Gordon England Brooklands body

[John Mims]

Does anybody know if the GE Brooklands body was supported to the rear on special chassis extensions? 

The frame looks as if it was pretty rigid. Was it sufficiently so for the tail to be cantilevered out?

John

[Ian Williams]

I do not believe it was supported by any extensions John

[John Mims]

Thanks, Ian.

John

[Malcolm Parker]

The Brooklands body had a box section along the full length. This had a long teardrop shape aperture through which the axle tubes projected.  The body was fixed to the chassis crossmembers by brackets located at the front of the box section, and at the front end of the teardrop hole.  There was no support for the rear of the body other than from the rear crossmember. The body frame is however very rigid if correctly made.

[AllAlloyCup]

For what it's worth the GE Cup Model rear 
body frame was also cantilevered out 
from the rear chassis cross member.

There are Forth Railway Bridge type ash 
members sandwiched between the double
skinned plywood sills. These plus the ply bulkheads 
make the rear body surprisingly rigid.

Regards
Bill G

[Ian Williams]

One should remember though that the current replicas are a modern take on the construction methods employed on the genuine cars. They are probably more or less correct and the evidence from cup models and GE's patent drawings do appear to suggest this beam arrangement is correct. However one should remember NO genuine Brooklands body's or parts of a Brooklands body are known to exist, the replicas are all based on a design devised by Tom Abernathy when he built his first recreation.

[tom abernethy]

The original Brooklands bodies were of a traditional frame and stringer construction. They did not have a box section running the full length and consequently sagged very badly due to the cut out for the back axle and the huge overhang. This can be seen in some of the period photographs.
The full length box section was my solution to the problem and used on my first Brooklands replica in 1978 using my experience with that type of construction from the later Cup Model.
The Cup Model did not have a Forth Bridge type of framework within the box section but merely hard points to take the body and wing mounting brackets.
Regards,
Tom.

[AllAlloyCup]

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Tom has built 30? more Cups than I have ...
But the internal framing in my Cup sills
Reminded me of the Cantilevers in the FRB!

The little block in my frame is a personal addition along with
A lot of Gorilla glue, after a visit to the Morgan factory.
Plus my frame is 1" thick ash rather than 3/4" of the original
The inside metal body mounts ( copied from originals)
are screwed through the inner ply into the ash structures hidden in the sills.

On normal Cups the outer skin is also ply, but on
Mine it's 18swg alloy on some panels but 16swg on the scuttle.

My project is GE Cup Special, rather than a Replica,
so it has a 1925 chassis,  but has a coil engine and 
Will have all alloy bodywork and wings.

Regards
Bill

Ps I am old enough to remember seeing Tom's first  Brooklands
Mockup in his conservatory all those years ago!

[John Mims]

Thank you all very much for that mine of information. The photographs of frames that I have seen must have followed your lead, Tom, as they appeared to have the box section you describe. Presumably the plywood skins can be reasonably thin - 6mm?

I should say that I'm not intending to attempt a Brooklands replica, but am intrigued by the principles of composite wooden structures, including, for example, the early Marcos and the Tryane.

Thanks again

John

[Ian Williams]

The original Brooklands bodies were of a traditional frame and stringer construction. They did not have a box section running the full length and consequently sagged very badly due to the cut out for the back axle and the huge overhang. This can be seen in some of the period photographs.
The full length box section was my solution to the problem and used on my first Brooklands replica in 1978 using my experience with that type of construction from the later Cup Model.
The Cup Model did not have a Forth Bridge type of framework within the box section but merely hard points to take the body and wing mounting brackets.
Regards,
Tom.

Interesting Tom, do you have any evidence of this frame and stringer construction that you would be willing to share? I have tried for years to unearth a picture of a genuine Brooklands frame, the closest I have come is this picture form Austin Harris, it depicts GE's special from the 1924 JCC200, the lower rail appears identical to the contemporary pre production Brooklands body and seems to be a box beam.


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