Gordon England was a British coachbuilding company based in Putney, South West London and later in the Palace of Industry, Wembley, North London with a showroom at 28 South Molton Street, Mayfair, London W1.
Gordon England was a British coachbuilding company based in Putney, South West London and later in the Palace of Industry, Wembley, North London with a showroom at 28 South Molton Street, Mayfair, London W1.
E. C. Gordon England, after beginning an engineering apprenticeship with Great Northern Railway in Doncaster, changed to aviation and went on to pilot and design both gliders and powered aircraft and was works manager[ citation needed ] at Bristol Aeroplane Company during World War I. After that war he raced cars and also developed and patented lightweight car bodies.
After the war his interest turned to motor racing and in 1922 he obtained a chassis version of the new Austin 7 which he tuned and entered successfully at several events. This led him to make and sell a series of cars to the public based on his racers. He believed that car performance was being held back by the heavy coachwork being fitted to many models and set about designing bodies largely of plywood covered with fabric and fixed to the chassis with three rubber mountings. To make these George England (Motor Bodies) Ltd was incorporated in 1925.
Gordon England took four years to develop his own construction technique using a solid plywood shell without Weymann's skeletal frame. His seats and floorboards were mounted directly onto the chassis, as was the scuttle and instrument panel. The body was given a hollow box-girder of plywood around its base and attached to the frame at three points. This way the body on its three separate mounting points was able to maintain its shape even over rough roads. [1]
The first model to be sold was the Brooklands Super-sports Austin 7 and although his racing version had been fabric covered the production version was aluminium panelled. Each one was supplied with a certificate stating that it would attain 80 mph (130 km/h). The "Cup" model followed in 1925 and then a fabric saloon which came out before the official factory version. In 1927 almost 20,000 bodies were supplied for the Austin 7.[ citation needed ]
Work extended beyond Austin and in 1925 a Rolls-Royce was fitted followed by work on Bentleys, MG, Morris, Standard and Wolseley. The Putney premises were outgrown and in 1927 the company moved to Wembley and exhibited at the London Olympia Motor Show with an Invicta on the stand.
The company was reformed as Gordon England (1929) Ltd and claimed to be making 35 bodies a day. However, the fabric body started to lose out to all-metal types, the company's fortunes declined and in 1930 it closed.
The weekly magazine Autocar claims to have invented the road test. Its very first published test in 1928 was of an Austin 7 (Gordon) England Sunshine saloon, Sunshine because it had a very large sunroof.
Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North London, and became widely known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930. Bentley has been a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group since 1998 and consolidated under VW's premium brand arm Audi since 2022.
AC Cars, originally incorporated as Auto Carriers Ltd., is a British specialist automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest independent car makers founded in Britain. As a result of bad financial conditions over the years, the company was renamed or liquidated many times until its present form. In 2022, the new corporate structure began the production of new AC Cobra models, with a slightly modified structure to adapt it to modern safety and technology requirements and obtain the European road homologation certificate.
Riley was a British motorcar and bicycle manufacturer from 1890. Riley became part of the Nuffield Organization in 1938 and was merged into the British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968. In July 1969 British Leyland announced the immediate end of Riley production, although 1969 was a difficult year for the UK automotive industry and many cars from Riley's inventory may have been first registered in 1970.
Berkeley Cars Ltd of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, England produced economical sporting microcars with motorcycle-derived engines from 322 cc to 692 cc and front wheel drive between 1956 and 1960.
Singer Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturing business, originally a bicycle manufacturer founded as Singer & Co by George Singer, in 1874 in Coventry, England. Singer & Co's bicycle manufacture continued. From 1901 George Singer's Singer Motor Co made cars and commercial vehicles.
Morris Oxford is a series of motor car models produced by Morris of the United Kingdom, from the 1913 bullnose Oxford to the Farina Oxfords V and VI.
