MODERN METHODS IN BODY BUILDING

MOD N METHODS IN ODY Ii UILDING

M ANY readers of MOTOR SPORT will have noticed in pass

., ing along the Portsmouth Road the works of Abbott and Co., just outside Vamham. This firm has long been well known in the motor trade as high class coachbuilders, and they have recently introduced a very neat drop-head coupe on the M.G. Magna chassis.

I was down there the other day to have a good look at the new model, and a very nice job it is. It is one of those bodies which will really stand looking into in detail, which of course is the result of experience in building genuine luxury coachwork on expensive chassis. The lines are extremely attractive, the room given is as big as could possibly be arranged on a car of this size, and the comfort and vision extremely good.

Not having previously been over their works I was glad to accept Mr. Lloyd’s suggestion to have a look through the works, and found it was one of the most completely selfcontained establishments one could wish. Every kind of body building was in progress, for vehicles ranging from ‘M.G.’s to ‘buses. In one shop was a 25 h.p. Rolls in course of completion for Mr. Rudyard Kipling, while a sideline which calls for extreme skill and

craftsmanship is the building of

All the machinery is very modem and extremely cunning, and I was particularly intrigued with the way in which a power driven panel beater was turning flat surfaces into beautiful bulbous curves. After a glance at the wood mill and spraying shop, we passed into the engineering department, where a number of cars in various states of assembly were undergoing overhaul. Tools for everything one could think of, such as reboring, grinding, etc.,

were to hand, and on one bench was special machinery for testing every part of a magneto or dynamo.

After a further examination of this shop I buttonholed its manager.

“Just to save time,” I said, ” you might tell me what you can’t do to a motorcar.”

He scratched his head, and thought for a minute. “Well, we don’t rewind armatures here, but we can get it done for you in a few hours.”

I must remember this firm. W.S.B.