Southern Motor Company

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The Southern Motor Company was a British supplier of automobile bodies , which in the 1930s offered individual, but inexpensive bodies for chassis from upper-class manufacturers. First and foremost, it was a Rolls-Royce chassis . Southern was a regular part supplier.

Company history

A Rolls-Royce 20/25 from 1930 with a second body from 1938 by Southern

The Southern Motor Company was based in the London borough of Clapham . Exact dates for the establishment of the company are not available. It is known, however, that Southern was a family business. At least since the mid-1930s, Southern was active in the manufacture of automobile bodies. Unlike most other body manufacturers, Southern did not target customers who had brand new chassis bodies, but dealt with cladding older vehicles with newly designed bodies. The company enabled customers to drive contemporary-looking cars without actually having to buy a completely new car. The Southern bodies were extremely inexpensive compared to what other manufacturers did. Individual bodies were on sale for around £ 500, less than half the normal price of a new body. In many cases the low price was achieved, among other things, by not removing the old body; Instead, it was built over with the new body. In this way, the company saved the time-consuming and costly construction of a new frame for the body.

Southern did not have its own workshops. Subcontractors were regularly commissioned to carry out all manual work. First and foremost, these were the London-based companies Coachcraft and Ranalah .

Southern's activities ended with World War II . A daughter of the owner married Sydney Allard during the war , and after the war the Southern premises became the headquarters of Allard Motor Company .

literature

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

Web links

Commons : Southern Motor Company  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Nick Walker: A – Z of British Coachbuilders 1919–1960 . Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 , p. 173.
  2. ↑ Nick Walker: A – Z of British Coachbuilders 1919–1960 . Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 , p. 97.