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Books Models Highlights Cars
of 98 |
Car of
the Month - February 98
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| In 1957 the five London coachbuilders listed different body styles for the Bentley S1 and of course you could save yourself the very princely sum of at least 2,000 Pound by shopping for the body supplied by the manufacturer itself. That 2,000 Pound made the difference between survival and demise of the coachbuilders, by 1962 when tax on cars was reduced from 60 % to 25 only one independent firm remained. A coachbuilt body meant an extra expenditure of at least 2,000 Pound plus, to differentiate it from a factory product. The Annual motor show at Earls Court was therefore the occasion when coachbuilders could vie with each other for what remained of the dwindling clientele. Of the five major London Coachbuilders perhaps only Hooper & Co could display a full range that ran from Limousines to lightweight sports cars. | ||
 In 1957
their model range had been completed with showing their 1955 design on the Bentley S1
Chassis but with a modification that lightened the back of the car by omitting a full spat
of the rear wheels. This particular vehicle was painted pale grey and excited favourable
comment from the motoring press. The AUTOCAR found the car 'attractive' and the finish
'superlative'. The cross banded Eucalyptus woodwork the same weekly magazine found was
used to 'great effect' and THE MOTOR found this feature re-called 'the satinwood that
Sheraton so admired..'. This particular motor show exhibit was Hooper's body no. 10218 and
it is not commonly known that this was almost an exact copy of their previous body no.
10216 on Bentley S1 chassis no. B504EG. |
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 The Hooper S1 weighed over
80 lbs lighter than the factory's standard body and there was also an additional advantage
of rather more pronounced 'streamlining'. Rolls-Royce engineers at Crewe who were not
above makingsure coachbuilders towed the line, had tested an S1 of Hooper's and noted that
for a weight penalty of 2 1/2 lbs they could improve the stiffness factor of the Alpax
sill casting from 127 (which compared unfavourably with R-R's own factor of 174) to a 180.
This was adopted by the coachbuilder's Chief Designer Osmond Rivers when the next
sanctions of bodies were built from the autumn of 1956. This made the latter S1 Bentleys
torsionally much more stable. |
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