The Austin 7 is an economy car that was produced from 1923 until 1939 in the United Kingdom by Austin. It was nicknamed the "Baby Austin" and was at that time one of the most popular cars produced for the British market and sold well abroad. Its effect on the British market was similar to that of the Model T Ford in the US, replacing most other British economy cars and cyclecars of the early 1920s. It was also licensed and copied by companies all over the world. The first BMW car, the BMW Dixi, was a licensed Austin 7. In France they were made and sold as Rosengarts, and in the United States they were built by the American Austin Car Company. In Japan, Nissan also used the 7 design as the basis for their first cars, although not under licence. This eventually led to a 1952 agreement for Nissan to build and sell Austins in Japan under the Austin name.
The Bentley Mark VI is an automobile from Bentley which was produced from 1946 until 1952.
The Bentley R Type is the second series of post-war Bentley automobiles, replacing the Mark VI. Essentially a larger-boot version of the Mk VI, the R type is regarded by some as a stop-gap before the introduction of the S series cars in 1955. As with its predecessor, a standard body was available as well as coachbuilt versions by firms including H. J. Mulliner & Co., Park Ward, Harold Radford, Freestone and Webb, Carrosserie Worblaufen and others.
The Morris Minor is a small 4-seater car with an 850 cc engine manufactured by Morris Motors Limited from 1928 until 1934. The name was resurrected for another newer car for the same market in 1948.
The Triumph Super 7 is a car manufactured from 1927 until 1934 by the Triumph Motor Company. It was produced as a response to the success of the Austin 7 and was Triumph's first car to be made in large numbers. In 1933 the name was changed to the Triumph Super 8.
The Riley Nine was one of the most successful light sporting cars produced by the British motor industry in the inter war period. It was made by the Riley company of Coventry, England with a wide range of body styles between 1926 and 1938.
The Wolseley Hornet is a six-cylinder twelve fiscal horsepower lightweight automobile which was offered as a saloon car, coupé and open two-seater as well as the usual rolling chassis for bespoke coachwork. Produced by Wolseley Motors Limited from 1930 until 1936, the Hornet was unveiled to the public at the end of April 1930. Wolseley had been bought from the receivers by William Morris in 1927.
The Alvis Fourteen also known as TA 14 was the first car to be produced by major defence contractor Alvis cars after World War II. The entire car factory had been destroyed on the night of Thursday 14 November 1940. Announced in November 1946 it was made until 1950 when its postwar austerity 1900 cc engine was replaced by the 2993 cc 26.25 HP Alvis Three Litre or TA 21.
The Daimler Regency series was a luxury car made in Coventry by The Daimler Company Limited between 1951 and 1958. Only an estimated 49 examples of the 3-litre Regency chassis were made because demand for new cars collapsed just weeks after its introduction. Almost three years later in October 1954, a lengthened more powerful Regency Mark II (DF304) was announced but, in turn, after a production run of 345 cars, it was replaced by the very much faster, up-rated One-O-Four (DF310), announced in October 1955.
The Austin Light Twelve-Six is a 14 tax horsepower car with a 1496 cc engine that was introduced by Austin in January 1931. It was named by Austin Light Twelve to separate it from the well-established Austin Twelve. The general public then dubbed the original Twelve Heavy Twelve but Austin never used that name. The Light Twelve-Six remained in production until 1936.
The Hillman Fourteen is a medium-sized 4-cylinder car announced by Hillman's managing director Spencer Wilks, a son-in-law of William Hillman, at the end of September 1925. This new Fourteen substantially increased Hillman's market share and remained on sale into 1931. During this time it was the main product of the company.
Eric Cecil Gordon England AFRAeS, FIMT, was a British aviator, racing driver and engineer. E.C. Gordon England was one of the early pioneers of gliding, and his glider flight in 1909 is considered to be the birth of the sport of soaring.
Weymann Fabric Bodies is a patented design system for fuselages for aircraft and superlight coachwork for motor vehicles. The system used a patent-jointed wood frame covered in fabric. It was popular on cars from the 1920s until the early 1930s as it reduced the usual squeaks and rattles of coachbuilt bodies by its use of flexible joints between body timbers.
Jarvis & Sons Limited were South London-based motor dealers for Morris and MG, and latterly coachworks providing special bodies for various car chassis until after World War II.
