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Abbey Panels Ltd., originally The Abbey Panel & Sheet Metal Co. Ltd., was a Warwickshire-based coachbuilding company founded on Abbey Road, Nuneaton in 1941, initially assembling Supermarine Spitfires for the ongoing war effort. The original partners were Edward Loades, Les Bean, Bill Woodhall and Ernie Wilkinson. As the business grew they expanded to Old Church Road, Coventry before having their main manufacturing plant on the well known Bayton Road Industrial Estate in Exhall. In 1967, Ted Loades listed the business on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and it became known as Loades PLC, with Abbey Panels its main brand, alongside Albany Zinc (castings), Loades Dynamics (machining) and Loades Design . The company specialised in producing handmade prototype car bodies and did so for many notable car companies including: Bristol Cars, Lea Francis, Jaguar Cars, Rover, MG, Healey, Rolls-Royce, Buick, Lincoln, Volvo and BMW amongst others. They fashioned the bodywork of cars such as the Le Mans winning Ford GT40, numerous Jaguars, the original Mark I Land Rover Station Wagon, Jim Clark's Lotus 38 and Stirling Moss's 1957 Pescara Grand Prix winning Vanwall. They also produced many specialist parts for the aerospace industry, particularly for Rolls-Royce plc, such as the Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine duct of the Harrier jump jet.
References
- ↑ "Rover administrators 'disappointed' by bid". The Guardian . 19 July 2005.
- ↑ The Times 17 February 2006 Nanjing in talks to sell MG Rover brand to bid rival
- ↑ Coventry Evening Telegraph 22 February 2006
- ↑ Mclaren's Murray to help Kimber' AC project [ permanent dead link ]
- ↑ "AC Ace project is a Smart move". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 7 July 2016.
- ↑ AC Ace
- ↑ Autocar 7 December 2006
- ↑ Birmingham Post 12 June 2007
- ↑ Welsh Assembly press release 19 July 2006
- ↑ Auto Express 17 April 2009