Cunard Motor & Carriage Company

Cunard Motor & Carriage Company (later: Cunard Commercial Bodybuilding ; short: Cunard ) was a British manufacturer of automobile bodies, which manufactured bodies for passenger cars and commercial vehicles from 1911 to 1925 and from 1930 to the 1960s.

Company history

The Cunard Motor & Carriage Company was founded in 1911. It was based in the south-west London borough of Richmond , later plants in Putney were added. Right from the start, Cunard primarily manufactured bodies for the automobile manufacturer Napier .

Takeover by Napier

Minerva GG 26 CV with landaulette by Cunard (1913)

In 1913, Cunard was taken over by Napier. Cunard thus became Napier's in-house coachbuilder and produced most of the superstructures offered by the factory. At the same time, Napier allowed the construction of bodies for other manufacturers such as Minerva , Rolls-Royce and Sunbeam ; Up until the early 1920s, such structures were produced in small numbers. During this time, Cunard was led by RI Musselwhite.

In 1925 Napier stopped producing automobiles in order to focus on aircraft engines in the future. Cunard and the associated factory systems were sold to Weymann Motor Bodies , a British branch of the French bodywork manufacturer Weymann . The name Cunard has not been used since. Cunard's former manager Musselwhite left the company and became works manager at Thrupp & Maberly . In 1928 Weymann gave up the former Cunard plants in Putney and moved to Surrey .

New establishment and takeover by Stewart & Ardern

Morris 10/6 with superstructure by Cunard (1935)

In 1930 Cunard was revived. RI Musselwhite bought back the naming rights to Cunard from Weymann and re-established the company in the London borough of Ealing . The first body made by Cunard was a four-door called False Cabriolet de Ville on a Rolls-Royce Phantom II chassis , which was exhibited to the public in 1931. Musselwhite's attempts to introduce Cunard as a manufacturer of upper-class bodies failed early on. In 1931 Cunard was taken over by Stewart & Ardern, a large London Morris dealer. Stewart & Ardern had previously had their bodies manufactured by Hoyal and needed a new body manufacturer after Hoyal had collapsed as a result of the economic crisis. In the years that followed, Cunard therefore mainly manufactured bodies for Morris chassis, especially open two and four-door models. Later bodies for the Wolseley brand , which belonged to the Morris group, were also added. 1934 Cunard exhibited for the last time in public; the following year the production of car bodies ended.

Cunard Commercial Bodybuilding

In the second half of the 1930s there was a realignment of Cunard, which in turn was triggered by Stewart & Ardern. The Morris dealer had previously had its commercial vehicle bodies manufactured by the independent company Wilton in Croydon . In 1936 this task was transferred to Cunard. The company was then renamed Cunard Commercial Bodybuilding and moved to new facilities in Wembley . It existed there until the late 1960s.

literature

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

Web link

Commons : Cunard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Images of the Cunard bodies for Rolls-Royce on the website www.coachbuild.com (accessed April 20, 2017).
2. ↑ Illustration of the Rolls-Royce Phantom II False Cabriolet de Ville by Cunard (accessed April 20, 2017).