Lancefield Coachworks

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Lancefield Coachworks
legal form Limited Company
founding 1922
Seat London , UK
Branch Body shop

Lagonda V12 with Lancefield body (1939)
Body by Lancefield: Alvis Speed ​​20 (1936)

Lancefield Coachworks was a British manufacturer of automobile bodies . From 1922 until the early post-war period, Lancefield produced individual superstructures for British luxury vehicles, mostly tailored to customer requirements.

Company history

The company was founded in 1922 under the name Gaisford & Warboys . The founders were three Gaisford brothers and George Warboys. The first office was in Lancefield Street, London . In 1927 the company moved to Beethoven Street. Since it was strongly associated with the street name Lancefield at the time, the owners made that name the company 's name.

Initially, Lancefield was primarily a sub-contractor for other, better-known body manufacturers. Customers were, for example, Brainsby-Woollard and Offord & Sons . During this time, body parts and complete bodies were created according to designs that the client had supplied. At about the same time as the move to Beethoven Street, Lancefield began to acquire his own orders. In the late 1920s, the first Lancefield superstructures were created based on their own designs. Chassis from Alvis , Bentley , Isotta Fraschini , Lagonda , Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Stutz were dressed .

In 1930 the designer Jock Betteridge joined the company. Under his leadership, Lancefield developed an independent design style, which was characterized by eye-catching, aerodynamic lines according to the understanding of the time, some of which contained elements of Art Deco . Betteridge's designs had flowing forms, some superstructures had fully integrated bodies without externally offset fenders ( pontoon style ) or retracted headlights. The Lancefield bodies have been shown at numerous exhibitions and have won several design awards.

After the Second World War , Lancefield first tried to resume body production. At the Earls Court Motorshow in October 1948, Lancefield showed two wheelchair-accessible converted limousines on Humber and Daimler chassis. After that, the company stopped exhibiting. In the 1950s, Lancefield was mainly involved in the repair and restoration of older cars; In 1960, the company gave up body production entirely. A few years later it was engaged in the manufacture of aircraft parts.

literature

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

Web links

Commons : Lancefield Coachworks  - collection of images, videos and audio files