Corsica Coachworks

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Corsica Coachworks
legal form Limited Company
founding 1920
resolution circa 1945
Seat London , UK
management Charles Strammers, Joseph Lee, Robert Lee
Number of employees 20th
Branch Body shop

Corsica Coachworks was a British manufacturer of automobile bodies that produced individual bodies for luxury vehicles in the period between the world wars. Corsica's bodies were typically much cheaper than most of its competitors.

Company history

Bentley Speed ​​Six with Corsica body (1930)
Wolseley Hornet with Corsica body (1934)

Corscia Coachworks was founded in 1920. Its directors were Charles Stammers and his brothers-in-law Joseph and Robert Lee. The company's name referred to Corsica Street , a street in the London district of Islington , where it had its first headquarters. After a few years, the company moved to Cricklewood , but kept the name that has now become established. Corsica Coachworks has been a small company throughout its existence that, even in its best times, had no more than 20 employees.

Right from the start, Corsica offered individually designed bodies for British and European luxury brands. A special feature of the company was the fact that it did not employ any designers for reasons of cost. The design of the superstructures was largely based on the wishes of the customers. The first sketches, which were created in consultation with the customer, were implemented by freelance technical draftsmen . Of Corsica Spengler then built the body parts that were in any case temporarily connected by subcontractors in order to work with the respective chassis. In this way, Corsica kept production costs low. At the same time, the company was able to implement almost every customer request.

Little is known about the scope of production in the 1920s; However, there are references to some Bentley bodies that are said to have been made at Corsica. It wasn't until the early 1930s that Corsica became known to a wider public. The trigger was the exhibition of a Daimler Double Six , which Corsica had provided with a very flat sports car body. Similar designs followed on chassis from Bentley and Bugatti . From the mid-1930s, Corsica dressed at least 14 chassis of the Bugatti Type 57 ; some of them were characterized by eye-catching, flat structures. In addition, bodies were made for Alfa Romeo , British Salmson , Frazer Nash , Humber , Lea-Francis , Rolls-Royce and Wolseley .

Corsica ceased operations with the outbreak of World War II . After the end of the war, production was not resumed. Some former Corsica employees later became involved in the Coachwork FLM Panelcraft company . The name Corsica was used again in 1996 for a Jaguar show car . For the 100th anniversary of the Jaguar brand Daimler, the company presented a four-seater convertible based on the then current Jaguar XJ , which was known as the Daimler Corsica . Series production did not materialize.

literature

  • Nick Walker: A – Z of British Coachbuilders 1919–1960 . Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 .

Web links

Commons : Corsica Coachworks  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Image of the Daimler Corsica (accessed on September 18, 2014).