Gordon England (coachbuilder)

Gordon England was a British coachbuilding company based in Putney, South West London and Wembley, North London..

E. C. Gordon England started work as an apprentice in the railway industry and went on to work in aircraft manufacture rising to works manager at Bristol during World War I.

After the war his interest turned to motor racing and in 1922 he obtained a chassis version of the new Austin 7 which he tuned and entered successfully at several events. This led him to make and sell a series of cars to the public based on his racers. He believed that car performance was being held back by the heavy coachwork being fitted to many models and set about designing bodies largely of plywood covered with fabric and fixed to the chassis with three rubber mountings. To make these George England (Motor Bodies) Ltd was established in 1925 taking his father's name.

The first model to be sold was the "Brooklands" bodied Austin 7 and although the racing version had been fabric covered the production version was aluminium panelled. Each one was supplied with a certificate stating that it would attain 80 mph (130 km/h). The "Cup" model followed in 1925 and then a fabric saloon which came out before the official factory version. In 1927 almost 20,000 bodies ere supplied for the Austin 7.

Work extended beyond Austin and in 1925 a Rolls-Royce was fitted followed by work on Bentleys, MG, Morris, Standard and Wolseley. The Putney premises were outgrown and in 1927 the company moved to Wembley and exhibited at the London Olympia Motor Show with an Invicta on the stand.

The company was reformed as Gordon England (1929) Ltd and claimed to be making 35 bodies a day. However, the fabric body started to lose out to all metal types and the companies fortunes declined and in 1930 it closed.

References

• A-Z of British Coachbuilders. Nick Walker. Bay View Books. 1997. ISBN 1-870979-93-1
• Gordon England history