 2.2-litre New Fifteen introduced in 1937. From 1949, the DB18 was revised to become the Daimler Consort.
Barker & Co. was a British coachbuilder, a maker of carriages and in the 20th century bodywork for prestige cars, including Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Daimler.
BSA cars were manufactured between 1907 and 1912 in Birmingham then until 1939 in Coventry as well as Birmingham, England. BSA had established a motor-car department in an unsuccessful effort to make use of the Sparkbrook Birmingham factory. An independent part of the same site was occupied by The Lanchester Motor Company Limited. Sales were handled by BSA Cycles Limited. After 1912, manufacture was carried out by group subsidiary Daimler in Coventry or BSA Cycles in Birmingham.
Joseph Cockshoot was an English coachbuilder and car dealer based in Manchester.
