AERO PRACTICE IN MOTOR BODY CONSTRUCTION. Mr. Gordon England Introduces Some Entirely Novel Ideas.

We recently had the opportunity of inspecting the very advanced system of body design and construction introduced by Mr. Gordon England, the famous motor racer, who is technical director of Messrs. Gordon England, Limited, of Putney.

The main idea underlying the principles adopted may be outlined briefly as follows :—Any motor car frame must be capable of flexing in various directions and, therefore, does not provide the best foundation for the superstructure of the bodywork. As the frame flexes so must the bodywork pillars suffer distortion when the ordinary form of construction is used, with the result that to build substantial bodies the main members must be heavy and solid. According to Mr. Gordon England’s ideas the body should be a mere covering—or, as he describes it, an “umbrella “—but the seats must be strong and solid,

whilst the whole body should not burden the chassis with superfluous dead weight. These requirements are met by providing a frame built in the form of a deep box girder, largely made of three-ply wood, which is mounted on the -chassis by three point suspension. This frame provides the support for the bodywork proper, which, including doors, pillars, etc., can be made exceedingly light, whilst the floorboards and seats are mounted directly on the chassis frame. With the new system of construction the shape for the bodywork is not confined to any particular style, thus getting away from the box-like appearance of the fabric body in its true form.

We hope to be able to give full details of the whole system in a later issue which will doubtless be of great interest to our readers.